The Sound of Music

There can be few musicals better known across the ages than ‘The Sound of Music’ staring, of course, Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer filmed in 1965 and regularly appearing on television.

With music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, the show has and remains a popular choice amongst amateur societies and audiences alike. 

Having attended a previous production from Ludwig Theatre Arts I was expecting a high standard production. The main difference was going to be that this was going to be the first adult production staged by Ludwig Theatre Arts (with a few compulsory children as needed for this show!)

As we entered the auditorium, we saw a stained-glass window and the interior of Nonnberg Abbey. The entrance of the nuns and the singing of Dixit Dominus, (under the direction of the musical director who was in the auditorium for the difficult piece dressed as a nun!)  was wonderful and an excellent indication of the quality of the performance.

Enter, as we all know Maria played by Beth Melling. The auditorium steps worked well portraying the alps both for the opening and of course the conclusion of the musical. Beth was excellent as Maria in both vocals and acting.

Edward Dunne gave a strong performance as Captain Vonn Trapp. Ellen Harris as Elsa Schraeder and Joe Rolt as Max Detweiler worked well together and extracted the humour and cutting remarks both parts can portray.

Amy Burke provided a credible performance as Mother Abbess and ‘Climb every Mountain’.

On the night I attended (closing night) team Weiss performed with Kaie -Ella (Liesel), Oscar (Friedrich), Ruby (Louisa), Kristiyan (Kurt), Amelie (Brigitta), Nancy (Marta) and Matilda (Gretl). All played their part well and looked every bit how we would expect from the Von Trapp children – well-groomed and well- marched.

The music in this show is well known to us all and all well delivered. Sadly a couple of songs were cut from the iconic film ‘How Can Love Survive’ and ‘No Way to Stop It’. Both sung by Elsa and Max (both really good songs).

The switch from the Von Trapp villa to the festival theatre under Nazi control needs to be stark to demonstrate the regime Austria was under. This was extremely well done and could have sent a shiver up the spine.

The humour of the 3rd and 2nd place artists at the festival was there and the audience relished in playing their part as ‘the audience’.

Costumes were generally good; I would have liked to have seen some Austrian sash on Captain Von Trapp and there were some minor costume malfunctions. These however are the only areas within the whole production whereby some attention may have been needed.

This was overall a wonderful show with the emotion needed to bring off a first-class production of The Sound of Music. The singing was of a good quality along with acting and movement

Congratulations to you all. The applause from the audience, a full house from what I could see, said it all and the recognition of the hard work put in by Jack, shown by the cast, following the final finale was well deserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.