The Sound of Music

After a two year wait for reasons well documented, it was obvious that the cast and a packed first night audience relished the moment in eventually bringing ‘The Sound of Music’ to the stage.  I must admit not having seen the show for some time the opening sequence with the ‘Nuns of Nonnberg Abbey’ triggered a few shivers of anticipation which were well fulfilled. More again when meeting the beautifully tuneful and expressive ‘Maria’, excellently played by Hollie Christian-Brookes. Holly provided a natural innocent excitement to the role which slowly grew into a pleasing maturity.

‘Mother Abbess’, strong but kind (Emma Parker), ‘Sister Berthe’ (Hannah Wilkins-Jones), ‘Sister Margaretta’ (Kirsty Bluck) and ‘Sister Sophia’ (Lois Stevens) were all well cast and brought a certain quality to the production.  So too did Reece Jones as ‘Captain Georg von Trapp’ a retired naval officer with a miss-placed eye for children’s discipline. ‘Maria’ sent to the family from the convent, eventually enabled him to relax and appreciate his children. Reece’s performance was at times understated and yet you clearly felt the strength and sensitivity the role demanded. In his personal life, ‘Von Trapp’ is having a romance with ‘Baroness Elsa von Schraeder’ for whom Helen White provides a glamorous and sophisticated proposition but who eventually sees that there is no future in the relationship.

The production is blessed with two excellent teams of the Von Trapp children and on my visit I was able to enjoy some excellent performances from Chris Kemp, (‘Friedrich’) Francesca Davies (‘Louisa’), Harrison Bianco (‘Kurt’), Daisy-Mae Sandel (‘Brigitta’), Paige Dicken (‘Marta’) and Savannah McConomy as ‘Gretl’. Their relationship with ‘Maria’ was tangible and the choreographed pieces were delightful.  The oldest of the children ‘Liesl’ played by Olivia Darks was also excellent and I enjoyed her relationship with ‘Maria’ and also with ‘Rolf’ also well played by Ben Williams. Their duet ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’ was charming and well-choreographed.

Along the way we meet ‘Uncle’ Max Detweiler’ played well by Chris Paine who was cheeky enough to arrive just in time for meals but fun enough to be forgiven. He was also in a position to explain the seriousness of the growing threat of the Third Reich to Von Trapp and enabled the family to escape, and these sequences were well handled. Good support was also provided by Tracey Mann as ‘Frau Schmidt’ the housekeeper and Michael Thompson as ‘Franz’ the butler.

Throughout, the side stage orchestra provided a great level of support, particularly during the quieter moments which I appreciated and the staging with some appropriate projections worked well. It was really pleasing to see that ‘The Sound of Music’ has not lost its magic and this production will I’m sure be enjoyed throughout the week. Congratulations to Director Darren Richards and all involved.

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