The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a well-loved and well known musical that proved to be an extremely popular choice with the local residents of Trowbridge and beyond. The set was simple but very effective, with steps at the back which, when covered with grass, became the hills with projections of the countryside on the back wall.  Each wing was dressed; one as the Mother Superior’s office complete with shelves full of books and the patio at Captain von Trapp’s house on the other. The stage crew worked quickly and quietly to seamlessly change from one scene to the next. The costumes were very good, as was hair and make up.

The opening was very atmospheric as the nuns paraded on to the stage with candles. The choral singing by the nuns was magnificent. Their voices blended beautifully with gorgeous harmonies.

Maria gave a very strong and confident performance. She had a lovely voice, beautiful diction and managed to get the balance between naive and sickly sweet just right. She had a lovely rapport with the children and her scenes with them were delightful.

Captain von Trapp played the austere former naval officer extremely well but also showed his slow progression from authoritarian to loving father beautifully. This was an excellent well-rounded performance. Well done.

Mother Abbess was another strong singer whose strength was evident in her beautiful rendition of ‘Climb every mountain’. I particularly enjoyed ‘What are we going to do about Maria’ with all four sisters having terrific voices and singing with gusto.

The children were delightful. Friedrich, Louisa and Marta were consummate professionals who all sang and danced well. Kurt had an angelic voice used to great effect for the higher notes, Brigitta was full of character and confidence and little Greta was just gorgeous. Liesl had a lovely voice and also proved to be a good mover in her number with Rolf.

A very jovial Max and kind and easy-going Elsa completed this extremely strong line up of principals. Max had a very likeable manner and Elsa had a beautiful soft American accent that worked well in the role.

The final scenes which saw the German officers march into the auditorium and position themselves around the audience was extremely powerful. Two audience members were even evicted from their seats at the front by Admiral von Schreiber and his associate, which provided a quite chilling moment of theatre. The scene ended with the officers running around the auditorium searching for the missing von Trapp family.

This was a well directed and very enjoyable production. The MD must take particular credit for the singing throughout which was exceptional and well rehearsed and left the audience humming along as they left the theatre. It was lovely to see so many young people in the audience and to introduce them to the glorious music of Rodgers and Hammerstein in such a positive way. It was also wonderful to see Trowbridge Musical Theatre back on stage after such a long break.  They were stronger than ever and produced a wonderful production.  Congratulations to the whole team; it was well worth the wait!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.