4 stars
Similarly to Mary Poppins, and one year apart, the main character in THE SOUND OF MUSIC was a good natured nanny, in this case Maria, who took over the duties of looking after ‘difficult’ children in a dysfunctional house run by an dictatorial father, Captain von Trapp.
The classic musical is set in Austria in 1938 around the time of the takeover of the country by the Nazi regime. This is an important element in the musical as friends of the Captain exert more and more pressure on him to give his support to the regime but he remains defiant and in the end flees the country with his family.
Music is ‘the glue’ that binds everything in this musical. It is with her guitar that Maria first charms and wins over the von Trapp children. The Captain is angry with the more relaxed attitude that his children have since Maria took over and asks Maria to leave but changes his mind when he sees that Maria has taught his children to sing. At the climax. the von Trapp family make their escape, with Nazi officials in the audience, after performing in a music competition.
This current Willoughby Theatre Company revival, directed by Adam Haynes, fully and vividly captures the Sound of Music experience without you needing to pay top dollar for a hyped up, mainstream, commercial production.
The principal cast each give good performances.
Felicity Caldwell is great as the big hearted, mercurial Maria Rainer. Marcus James Hurley hits the right note as the tense and regimented retired naval captain Georg von Trapp.
Taryn-Lea Bright is just right as the sophisticated, dignified and very conservative Baroness Elsa Schraeder who thinks that she has snared the Captain in marriage, only to lose out when Maria returns to the family after going awol.
Clive Hobson gives an assured performance as the Captain’s close charming and high spirited friend, Max Detweller.
The supporting cast is, of-course, a cast of many. An impressive group of nuns were headed by Tisha B. Keleman who was great as Mother Abbess who showed off a big, strong voice that is used to great effect in the rousing ballad ‘Climb Every Mountain’. The nuns under Mother Abbess were each well played; Sister Bertha, played by Julia Brovedani, Sister Margeretta played by Julianne Horne, and Sister Sophia played by Georgia Kokkoris.
The kids playing the von Trapp children were cute and fantastic led by Abbey Thomas as sixteen year old Liesel who was enjoying her first tryst with the very pleasant telegram delivery boy, Rolf Gruber, well played by Matthew de Meyrick.
The rest of the cast played their part in making this Sound of Music is a special one.
My favourite scene from the show was the ‘So Long, Farewell’ song, and its reprise, which were just beautifully played.
Haynes’ creative team vividly created the world for the actors. Chief amongst them was Musical Director Callum Tolhurst-Close, who conducted a great, fifteen piece orchestra, Bob Dickason’s revolve set design was very effective, ExitLeft’s costumes were great, Janina Hamerlok’s choreography was faultless and Thomas French’s lighting was very effective.
A high note to end on. there is more than a bit of snobbery amongst some Sydney theatregoers. They will see productions by the main theatre companies and in the principal venues around Sydney.
It is their loss. This was, in every way, a big, full hearted, impressive production. The Willoughby Theatre Company’s production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC is playing the Concourse Theatre until Sunday 28 May 2023.
Production photography by Grant Leslie
