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The Vontrapp Children (not in photo order): Margot Grom as Liesl, Alexander Mullins as Friedrich, Annabel Forman as Louisa, Jackson Higgason as Kurt, Jordan Darnell as Brigitta, Aine Steele as Marta & Violet Hicks as Gretl. Photo by Mikki Schaffner Photography.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC presented by Covedale Center for the Performing Arts through May 24. Click here for more information on the production. I attended the opening Friday performance.
Closing out the 2014-2015 season at the Covedale is a solidly cast production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
Angela Alexander Nalley as the Mother Abbess. Photo by Mikki Schaffner Photography.
Favorite numbers included: “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” performed by Margot Grom as Liesl & Mason Taylor as Rolf. Both handled the vocals, and the choreography by Dee Anne Bryll, well. The children’s acapella version of “The Sound of Music” that greeted their father’s return was extremely well-done. Angela Alexander Nalley sends the audience into intermission with an excellently-sung, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” The number “No Way to Stop It” featuring the trio of Captain Georg Von Trapp (Justin Glaser), Max Detweiler (John Langley) and Elsa Schrader (Laurie Wyant-Zenni), was well-staged number and both Langley and Wyant-Zenni brought nice characterizations to their respective roles.
For me, the show seemed to stumble on the technical side. I can’t say I was a fan of the pre-recorded music. The brass sounded tinny and there were volume issues throughout the performance. Several times, musical numbers that began acapella were jarred, by a faster-tempo track kicking in.
Justin Glaser as Captain Georg Von Trapp & Helen A. Raymond-Goers as Maria Rainer. Photo by Mikki Schaffner Photography.
I liked the idea of bringing the mountains into the set design, but the choice of colors were not ideal. The marble-ization technique used on the bigger white areas worked, but on smaller surfaces, such as the door frames, it read as dirt from my seat in the audience.
As the cyc carried the sky color all the way to the floor behind the set, I did find it distracting when every exit upstage exposed a burst of color to the audience. I also question why the stage curtain wasn’t pulled for some of the set changes. The show is written with small transitional scenes to be played in front of the curtain during theses changes. With the curtain open, the loud and hurried scene changes drew focus away from the performers downstage.
Overall a well-performed production, at times lacking in attention to detail, and with some technical issues.
My rating: 3.75 out of 5
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Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 