by
Tony Annicone
Little Rhody Entertainment Writer
The
third show of Reagle Players 37th season is Rodgers and
Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music". Based on Maria Von
Trapp's autobiography "The Story of the Trapp Family
Singers", the show takes place in Austria in 1938 and
tells the story of Maria Rainer, a free-spirited
postulant who is hired by Captain Georg Von Trapp to
care for his seven children. Although the Captain is
engaged to a wealthy socialite, he and Maria eventually
fall in love and marry but their happiness is soon
shattered when the Nazis annex Austria and they are
forced to escape to America. The original show opened on
Broadway on November 16, 1959, starred Mary Martin and
ran for 1443 performances becoming the second longest
running show of the 1950's. The highly successful movie
with Julie Andrews opened in 1965 and is shown yearly on
television. Director Frank Roberts casts this show
wonderfully with fabulous sounding vocalists and
performers in every role. The story is still poignant
and moving and Reagle Players version is a stunning
triumph, earning it a well deserved standing ovation as
well as making it one of this summer's must see shows.
Artistic director and producer, Robert Eagle makes
sure the high production values can be witnessed in the
lush sets and beautiful costumes, always ensuring his
audience a splendid show. Frank's blocking of this huge
show is well done especially the nuns staging and the
children and concert scenes with the most emotionally
draining one being the final tableau of the Trapp family
climbing up the mountain. The nuns choral sound is
astounding with the four part harmony in Latin while the
children's voices soar in their numbers. Music directors
for the adults are Paul Katz and Dan Rodriguez and the
vocal director for the children is Jennifer Honan. The
magnificent orchestra is conducted by Jeffrey Leonard
who has a mandolin and harp in it, producing heavenly
sounds. Jeff not only conducts his musicians
but conducts the cast for their musical entrances, too.
The impressive sets include the mountain and Abbey
backdrops as well as a fantastic two story villa set.
Choreography by Susan Chebookjian includes Rolf and
Liesl's dance, the party dance and the Laendler dance
where the Captain and Maria fall in love with each
other. She also does clever work with the children in
the "Do Re Mi" march, the puppet dance to "Lonely
Goatherd" and the "So Long Farewell" segment.
Sarah Pfisterer is perfect as Maria. She is feisty
and spunky as well as warm and charming. Sarah makes the
audience fall in love with her and she doesn't
disappoint them. Her gorgeous voice soars from her
opening "Sound of Music" as she visits the mountainside,
to "My Favorite Things" which she sings joyfully with
the Mother Abbess, to "Do Re Mi" where she teaches the
children how to sing, to "Lonely Goatherd" where she
comforts the children during a thunder storm. Sarah's
best number is "I Have Confidence" which shows off her
soprano range to full advantage, sending chills up your
spine. The two duets with the Captain, the exuberant
"Sound of Music'' reprise and "Something Good", their
love ballad are tenderly rendered. ( I am extremely glad
they used the majestic melody of "Something Good" as the
love song in the show because the original song, ''An
Ordinary Couple" is so dirge like and dreadful it should
have been titled Something Bad.) Sarah's strong acting
ability shines through in her dialogue with the Captain,
the children and the Abbess. She breathes new life into
this well known role, making it fresh to this very
appreciative audience. The debonair and dashing John
Davidson tackles the role of the Captain with gusto.
Appearing in his first scene as a strict martinet who
runs his household like he ran his ship by whistling for
everyone. John shows how this stern man eventually melts
when he sees how Maria has brought life back into his
and his children's lives. He handles the comic moments
with ease especially the various whistle sounds and also
shows his tenderness during the love song with Sarah.
John's transition is wonderful, bringing tears to your
eyes when he sings "Sound of Music" with his children
and once again when he sings "Edelweiss" at the concert
while playing the guitar. ("Edelweiss" becomes more
poignant when you realize that it is the last song Oscar
Hammerstein wrote before his death in 1960. ) Kudos to
Sarah and John for a job well done as the leads in this
show.
The Mother Abbess is played by Jenny Lynn Stewart who
in real life is a very pretty blond. She has an
excellent soprano voice which soars off the scale in the
emotionally moving and tear jerking "Climb Every
Mountain" in both acts. Jenny also leads the nuns chorus
in "Dixit Dominus", "Rex Admirabilis", "Gaudeamus" and
"Confitemini Domino" and does a rowdy version of "My
Favorite Things" with Sarah. She portrays this kindly
older nun guiding the younger one to choose the right
path for her life and the removal of Maria's veil is
symbolic of leaving her old life behind to enter the
life she is meant to lead. The biggest scene stealer in
this show is Bob Freschi as Max Detweiler. He has
the many comic lines and makes them all hit pay dirt
with his timing and delivery. His counterpart in the
show is Elsa Schrader who is engaged to the Captain and
is played by Sylvia Rhyne. She has a lovely soprano
voice which she uses in my two favorite songs in the
show, "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It".
Sylvia and Bob sing about rich people's love surviving
all obstacles in the first one and they sing in three
part harmony with John in the latter one about how the
most important thing in the world should be oneself.
The Captain disagrees with their philosophy and shows it
by angrily strumming on his guitar during it.
Another highlight of this show is the seven
multitalented performers who play the children. From the
exuberance of "Do Re Mi" to the fright of "Lonely
Goatherd" to the excitement of "So Long Farewell" to the
harmonic tear jerking "Sound of Music" and the
frightened rendition of the concert numbers, these
children not only sing well but run the gamut of
emotions all night long with wonderful line deliveries
and facial expressions. These children move well onstage
and come across as real children not mechanical ones.
The talented children are 19 year old Molly O'Neal as
Liesl who is a sophomore at Tisch School of the Arts, 13
year old Steven Krueger as Friedrich who is an eighth
grader who recently played Charlie Brown, 12 year old
Deana Michelle Foltz as the mischievous, Louisa who
played Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun" and has 3
auditions for shows in the near future, 12 year old
Christian Johansen as Kurt who has been acting since he
was four and is playing the lead in " That's Andy", a Broadway
bound musical (he hits a high G perfectly in "So Long
Farewell), Charlotte Horan as Brigitta who is a third
grader and appeared on PBS ( she has many lines in the
show as the truth teller and delivers them like an old
pro), Claire Dickson as Marta who is eight years old and
appeared in "As You Like It" and "The Christmas Revels''
and Ashley Learned Kamal as Gretl who is five and a half
years old and is making her debut, sings with perfect
pitch and is carrying on as the third generation of
Learned's on the Reagle stage. Molly also gets to sing
"Sixteen Going on Seventeen" with Garett Hawe as Rolf
and the reprise with Sarah who as Maria explains "Love
isn't love till you give it away". Molly and Garett do a
dance to the song with a cute kiss at the end of it.
Garett handles the transition from naive boy to hated
Nazi very well and the character redeems himself by
allowing the Von Trapps to escape from Herr Zeller and
the Nazis. Zeller is well played by Dave McGuire who
gets to yell and scare everyone in the show. The
housekeeper and butler are played by married
couple, Aurelie and Stan Alger who handle their comic
lines with ease while the three nuns who brighten up the
show with their antics during "Maria" and other scenes
are played by Marian Rambelle, Rachelle Riehl and Margie
Quinlan. So for a topnotch rendition of one of the most
beloved musicals of all times, be sure to catch "The
Sound of Music" in Waltham, MA. You won't be
disappointed.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC ( 11 -20 August, 2005)
Reagle Players, Waltham High School,
617 Lexington
Street, Waltham, MA
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