The 1959 hit musical Sound of Music has one of the best scores ever written with wonderful Richard Rodgers tunes that tug at the heartstrings, delightful moments of gentle humour from Oscar Hammerstein II and an authentic grim context that still resonates today with the daily news of invasions. It would be tough to fail in mounting a revival of this glorious musical but equally difficult to escape the memory of Julie Andrews's performance in the 1965 film. Chichester Festival’s wonderful revival directed by Adam Penford certainly manages to not only do the stage show full justice but also beautifully differentiate itself from the memorable film version and magically make the most of the theatre’s tricky thrust stage.
The design by Robert Jones focuses us on the monastic lifestyle that oppresses Maria's free spirit but also creates a sense of entrapment by the mountains around the Von Trapp home as the Nazi sympathisers and invaders start to circle with the huge grey-streaked cyclorama cliff face and walls framing all the action. The design cleverly and slickly allows more intimate settings to be created in the Abbesses office and grounds of the nunnery and the Von Trapp’s Hall, bedroom and veranda as well as evocatively creating the Salzburg Festival stage with the powerful presence of the occupying forces. It does mean we don’t see the wonderful mountain scenery so memorably showcased in the film for “The Sound of Music” or the final uplifting escape over the mountains to the reprise of “Climb every mountain” and the staging with Maria laying on the floor of a rising trap in the first and climbing through the auditorium for the latter are compromises that don’t quite have the same joyous sense of freedom as in the original.
This is a musical that revolves around the female characters and Chichester has a very fine cast who each grab the chance to delight us in the delivery of their songs. The opening sequence in the nunnery with “Maria” and “My Favourite Things” is a wonderfully evocative and joyous celebration led by an outstanding Mother Abbess, Janice Kelly, a very good set of supporting nuns including Wendy Ferguson, Julia Nagle and Laura Chia and a brilliant Gina Beck returning to the Chichester stage as the charmingly innocent Maria. They together delightfully create a strong sense of both their strict chosen lifestyle but also the caring human and humour side beneath the wimples. As always, the closing Act 1, “Climb Every Mountain” provides an emotionally charged highlight with Kelly’s rich operatic tones filling the auditorium.The choreography by Lizzie Gee is wonderfully fresh and precise, especially with the Von Trapp children led by Liesl (Lauren Conroy). The routine with Rolf (Dylan Mason) around the fountain in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” is romantically sweet filling the stage with the sense of young love that is so critical to the final scenes in the Nunnery. The six other children are all perfectly cast (although their ages don’t quite match their heights in the line up!) and bring joyous delight to their songs “The Lonely Goatherd”, “So Long, Farewell” and the powerful and emotional reprise of “The Sound of Music “ with the Captain (Edward Harrison). The transitions of acceptance of Maria by the nuns, then the children and finally the Captain are beautifully and authentically played as each melt under her sparkling and engaging personality.
There are strong supporting performances too from Penelope Woodman as Frau Schmidt, William Ilkley and Franz, Emma Williams as Elsa Schraeder and Ako Williams as Max Detweiler each adding their own nuances and impact to the relationship between the Captain and Maria and displaying the tensions created by love and the German invasion. Their behaviour and responses feel real through the songs “How can love survive?” and “No Way to stop it” doesn’t quite resonate as strongly as the other tunes and fade quickly from the memory. Though some may regard the musical as overly sentimental, this is a musical that has always grabbed me musically and emotionally as it builds to a dramatic and powerful conclusion in each act. The final songs “Edelweiss”, “So Long, Farewell” and “Climb every mountain” from the stage of the Festival, so full of patriotism, sadness and hope are as strong a finish to a show as in any musical over the following sixty years.This is a title that deserves to run and run and a production that is certainly good enough to transfer to the West End if the rights allow. It shows that you don’t need to always reinvent classic shows to still make them relevant and enjoyable for a 21st-century audience, when they are this good and cast well, they still engage, delight and thrill their audiences.
Review by Nick Wayne
Rating: ★★★★
Seat: Row K, Stalls | Price of Ticket: £47
