Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian, John Frost and The Really Useful Group. Festival Theatre. 12 Aug 2016
The Adelaide Hills are alive with the sound of music. You're going to see it, aren't you? Your favourite musical of all time? You've known every song by heart since grade school? Live professional production? Well, what are you waiting for?
The Sound Of Music has always been everyone's favourite. Falling in love with the hired help is not an uncommon theme. Captain von Trapp falls for Maria; in fact, proposes to her in the very same scene as the fiancé walks out the door over a small matter, like supporting Hitler's Anschluss. The King of Siam has a placebo-affair with Anna the school teacher in The King And I. But those two parings weren't sordid like when my married cousin had it off with his housekeeper.
The story is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp (the governess played by Julie Andrews in the flick). The West Germans milked it for a couple of films before it was conceived as a musical vehicle for Mary Martin, who played Maria, when it opened on Broadway in 1959. Rogers and Hammerstein II's masterpiece snared five Tony awards, including best musical. Hollywood got its hooks into it for a 1965 release which won five Academy awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and a swag of other awards. It's the fifth highest grossing movie of all time. The Sound of Music soundtrack album was the biggest-selling album in the UK for three years, and the second biggest-selling of the 1960s.
That was the movie, but there's nothing like the magic of live theatre and orchestra, and this outstanding production is picture, pitch and posture perfect. What's not to like? The actors come with long resumes. Amy Lehpamer recently played in High Society and as Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Her Maria is madcap comic business and sweet naivety; a person imbued with music, and searching for purpose until she latches onto Captain von Trapp's stoic integrity and his lovable children. With a joyful voice, her Maria is bursting with love and laughter and fun. Double Bravo!
Cameron Daddo as Captain Georg von Trapp is an impressive Austrian aristocrat looking impossibly impeccable in tailored suits. Funnily, his singing is as tiny as he is tall. David James as the politically aware impressario clowns through his schemes. The role of the Baroness Elsa Schräder does not stretch Marina Prior who plays her suitably corporate, and is a great foil of Maria.
Opera singer Jacqueline Dark nearly brings the house down with Climb Ev'ry Mountain and is a sympathetic Mother Abbess. One enjoys John Hannan's butler for his satirical take, and everybody else is great, too. It is a bit spooky at the Kaltzberg Festival when the Nazi stormtroopers with their rifles, swastikas and black uniforms surround the stage.
Oh, yes, the kids! Well, aren't they good! The six youngest are all home grown and they all have resumes, too. I saw Oscar (Award) Bridges only in June in Therry's Big Fish; he's a feisty talent, but so are the rest.
Everything seems to go flawlessly - musical director Luke Hunter's orchestra, complex set piece movements, lighting and great sound. The real Maria von Trapp wrote her memoir to promote the family's singing after the death of Georg in 1947. But she sold the rights to the West Germans, who onsold to the Americans. Oh, well, that's show business!
Double bravo director Jeremy Sams and the lot of it!
David Grybowski
When: 9 August to 4 September
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au
