It is rare when a story you know very well can cause you to see things in a fresh way, but that was exactly my experience in watching Drury Lane’s The Sound of Music, which opened this past weekend.
I even came to know what a good musical is supposed to do. This moment came at the end of Act I, when the Mother Abbess sings Climb
Every Mountain.
Lucy McGhee, who portrays Mother Abbess, is speaking to Maria when suddenly but softly her spoken words become song. It was a fine moment which made me realize that what Mother Abbess was saying was so significant and heart-felt that only song could express it.
It was a perfect, magical musical theatre moment.
This interchange between Mother Abbess and the innocent, attentive Maria, portrayed with sincerity by Erin Clost, is worth the price of admission. Credit belongs to Rogers and Hammerstein for their beautiful writing skills, no doubt, but McGhee and Clost bring their vision to life.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. After 20 years, Drury Lane has again decided to produce The Sound of Music. It is a huge undertaking, and the production team added to the mountain of a task by double-casting the children's roles. It's the same Liesl for every show – sweetly sung and gracefully danced by Rachel Kelly, who really is 16 going on 17 – but the rest of the children belong to one of two groups, the Rogers or the Hammerstein group. That seemed a clever creation as it avoided calling one group Team 1 or even Team A, which would have suggested one group was better than the other.
One would think it must have been a challenge to find 12 children to portray those six roles, but apparently Burlington is full of youthful talent, as the children of the show were delightfully fun and real onstage. One effect of the double-casting, however, is that tickets for this show are scarce, as the Box Office pointed out.
It would be unfair to highlight any individuals amongst the children. The roster of talented youth includes: Eli Gougen and Nate Snell as Friedrich, Rachel Jackson and Inez (Victoria) Freitas as Louisa, Charlie Bender and Leif Bernal-Manninen as Kurt, Khloe Kalman and Mia Hickey as Brigitta, Hailey Gougen and Carleigh Helik as Marta, and Avery Arruda and Calleis Pollack as Gretl.
Rounding out the younger performers is Cole Cliche-Mason, whose lovely tenor voice warms audience hearts.
The von Trapp children, well-directed by Lauren Shepherd, demonstrated real camaraderie in the way they looked at and touched each other for reassurance and in the affection they displayed for Maria and for their father, Captain von Trapp.
Dave Osborne as Captain von Trapp seemed a tad tentative at first rather than simply stern, but once he opens himself to his children when he hears them sing, his affection is genuine and never wavers afterwards. He isn’t simply a handsome and rich catch, but a complex and deep-feeling individual.
The opening scene with Erin Clost showed her to also be a tad tentative when we first meet Maria. She needed to be better directed here so that her movements displayed her spirit. She sang the theme song beautifully, but we wanted her to move spontaneously and urgently as the song directs: “My heart wants to beat like the wings of a bird as it flies…”
Yet, once she meets the children, we are convinced of Clost’s appropriateness for the role. Her playfulness gives her a natural onstage chemistry with the children.
Another magical moment occurs when she sings The Lonely Goatherd. Clost’s vibrato during the yodeling suggest her fun attitude and her rural background, convincing children and audience alike that happiness lies in a song and a wholesome attitude.
Overall, Clost accurately portrays Maria’s growth from innocence to growing self-assurance.
Of course, The Sound of Music has its dark side. Perhaps ironically, the difficult decisions we need to make in a sometimes troubling world are brought out by Baroness Schraeder, warmly portrayed by Carolyn Campbell. (In a nice synchronicity, Campbell played young Maria 20 years ago on the Drury Lane stage.)
Campbell’s Baroness Schraeder is likable, not the spiteful, jealous character we know from the film, but a confident, attractive widow who eventually chooses, somewhat selfishly, acceptance of the political situation, even Nazism. And that is the core of her difference with Captain von Trapp, we come to realize,
and the real reason they must part ways.
Eventually, Captain von Trapp must make his own decision – whether to accept his commission or to run away from the Nazism which he knows is abhorrent. Osborne successfully conveys that dilemma in his expression. And, although we feel the chemistry between him and Maria, it seemed awkward to have them on opposite sides of the stage when we needed to feel Maria’s support for her husband.
Adding to the richness of this performance is the acting and singing of the chorus of nuns, four of whom – Carrie Mines, Anne Kelly, Michelle Bender and Sara Laux – have played leads on the Drury Lane stage before, and Linda Ryan is by no means out of place with them. Their shining moment, along with Mother Abbess and novitiate Esther Jenny, comes in their joyful singing after the marriage of Captain von Trapp and Maria that bestows a blessing on the union and implies that it was meant to be.
Maria had earlier reminded us that her role in life is “to find out the will of God and do it,”, and you don’t have to be Catholic to empathize with the sentiment. We all want to find out what we are meant to be and do it, and to be able to make courageous choices when we have to. The cast and directors help to make that message clear.
A couple of final kudos: the band is exceptionally good, and the addition of musical director Geoff Tiller’s trumpet, along with the flute and timpani, take the music to a higher level.
In addition, Lauren Shepherd’s set design is very effective. It has many movable parts, but she has her minor characters handle changes with a type of ceremony which is pleasant to watch.
Those of us who are lucky enough to get seats to this rendition of The Sound of Music, on every weekend till the end of the month, will experience some magic moments which will entertain and enlighten us.
Gregory Flis is a local actor and director who contributes reviews, previews and articles about area theatre for BurlingtonToday.
