The Sound of Music

From the moment the curtain went up on this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic the audience was completely captivated, and the production maintained it’s momentum from start to finish. To add to the excellent performances of the entire company the many scene changes were carried out quickly and smoothly, and the sound, lighting and the orchestra were good

The Nun’s chorus sang well, with beautiful harmonies ably led by Sister Berthe (Rowanne Allon), Sister Margaretta (Victoria Cowey) and Sister Sophia (Jessica Furmedge) who portrayed their characters with the right amount of piety and humour. Michaela Crawley, as the Mother Abbess, had a compassion and maturity in her performance which was beyond her young age.  Her rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” was very moving.

The Von Trapp children were certainly up to the task. Every one of them gave confident and convincing performances, and Gretel had the necessary cute factor which tugged at the heart strings. I am in no doubt that the team who performed on alternate nights were just as good.  Sheralyn Allon was perfect as “Liesel” with just the right amount of naivety and feistiness required for this character, and Peter Lynn, as “Rolf”, portrayed the balance of his status as a “Hitler Youth” with his fondness for the Von Trapp family very well.

Lauren Ronsdale (Elsa Schraeder) and Adam Hampton-Matthews (Max Detweiller) gave excellent character portrayals and provided a formidable force for Adam Donaldson as “Captain Von Trapp” to contend with. “Von Trapp” is a complex personality to portray, but Adam showed both the aristocratic stuffiness and then the softer sides of his character very well.

In the lead role, in every sense of the word, Catherine Dryden as “Maria” gave a believable and irreproachable performance, her growth from novice, to governess to mother was superb.  The on stage rapport between “Maria” and all of the other characters was wonderful.

I had to remind myself after watching this production that there was no one on stage over the age of 23! The commitment and polish of the performances were a credit to Julie and her team. Congratulations!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.