The Sound of Music

Initially, thinking of The Sound of Music evokes the sweeping, iconic opening of the film as Julie Andrews’ Maria joyously roams the Austrian Alps for me. It’s easy to forget that the stage musical is mostly set in confined spaces like the convent and rooms at the Von Trapp villa, and adaptable to small stages. It’s easy to forget, too, that it’s the relatively intimate story of vocationally challenged novice nun Maria, sent to become governess to a motherless Austrian family of seven kids, restoring music, fun and love to their lives, while also charming their stern father - in the shadow of the rise of the Nazis.

While there’s a chorus of nuns, and quite a big one in this production, who sing some lovely harmonies, they’re not Nunsense-type dancing nuns, while the ensemble only gets one fairly sedate dance.

I’ve shared these thoughts, as Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society have staged the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic on a compact stage, capturing the charm of Maria’s relationship with the Von Trapp brood at the show’s heart, then spilling out into the small hall where necessary for entrances and exits, due to the tight backstage conditions. The  auditorium is also occupied to (mostly) menacing effect by the Nazis at the climactic concert.

Chloe Obreza sings the role of Maria Rainer with warmth and vocal purity. The rapport and affection between Obreza’s Maria and the children’s cast I saw (all the Von Trapp children, plus eldest daughter Liesl’s crush Rolf are double cast) had the genuine ring of truth so vital to ensuring the audience cares in this show, with the songs they shared joyous, energetic and frolicsome. The clear, distinct characterisations of all these young performers also establish their relationships and credibility as a family.

Cathy Bulfin is playing one of her dream roles, the program tells me, and her dream is a good one. Her Mother Abbess is beautifully nuanced portrayal, caring and supportive in her mentoring of Maria, identifying with her, fueled by a nostalgia for her own youth which bubbles beneath and through the surface in the quartet “Maria”, with appropriately contrasting sisters Berthe (Chloe Long), Sophia (Veronika Bracegirdle) and Margaretta (Jenny Farrell), and especially in “My Favourite Things”. She brings wisdom and gravitas to “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”, and she anchors the challenging harmonies of the nuns’ choruses effectively.

John Hogan’s reserved Captain Von Trapp captures military bearing and manner very effectively. Like a shield he puts up to the world, it’s intriguing to see how Hogan drops that reserve, sometimes just a little, often with a sense of discomfort, throughout the show. Hogan’s restrained bemusement at Maria’s disdain for household discipline was priceless.

Thanks to the trios which they sing with Captain Von Trapp, Wendy Cosier (as Von Trapp’s initial love interest Elsa) and Shane Andrews’ (the shifty agent Max) performances have a musical comedy feel. Both these trios from were dropped from the movie and feel as if they belong in an earlier era. Andrews’ Max is, of necessity, pure fun musical comedy but the dialogue for Elsa allows Cosier to nicely establish a more rounded, conflicted and human character outside of the songs.

Anna Desjardins finds some nice subtleties not necessarily seen in some portrayals of housekeeper Frau Schmidt. Joshua Woodward’s Franz seems every inch the loyal Butler, until he’s not, when he’s as nasty as any Nazi, especially Andrew Phillip’s particularly noxious, menacing stereotype as Herr Zeller.

Musically you couldn’t hope for a better medium-sized orchestra than the group of musos led by Musical Director Rebecca Hansen. Sound design by Andrew Yager balanced voices and accompaniment very effectively.

In making this big show (20 scenes) littler, scenically, the use of twin LED screens with projected images representing each location was effective, except perhaps for the Alps scenes, where the perspective between the actors and the great outdoors is nigh on impossible to achieve, either via technology or old-fashioned backdrops. It’s still the challenge of moving even limited simple props on and off at Eastwood, with limited wings and backstage, that ensures quite a bit of very nicely played, old-fashioned scene change music.

I feel very much at home watching small to medium scale community theatre productions like this compact crowd-pleaser. Gifts in small packages. So much of my own directing experience has been in pretty basic venues of this size, and even far smaller, all with their unique challenges, quirks and special rewards. I found myself happily reminiscing about some of them on the train-ride home.

I do have a couple of quibbles, though.

Perhaps a little scripting was needed for at least one of the storm troopers, whose ad-libbed search antics had the audience around me in unintended stitches.

And while lighting in certain indoor or night-time scenes needs to be atmospheric, the faces of the performers sometimes deserved better illumination in these moments.

As one of my reviewing colleagues often suggests, it takes a whole village to put together a community show, and as the program indicates, this show has quite a township behind it (including families, crossing generations, spread across the stage, backstage and front-of house) far too numerous to individually mention, co-directed by Katherine Sharpham and Joshua Woodward, in a production managed by Mel Hogan.

EUCMS cosy community in Eastwood is welcoming and inclusive from the moment you walk in the front door.

Neil Litchfield