Theater Reviews

Mar 15, 2001 - The Hills are Still Alive with Broadway's "The Sound of Music"

By Jack Neal

Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1959 musical about the Trapp Family Singers still packs a wallop with audiences everywhere. That was unbundantly clear Wednesday evening (3/14/2001) when the show opened a four day, five performance run at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. The large opening night auidience loved what it saw and heard.

Set in 1939 Austria, just at the time things were getting sticky with Hilter's Third Reich, "The Sound of Music" - as corny and saccharine as so much of it is, gets under the skin of even the most cynical; especially when it's given as engaging and charming a production as it's getting in Reno with this Troika Entertainment, non-union (yes, we've heard) production.

Swirling into town amid headlines ("The Sound of Strife") from out of town that proclaim star Barry Williams (Captain von Trapp in the show) is a turncoat on Actors Equity, the theater union he once belonged to, for hiring on (a reported $15,000 a week) with a non-union company. The controversy made it all the more important to see if Williams is worth risking the enmity of a theatrical union that controls virtually all of America's important theatrical venues.

Fortunately this is a review of the show, not a political analysis (albeit unions and guilds offer important protections for artists). Williams does make a warm, dignified and ultimately heroic Captain von Trapp. He sings well, moves with elegance and is more than up to the role's acting demands. All that is well and good. But he's not the best part of the show.

Jennifer Avery is. She's a superb Maria in every department. She sings well, erasing memories of Mary Martin and Julie Andrews who always hover over the part, is magnetic and makes the thin, hard-to-take silliness of Howard Russell and Linsday Crouse's book work in spite of itself. "The Sound of Music" is, after all, musical comedy - Hitler or not, and Avery's every moment on stage wipes away the leaps the story line takes from we've-just-met, to we're-about-to-be married, to an if-not-plausible, to an at-least tolerable level of acceptance.

She also does wonders for one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's weaker scores audiences just can't seem to get enough of. "The Sound of Music" itself is reprised at every drop of a swastika. "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" comes in a close second in the we-just-can't-get-it-out-of-our-ear department. Then they just pile up: "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "So Long, Farewell," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and "Edelweiss." They do make for a formidable collection of pretty good songs most everyone loves.

The excellence of the cast doesn't just stop at the top. It's firstrate all the way through. The kids are terrific. Brittany Pixton is a most attractive Elsa Schraeder, pretender to the hand of Captain von Trapp. Emily K. Herring avoids the pompousness of The Mother Abess making her moments with "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" restrained to the point of being nearly moving.

In fact all of the singing was top drawer and tastefully done. Kudos to conductor Bruce S. Rous, or was it Donald Horsburgh (the program credits both for being conductor and music director) for his attention to detail. Too bad he isn't given a large enough orchestra to really make things soar (Bruce Couglin has condensed Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations). The sets (Heidi Ettinger) and costumes (Catherine Zuber), purchased from Richard Chamberlain's Broadway starrer for "The Sound of Music," give the production a Broadway elegance that's nice to see in the provinces.

All other production credits are after someone else. Joe Bowerman's choreography is after Michael Lichtefeld's original choreography. Brian Hill's direction is after Susan H. Schulman's direction. Paul Miller's lovely lighting is after Paul Gallo's original lighting. All three gents are excellent carbon copiers.

But this "The Sound of Music" is far from being just another carbon copy. With Jennifer Avery as Maria, Barry Williams as Captain von Trapp and a cast and crew that help both weave magic out of Rodgers and Hammerstien's smoke and mirrors, "The Sound of Music" continues endearingly on its hit ways.

"The Sound of Music" can be seen at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, through Saturday (3/17/2001). For information call 775-686-6600.