BY SAM DESMOND
In this touching and poignant production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, “The Sound of Music,” director Jordan Hue captured the fragility of life’s joys while simultaneously celebrating the human spirit.
The Von Trapp family, a brood of seven young performers who worked so synergistically well together in contrast to austere Captain Von Trapp, portrayed with a touching sense of loss and newfound stability by Steve Corbellini, executed long-standing crowd favorites like “Do-Re-Mi” with freshness and a true emotional core.
Katie Ferretti, as the central character, Maria Rainer, sporting a Zooey Deschanel haircut, was luminous in her role with her restrained elegance, and strong but gentle convictions of bringing joy to the Von Trapp children’s lives.
When the inevitable Nazi aggression infiltrates the Von Trapp’s idyllic lives, Ferretti manages to transform the character’s bubbly enthusiasm in steadfast resolve as she supports her husband’s convictions to remain independently true to his Austrian nationality.
Matthew W. Surico’s lead as music director was enchanting and swelled to fill the audience with dreamy, inspiring overtures amidst a background of oppression and survival.
The final rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” by the Mother Abbess (played by Emily Nadler as alternately a fairy godmother and sagacious grandmother to Ferretti’s Maria) was moving and devastating in its contrasting hopeful message and dire reality.
Such is the key to “The Sound of Music”—an interplay of a beautiful land and existence with such stark fascism threatening the lives of all who stand in its way, and an interplay the cast was keenly aware of in their performance.
In a type of Cassandra-tragic role, Brigitta (Kendel Gravano) offers her wise-beyond-her-years observations with humor for the first act, but a knowing doom in the second when the Nazi threat looms closer.
Courtney O’Shea as Liesl Von Trapp and Will Brennan as beau Rolf Gruber captured the corrupting infestation of politics on untouched innocence as their budding romance begins to crumble with Rolf’s new allegiances.
Brennan’s character arc, from lovesick teenager to a strong “Heil!”, to an instinctual protector, was moving and realistic and worthy of tears.
Ronnie Green as Max Detweiler provided some much-needed comic relief with excellent delivery and hilarious affectations. In his final scene announcing the conscription of Captain Von Trapp, Green echoed the inverse of his character in a previous production of “Cabaret” at a vintage microphone stand, ushering in the death march.
This timely interpretation and presentation of “The Sound of Music” is a must for all lovers of musical theater and all who dare to dream in the face of crushing oppression.
