Delray Beach is alive with the “The Sound of Music”
By Dale King and Julia Hebert
DELRAY BEACH– Delray Beach Playhouse has a real winner on its hands this holiday season. So it’s well worth taking the long and winding road to the theatre on the far shores of Lake Idato enjoy a fantastic production of “The Sound of Music.”
An excellent cast backed by a talented – and large – production staff and crew re-enacts the true story of the Trapp Family Singers. My wife and I have never seen the show, but have often viewed the movie footage of Julie Andrews singing the title song while the camera sweeps across the mountains of Austria behind her.
There is more to the Trapp Family Singers than just songs. If you see that the play was set in 1938 Austria, and you remember what was happening in Europe during that time – the rise of Nazism – you’ll know there’s a dark side to an otherwise light and airy play.
Director Randolph DelLago also reveals in his “turn off your cell phones” pre-show speech that when Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote this musical, Hammerstein was quite ill – and would die eight months after it was released in 1959. In the show is a song called “An Ordinary Couple,” written by Hammerstein as a tribute to his wife, knowing that his demise was imminent. As sung by Maria (Jeannette Thompson) and Capt. Von Trapp (Michael Cartwright), it offers a tearful double entendre. Please listen to the words.
“The Sound of Music” tells the story of a young postulant (a nun wannabe) named Maria who became a governess in the home of Capt. George Von Trapp, an autocratic Austrian Naval officer. It was an assignment that would eventually become her life’s work.
The songs in the show have become American standards, including “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” “You Are Sixteen,” “So Long, Farewell” and “Climb Every Mountain.” There’s even a non-Christmas song that’s become a holiday tradition, “My Favorite Things.”
The musical is a love story set against the rising tide of Hitler’s rule. The conclusion is an unexpected nail-biter.
There’s not a bad voice on the stage, but the show-stopping vocal came from a singer with magical vocal cords – Abby Bernstein, portraying Sister Margaretta. She sings “Climb Every Mountain” with a passion and fervor that reaches to your soul.
The youngsters are tuneful, too, grasping harmony with ease. Eldest child Liesl (Grace Perrotta) is outstanding, particularly singing “You are 16 going on 17.” (Actually, the Boca Raton High School student is 15 going on 16).
Her “siblings” are also happy tunesters: Emma Beers, Harrison Calder, Eva Gluck, Cosette Gresh, Camila Monrique and Madison Welz.
“The Sound of Music” plays through Dec. 16 at the Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 Lake Shore Drive, Delray Beach. Individual Tickets are $30. Student tickets are $15. For reservations, call the Box Office at (561) 523-0723 or contact the playhouse at delraybeachplayhouse@gmail.com.
