The Sound of Music – Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse; Suggested by “The Trapp Family Singers” by Maria Augusta Trapp. Staged by Networks Presentations at the Boch Center, Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., Boston, MA, through May 13.
One of the most beloved movie musicals is making its return to the stage at the Boch Center, with a marvelous production that warms the heart while chilling the bone. The Sound of Music, best known for its litany of iconic songs – “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “Edelweiss” and the title song – is a masterclass in songwriting for the theater by the team of Rodgers & Hammerstein. But it is the dark undercurrent of the rise of the Nazis that lifts this classic from inspiring love story into something much weightier, and it is particularly resonant given the current political climate.
The production opens with the mesmerizing vocalization of “Preludium” by Mother Abbess (Lauren Kidwell) and the nuns before giving way to the stratospheric title tune, where we first meet Maria (Jill-Christine Wiley), the flighty but gold-hearted governess-to-be of the von Trapp family. While her alleged impropriety of singing in purportedly sacred places delights many of her colleagues, including her superior, Mother Abbess, it goes a little too much against the grain of the strict monastic life, and she is sent off to shepherd the Captain’s mischievous gaggle of kids.
It is still the early stages of the show where we are reminded of the sheer genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein, as “Maria,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” and “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” come in succession, and the talented cast does a beautiful job of bringing each to life. Wiley and Kidwell project a real genuineness during “Favorite Things” and the seven children and Wiley convincingly convey the joy of learning something they didn’t plan on enjoying during the grammar school staple “Do-Re-Mi”. The children are one of the real strengths of this show, as they harmonize spectacularly well while providing most of the comic moments of the evening.
It is not long before the first of the dark shadows appear, when Rolf, the love interest of oldest daughter Leisl, greets the family with the Nazi salute of “Heil” when he comes around, infuriating Captain von Trapp (a dashing Mike McLean), who sends him away. The political tension heightens as he is giving a party to introduce Elsa, his wife-to-be, as the guests bicker loudly over the Anschluss – the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. It is reminiscent of too many Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday gatherings going on in present day America, so it strikes close to home, giving the show a fresh vibrancy. The creepy reminder that it really could happen here is driven home later in the show, as the von Trapps perform at the festival in the closing moments before a wall of enormous red and black swastikas signifying the new reality for Austria.
But this is a musical love story after all, and when Maria and the Captain dance together during the party, you know it’s all over for Elsa, despite the dramatic tension that sends Maria back to the nuns. This also sets up Kidman as Mother Abbess to bring down the house with an awe-inspiring rafter-shaking rendition of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” the show’s musical highlight.
I did not grow up as a child watching The Sound of Music, so I was not encumbered by comparisons to Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer. So for me, Wiley is terrific as Maria, displaying a boundless enthusiasm for the kids while courageously standing up to the authoritarian Captain – before it is no longer necessary when she melts his heart. And she and McLean have a believable chemistry together. McLean also shines with his painful rendition of Edelweiss in the shadow of the giant swastikas. This is a musical production that works well as a love story as well as a stark reminder that history can indeed repeat itself and that it could “happen here”. For tickets and information, go to: http://www.bochcenter.org/soundofmusic
