An enthusiastic audience celebrated the opening of the Mountain Play’s 100th season on Sunday, May 19, with a production that fills the hills with the sound of music and provides playgoers with a supremely satisfying experience.
The von Trapp children sing for Maria. (Photo: Robin & Chelsea McNally)
“The Sound of Music,” is one of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s most popular musicals, and the Mountain Play does justice to the Tony-Award-winning Broadway hit, with crowd-pleasing songs, engaging characters and a mountainside setting that makes it easy to get into the spirit of the show, which includes a love story, memorable music and the looming threat of the Nazis as they make inroads into Austria in the late 1930s.
Most members of the audience will be more familiar with the award-winning film from 1965, which starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, than the Broadway show that preceded it, premiering in 1959 with Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel in the lead roles. The Mountain Play, however, follows the stage production more closely and includes less familiar songs that were part of its playlist but didn’t make it into the film, so anyone who hasn’t heard the original soundtrack can expect some surprises.
The show opens with the nuns at the Nonnberg Abbey assembling for evening prayers, but someone is missing. Maria Rainer, portrayed by Heather Buck, is a postulant and a dreamer, who has lingered outdoors to enjoy the evening on the mountain, expressing her appreciation for the alpine environment in the signature song, “The Sound of Music.”
The nuns don’t know what to make of Maria, and so the Mother Abbess decides she needs a change and a chance to reflect on God’s plan for her, so she sends Maria to serve as governess to the seven von Trapp family children, who have lost their mother. Maria is enchanted with the children, and they quickly develop a bond through music, in songs such as ‘Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things.”
Buck captures Maria’s evolution deftly, as she makes the transformation from being a confused girl who is unsure of herself to woman who is decisive and confident as she takes action to save her family from danger. Meanwhile, Ryan Drummond as Captain Georg von Trapp goes from authoritarian to gentle as he gradually recognizes Maria’s beneficial effect on his children and eventually falls in love with her, while his fiancée Elsa Schraeder, ably played by Mountain Play favorite Susan Zelinsky, observes Maria with a wary eye.
The children are delightful, from Liesl (high-school senior Emily Libresco), the oldest, to Gretl (Elena Gnatek), the youngest. Claire Lentz, 12, has an important role as Brigitta, who never lies and whose perceptions are more astute than those of the adults. Chas Conacher as Rolf Gruber gets cheers from the audience for a heroic gesture, even as he espouses the Nazi party line.
Mother Abbess (Hope Briggs, left) inspires Maria with her advice in “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” (Photo: Robin and Chelsea McNally)
Hope Briggs as the Mother Abbess is a standout in “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.”
The ensemble of actors and dancers, musical director Deborah Chambliss and a 16-piece orchestra behind the stage, costume design by Patricia Polen and choreography by Dottie Lester-White all contribute to the overall effect.
Whereas film is fixed, every stage production is a different interpretation of the original, with its own characteristics to make it unique. That is demonstrated most obviously in the work of Ken Rowland, whose scenic design captures the time and place with clever revolving sets (with chairs attached) that make quick work of scene changes from the abbey to the von Trapp home to the Katzburg Festival’s concert hall.
Director Jay Manley adds his own special touches—the addition of brothers from a nearby monastery among them— and makes good use of the environment, so Mt. Tamalpais itself becomes part of the show, as Maria and Georg look to it in planning their escape over the mountain to Switzerland.
“The Sound of Music” is based on Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse’s book documenting the real-life von Trapp’s family’s flight from the Nazis, and that aspect of the story takes the production into some serious territory. The menace was real, and beyond the uplifting songs, the story is about the courage of one’s convictions and standing up for what is right. “I will not be heiled,” says Georg, after Leisl’s friend Rolf gives him the Nazi salute.
The Mountain Play’s endurance is a result of the quality of its production values and the loyalty of its supporters, and in its centennial season, “The Sound of Music” shows just how far it has come. It’s another fine chapter in a Marin tradition.
Performances are every Sunday through June 16 and on Saturday, June 8. Tickets range from $20 to $40 general admission, and children under 3 are free. Reserved seating, with cushions, starts at $56.
The free Mountain Play Express run shuttles from Tamalpais High School and the Manzanita parking lot every 15 minutes from 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and takes playgoers back down the mountain after the show.
For more information, go to www.mountainplay.org.