Long before having a brood of children to look after became fodder for poorly conceived reality-television shows, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were investigating the pitfalls of large family dynamics with their 1959 song fest, “The Sound of Music.” Featuring a governess, a baroness, clothing made from drapes, nuns, Nazis, a lonely goatherd and plenty of hilltop tunes, this Broadway classic turned Academy Award-winning film follows the von Trapps and the free-spirited woman that enters their lives. It gets the local stage treatment at Empire Theatre. The first co-production between Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV, performances are scheduled to run through July 4. $20-$40. 282-2620.