The Rogers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music is more than a story of a young postulant who marries a handsome naval captain, becomes step-mother to his seven children and flees from the Nazi’s over the mountains to Switzerland and freedom.
It is a story about hope, the importance of love, faith and the strength of the human spirit.
In this new production which marks 50 years since the making of the award-winning 1965 Robert Wise movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, all those themes remain as relevent today as they were in 1938, which is what gives the musical such lasting universal appeal with audiences of all ages.
Danielle Hope made her professional West End debut in 2011, as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, after winning the BBC TV show, Over the Rainbow. Her performance here, puts her up there with a small handful of leading West End ladies currently at the top of their game.
She plays the role of ‘wayward’ Maria to perfection, her voice is pure, her diction perfect and she stays true to the original melodic lines, unlike Petula Clark in the 1981 West End revival of the show, which was the last production of this musical I saw. She pitches the comic moments perfectly while maintaining an innocence and naivety and she reveals a steely side to her character when holding the family together as they get ready to flee over the mountains to Switzerland.
However, there are two stars in this show. Jan Hartley as the Mother Abbess almost steals the accolades from Danielle. She is quite superb, She is patient, she is wise and she is compassionate. Her rendition of Climb Every Mountain at the end of the first half had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end as they did in the finale reprise. The song is about hope and making a place for yourself in this difficult world we live in. The audience really understood it and warmed to this fine artist.
For the Sound of Music to resonate with audiences in 2015 a successful casting of the children is vital. On opening night the children did not let their professional colleagues down. All had strong singing voices, moved beautifully in the choreographed sections and as a group commanded the stage.
Liesl played by Grace Chapman was mature beyond her years, Kurt played by Lewis Jamieson was cute while Gretl played by Elena Cervesi still had trouble singing because of her sore finger.
Sarah Soetaert’s classy portrayal of Elsa Schraeder was at times poignant and left me feeling sorry for her as she stood aside to give Maria a free run at marrying the Captain.
Howard Samuels captured the ‘spiv’ side of Max Detweiler perfectly in his performance. Max would sell his grandmother to get what he wants. Accept he is a loveable rogue and his character becomes more bearable.
The comic moments provided by Sisters Margaretta, Berthe and Sophia are played with lovely irony by Zoe Ann Bown, Jessica Sherman and Grace Gardner. One sister plays tough guy, one sister plays soft guy while the other sister sits on the fence when it comes to Maria. They make a great team.
Steven Houghton’s performance of Captain von Trapp left me somewhat cold I am afraid. He sung his main number Edelweiss, beautifully but his characterisation of the captain just did not connect with me. It did not help that much of his dialogue was delivered in ‘upper class’ English, more Downton Abbey than Vienna in 1938.
This production is a winner and really deserves a visit.
Show runs at the Congress Theatre till Saturday, July 18 with matinees at 2.30pm on Thursday and Saturday.