The Sound of Music

I think everyone must know the iconic show The Sound of Music, even if they haven’t seen it on stage they will have seen the film starring Julie Andrews in the lead role of Maria, well Ilkley AOS need have no worries if anyone compared their production of the show to the film or stage show as it was a great production.

In the lead role of Maria Rainer was Susan Wilcock who was able to sing, dance and act her way all through the production much to the delight of the entire audience and me.

The show starts in Nonnberg Abbey when the nuns are singing the Preludium which was nothing less than wonderful and gave a good idea of what was to come in the rest of the show, following on from this we see Maria in her beloved mountains singing the title song, The Sound of Music and here Susan was able to show off her beautiful voice.

The following day some of the nuns, namely Sisters Berthe, Sophia, Margaretta and the Mother Abbess, played by Sally Holmes, Steph Burgess, Helen Smith and Jackie Campbell respectively, are discussing Maria and how she is fitting in at the Abbey with very differing ideas as they sing How do You Solve a Problem like Maria? Again the audience loved this which resulted in great applause.

As I mentioned above the role of Mother Abbess was played by Jackie Campbell who thrilled the audience when she sang Climb Every Mountain, it was breathtaking and you could hear a pint drop.

When Maria is sent from the Abbey and to the house of the Von Trapp family she is a little apprehensive to say the least especially when she meets the head of the house, Capt. Georg Von Trapp played to the full by Paul Chewins, he was able to win the hearts of not only Maria but I suspect all the ladies in the audience too.

Maria is introduced to the rest of the family, namely the Von Trapp children Leisl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitte, Marta and Gretl, all played expertly by Sophie Armitage, Jacob Wilcox, Niamh Murphy, Barnaby Killan, Isabella Lambert, Jemima McDonald and Abigail Henderson. All the children worked extremely well together and with their fellow actors on stage which was befitting actors which many more years experience.

One of the highlights of the show is when Maria and the children sing Do-Re-Mi, they were able to perform this around the stage and show off not only their singing but also their dancing, it was nothing short of brilliant.

As we all know Leisl has a love interest, Rolf who delivers the mail, they arrange to meet in the Summer House where they sing and dance through Sixteen going on Seventeen, this was superb and loved by everyone.

When Maria meets Capt. Von Trapp he is actually arranging to marry Elsa Schraeder played superbly by Claire Scott-Pearce, her singing of How Can Love Survive with the Captain and Max, played to the full by Ted Killan, was great.

The principals of this show were ably supported by Gary Holmes as Franz, Rebecca Clark as Frau Schmidt, Jonny Tate as Herr Zeller, Hetley Burnham as Baron Elberfeld, Kath Potts as Baroness Elberfeld and Paul Rose as Admiral von Schreiber plus a full chorus.

All the above could not have worked without a good orchestra, great costumes and a good set which only enhanced the whole experience to produce a brilliant show.

Congratulations to Mark Allen, Director, Mike Gilroy, MD and everyone else involved.

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.