The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.  It is a very well-known and well-loved musical.  I was pleased to be able to accept the invitation of Carmarthen Youth Opera to cover for Matt Hampson who was involved in another production that weekend.  The society were very welcoming, including a hospitality area before the production and during the interval.  This was a lovely opportunity to chat to society officials and look through photographs of previous productions.  Thank you all for your lovely welcome.

The role of Maria, made famous by Julie Andrews in the film version, was played in this production by Celyn Mills.  In my opinion, Celyn gave an exceptional performance.  She had a fantastic voice and sang beautifully with an excellent, well-researched character.  I was also particularly impressed at Celyn’s handling of one of the younger cast members who got a bit of stage fright and was visibly upset during one of the scenes.  Celyn’s treatment of the cast member was touching and I’m sure it was a real comfort for all involved.  Well done Celyn; you should be very proud.

Connor Horton gave a good performance as Captain Von Trapp.  He had a good, stern character that softened as the production went on and he had a great singing voice.  This is a difficult part to master but Connor did a good job.

I was really impressed with Rebecca Lewis as Mother Abbess.  A lovely voice and a good character.  Well played.

Ffion Moore and Jac Owens were quite the double act as Elsa Schraeder and Max Detweiler.  Both had good character with lovely energy throughout and they both moved and sang well.  Well done, both.

The Sound of Music requires seven fantastic children to play the seven members of the Von Trapp family.  Carmarthen Youth Opera was lucky enough to have fourteen!  The society double cast the Von Trapp children.  I saw Raya Wilkins, Micah Harvey, Belle Williams, Jaden Dobson, Efa James, Elsie Evans and Nancy Neil.  All the performers were absolutely spot on with their characters and they dealt with complex harmonies and dance routines like future professionals!  Well done to you all!  I did not see Emily Bevan, Harry Johns, Grace Rowlands, Tom Boucher, Hannah Tegg, Isla Mason and Lucy Davies, however I am sure that they were equally as good as their counterparts.

It was lovely to hear a live band, led by musical director Bridget Radford.  The band complemented the on-stage action well and were not overpowering.

The scenery was superb, almost professional in its looks.  It was well marshalled by the stage crew and scene changes for the most part were slick and quiet.

Lighting was simple but effective.  Occasionally, sound quality of microphones dipped and the audience lost pieces of dialogue or singing.

Sometimes, a show has brilliant principals and a not so brilliant ensemble.  In this production, this was not the case!  The ensemble were equally as brilliant as the principals.  They all moved well but the real strength was in their singing.  It was almost faultless.  The opening of the show from the nuns was particularly impressive and really gave the audience an insight into the standard of production we were about to see.

I really enjoyed my evening, as did my family who accompanied me.   A lovely society to visit and an excellent production.  Well worth the four hour round trip! We’ll gladly visit again!

The views in this report are solely of the author.

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