The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music at the Tivoli, Wimborne was a triumph for all involved.  A full house greeted the cast for the final performance of an all-too-short run of the stage musical.  This production deserved to be a longer run because it was so wonderfully devised and executed.  The actors were ably supported by a simple but effective set that enhanced rather than detracted from the central action, and a sensitive lighting design, with costumes that were unfussy but recognisable nods to the film costumes with which most of the audience are familiar.

The Sound of Music demands complex and exacting performances, and these were delivered by the cast - some of whom were very young – and with well-considered, thoughtfully designed and crafted staging from the creative and technical crews.

The Director and Assistant Director did a wonderful job, creating simple and effective sets with backdrop or blacks lit sensitively. The set and prop changes did not disrupt or intrude – they were unobtrusively and smoothly achieved by the Stage Manager, whose skill was also shown in managing the large numbers of cast who needed to go on and off stage.  The Choreography was cleverly contrived to make the most of the space even when there were several actors to place, as in the wedding scene, and with some lovely touches of movement for instance between Maria and the children as they sang. The Musical Direction was very assured and an amazing sound was achieved by a band with just four players.

The score/script is a tricky one to master;  the songs are deceptive - seemingly easy but employing wide vocal ranges and requiring good breath control - and many of the audience will have seen or heard most of the scenes and songs from the 1965 film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.  Comparison often doesn’t flatter the local, amateur groups but in this case the actors/singers were very strong performers and they matched their professional counterparts well.  The ‘children’ were a particularly strong vocal group,  their enthusiasm infectious.

The Sound of Music is a production that contains an emotional roller-coaster and this cast hit the highs and lows for the Saturday evening audience bringing joy, upset, tension or a lump in the throat in succession.  We felt for Maria who longed to be in the hills, the ‘children’ when they were being whistled into line by Captain von Trapp, Liesl and Rolf imagining a future together, the sage counsel of the Abbess, the scene in the Abbey graveyard when Rolf decides whether or not to betray the family to the Nazis.  Many of us watching knew the story like the backs of their hands but the cast still built a palpable anxiety and a sense of fear.  When we became involved as members of the Salzburg Festival crowd, our hearts were beating a little faster wanting the family to escape when the search lights played on the audience.

Because of the ages of the ‘children’ there had to be two crews and judging from the wonderful performance by the group I saw, I am certain that the other set of Von Trapp children will have been as good.  Several of the young cast already have a track record of performances behind them.  On stage their skills and confidence were evident, as well as their grasp of the implications of this central musical role.  Although they were playing a set of seven children it was clear that each was portrayed with a distinctly different personality – from the youngest to the older ones. Bravura performances all. 

Liesl, the eldest child of the Captain,  has a foot in both the children’s ensemble and a solo role as a teenager emerging from childhood to seeing the world as an adult.  It was a fine performance with beautiful singing, dancing and a well-judged acting role.

All parts, large and small,  were played with energy and conviction.  Maria’s character carried much of the action and the actor rose to the occasion giving an assured presentation of the Nun too much in love with the world to be shut away from it,  singing and acting with great conviction.  We saw a three-dimensional character from the first sight of the would-be Nun, establishing Maria as the central figure, to the final moments where the family are marshalled by the Captain and his new wife to begin their perilous journey.  

The female characters in The Sound of Music all need to be strong – and they were. The Abbess’ command as the head of the Abbey was evident whether dealing with daily life at Nonnberg or considering how to deal with the musical, mercurial postulant, Maria. This intelligent leadership was very well illustrated in the scenes persuading Maria to go outside the Abbey walls to become a governess and then, having realised that the trainee Nun in her charge is in love,  persuading her to return to the von Trapp family.  When the Abbess, played by a sensitive and mature performer with a wonderful singing voice, incited us all to ‘Climb every Mountain’ it brought the hairs up on the back of my neck.

Captain von Trapp did not disappoint those of us who hoped to see a man we could dislike at the start whose seven children were being stunted by his grief.  Scenes with Max and Elsa showed his wish to find a way forward but not being completely convinced that his wealth could be the answer,  or how love can survive.  His seemingly unbending character (physically and metaphorically) finally melted when he sang Edelweiss and by the end of the evening, we knew that both his heart and his integrity were intact.

Rolf, another compromised character, was played well showing agility and a lightness of movement.   Rolf is one of those carrying the underlying threat from the outset, and this was done well when he was faced with his deception of Liesl and his duplicity of loyalty.  So it was life-affirming to see the original decision of the telegram boy’s conscience, at the end of this stage presentation, rather than the shocking betrayal of the family in the film version.

Max came over clearly as very amusing, tolerated for his entertainment value in society.  However, as someone without the principles and with little integrity,  he is drawn to money and power, as is Elsa Schraeder.  These two characters provided light moments with panache in the increasingly darkening plot. Humour, emotion and tension were intertwined through the show and the performances of the Ensemble contributed a great deal here, providing telling and memorable characters, whether as Nuns, nasty Nazi officials or the second and third-place winners of the Salzburg Music Festival competition.

From the start the undercurrents and threats to Austria from the Nazi regime were signposted by the housekeeper Frau Schmidt and butler Franz setting up a frisson of tension even while the ’children’ are learning joyously how to sing.    The film makes the small suggestions of something sinister quite subtly.  The calm of the Abbey, and the songs and chants, sung beautifully by the chorus of Nuns, is like a character of Austria – retaining its essential core although the outside world endangers and intrudes from time to time.  Here, the script makes the threats more obvious and they were well placed for the audience to build up a sense of the horrors to come.   It makes for a nuanced performance, mirroring our troubled times.  It also reminds us of the values of nature,  of family and community.   Determination and love, so strongly highlighted in this show,  are precious commodities in this changeable world.   This staging of The Sound of Music was bold in its ambition and extraordinary in its display of the talent and storytelling of the whole team. For all those acting in this production and all those watching it, this was the very best confirmation that we must have done something good. 

Martin Stephen, NODA South West Representative, District 11 (on behalf of Jeni Colton, NODA South West Representative, District 12)

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