DANVERS — The hills are alive with the sound of Matthew.
That's what Matthew Robertson's friends wrote on the cake at his going-away party last week. The Danvers 12-year-old leaves today on an eight-month tour across Asia of "The Sound of Music."
Matthew will play Friedrich, the oldest boy in the famed von Trapp family, through early November, singing "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi" and "So Long, Farewell" to audiences across China, Thailand, Taiwan, Macau and the Philippines.
"I screamed," said Matthew, describing the moment he learned he got the role.
It is a milestone for the young actor, who has performed in multiple North Shore Music Theatre shows, as well as a few Boston productions and independent movies. And it sweetens the deal that Matthew has been a fan of "The Sound of Music" since he could walk.
"He has three older sisters, so he got stuck watching 'Sound of Music' all the time," said his mother, Kyle, referring to the famous 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The musical chronicles the lives of an Austrian governess and her young charges and their father, finding hope through music in the shadow of Nazi Germany.
It was also his grandfather's favorite movie (the song "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" was played at his funeral in July), and a framed photo of Matthew as a toddler wearing lederhosen hangs on the living room wall at the family's Morgan Drive home.
"It's one of those characters where it totally fits me," said Matthew, "agewise, character-wise, favorite-show-wise, looks — just everything."
Matthew and his mother have spent the last six weeks preparing to put their North Shore life on hold for the next eight months. All of the "von Trapp" children are required to have a guardian on tour, so Kyle is going along.
Matthew had to have his braces taken off for the role, and he and his mother got vaccinations and malaria medication. They had to get 16 extra passport photos for all the visas they need.
Thanks to technology, they have a Sony eBook for which they purchased 40 novels to read, and their laptop computer is equipped with an Internet telephone service and a program to view their cable TV remotely.
"I have to get the Red Sox games," Kyle said.
But Matthew won't have much time on his hands.
"They're putting on eight shows per week in most locations," his mother said.
Matthew is a student at Clark School, a small private school on Locust Street in Danvers. Now, he'll be tutored on the road three days a week with the other children in the cast.
"It's going to be different," he said. "I'll have to get used to it. I won't have any friends around."
"He should come back knowing a lot of Mandarin," his mother said.
Matthew auditioned for the musical in New York in December, got the final invitation and recently signed with Troika Entertainment, which is a New York stage company that tours shows around the United States, Europe and Asia, including "Cats," "Chicago," "Evita" and "Fiddler on the Roof."
Matthew's father, Tim, will hold down the fort at home and take care of the family dog, Reggie. He works at Varian in Gloucester and frequently travels to Asia on business, so he can visit his wife and son.
Kyle Robertson said that the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic is also popular in Asia, and the songs are actually used to learn some English.
"(Troika) put it on four or five years ago, and it's one of the most popular shows," she said. "The kids are just treated like royalty because everyone knows the songs."
Matthew and his mother are taking the train to New York today, where the cast will rehearse for a week and be fitted for wardrobe before flying to Chengdu, China, for two more weeks of rehearsals. The curtains will rise in Chengdu on April 1.
He'll be paid $500 a week plus a daily allowance to spend on meals.
"I'm a kid. I don't need money, so this is a lot," he said.
The other von Trapp children hail from Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and other spots around the country, and the woman playing the housekeeper, Frau Schmidt, is from Massachusetts.
Matthew's family members, including his sister and his grandmother, will travel to Asia to visit him and catch his Asian debut. Kyle Robertson, a Navy brat, was born in Japan and went to school in Thailand as a young girl, so the tour will also help her reconnect with those roots, she said.
Matthew and his mother are writing a private blog from the road. He hasn't had his first rehearsal yet, but he already has a favorite line.
"I'm Friedrich. I'm 14, and I'm a boy!" said Matthew, quoting the scene where the children first meet their mother-to-be, Fraulein Maria. "I'm excited that I get to put the pine cone on her chair."
