Theater Review: The Sound of Music

SARASOTA – The dunes of Sarasota are alive with The Sound of Music. And let me tell you, this is exactly what this Doctor of Psychology ordered. The Asolo Rep kicked off its 2019-2020 season with the Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein’s iconic musical Saturday night. A contemporary production of this piece has big shoes to fill, and at the Asolo Rep, the shoes fit splendidly!

Maria Rainer (Maddie Shea Baldwin) bellowed a forceful yet mellifluous soprano and echoed the Abbey’s cloister and the streets and alleys of Nunnberg. And though having the vocal range that other artists have provided, she was able to be endearing without being saccharine, and give a new life and verve to this cherished role.

Captain Georg von Trapp (Tally Sessions) entrances the audience and the postulant with his velvety baritone but remains so lovingly soft with his children. Mother Abbess’ (Liz McCartney) soul filled with grace and dignity exploded in "Climb Every Mountain.“ The other iconic numbers of "My favorite Things,“ "Do Re Mi“ and "Edelweiss“ brought the house down.

The book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse outlines infant, child and adolescent development exemplified by each one of the von Trapp children. The cherubic Gretl (Cora Messer), sweet Marta (Allie McLaughlin), rebellious Louisa (Raina Lynn Khatami), literate Brigitta (Sophia Cavaluzzi), brave Kurt (Tyler Gevas) and towering Friedrich (Judah Immanuel) topped off by the gushing with adolescent first love Liesel (Sophie Lee Morris) captivate the audience with their energy, poise and vocal talent. They all have their wonderful, playful and at times devious personalities enshrined in the book. With Rogers and Hammerstein’s melodies, they just radiated with contagious joy.

Rolf Gruber (Cole Doman) had the hardest acting job, as he had to morph from teen heartthrob into Nazi operative. The Baroness Elsa Schraeder (Kate Loprest) and Max (Darren Matthias) were featured in this production, which included several duets absent in the movie version. Of course Frau Schmidt (Ann Morrison) provided the drapes soon to be converted into play clothes.

Direction by Josh Rhodes moved the piece seamlessly and his choreography mastered the perfectly symmetrical, graceful but slow movement of the nuns in the Abbey was perfect. Music Director by Jordan Cunningham gave us the full sound that we are so accustomed to hearing in this score, even with limited personnel in the orchestra pit.

I do not presume to question the post-traumatic stress disorders of people who complain about being beaten by the nuns in America’s parochial schools, or the other horrors of that period. But these nuns are more than benign, to say the least. Just as "Righteous among the Nations“ who shepherded Jews away from the holocaust, these nuns hid and shielded one of their own members and her new family from servitude and detention by the Third Reich. Then, as now, protecting the persecuted and the hunted is as inspiring and moving as portrayed in this wonderful production. Don’t mess with the moral compass of these nuns. That is one wall you do not want to climb.

The Second Act confronts the audience with the advances of the Anschluss and encroachments of the nefarious powers of the Third Reich. The Germans claimed Austria, as their own. Does this sound familiar? When we think about this piece, we must appreciate the freshness of the wounds that these struggles dramatized, after all it was first produced in 1959. That was only 14 years after the end of the Second World War.

The auditorium of the Asolo was draped in the Swastikas of the Third Reich’s flag during the penultimate scene of the concert at Nonnberg Abbey. The effect was instese. Indeed it gave me shivers to see those red flags with black and white markings peppered throughout the auditorium.

The Sound of Music continues its run at the Asolo Repertory Theatre through December 28. To purchase tickets call 941- 351 8000 or 800 361 8388 or visit www.asolorep.org.