Post by Brae on Jan 2, 2010 11:31:26 GMT -5
I wrote this right after I saw the show, but kept forgetting to post it...
The Sound of Music. Everyone knows this show, mostly because of the Julie Andrews/Christopher Plummer movie, I mean, who HASN’T seen it at one point or another.
In the Summer of 2008, the CBC imported a BBC “reality” show called “How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?”, where Andrew Lloyd Webber found a Maria for the London revival of The Sound of Music he was producing.
From that CBC show, ALW, Mirvish Productions and the Toronto Revival found a Maria (and an alternate). I wasn’t impressed with either girl & decided not to go. But, like with the Twilight books, I decided I needed first hand knowledge in order to have an opinion, rather then an assumption, based on 2nd hand thoughts. So off I went.
I was happy that the stage version restores several songs to their original places. For example, “My Favourite Things” takes place between Maria and the Mother Abbess, “Do-Re-Mi” when Maria first meets the Children and “Lonely Goatherd” during the Thunderstorm. Also added were some of the songs written for the movie, such as “I Have Confidence”. Several small changes in the plot/script between play & movie make a big difference; I will get to those as I get to the affected characters.
Moving on…
Cast – in order of appearance (for the most part).
The Mother Abbess (Noella Huet) – This woman was fantastic! Her credits are by & large, Operatic. Her renditions of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” were both fantastic!
Maria (Elicia MacKenzie) – *groan* The one “Canada” chose on that casting show. I just don’t know where to begin. Well, my brother told me she couldn’t decide on an accent when he saw her in the spring, he should know she has narrowed it down to 2. Really bad English and worse English with her Canadian accent seeping through (in both cases). What we have here is someone trying so hard to be Julie Andrews playing Maria and failing. She never connected with the role, her fellow actors or her audience. Poor acting, poor choices with the character equal one giant TRAIN WRECK! If she won the show, I would hate to see what the runner up is like. I am of the opinion, that this musical, no matter how good the rest of the cast is; it is only as good as it’s Maria. And this Maria was dreadful (among many other adjectives, all meaning pretty much the same thing). I have heard she has been cast as the female lead in Rock of Ages … Darn! I really wanted to see that!
The Nuns [Sisters Berthe, Margaretta & Sophia] (Jayne Lewis, Mary Ellen Mahoney, Jennie Such) – All were very good, and quite comical when they needed to be.
Frau Schmidt (Brigitte Robinson) & Franz (James Kall) – I don’t know what it is about them, but I really liked them. Neither role is large, but both are necessary.
Captain von Trapp (Simon Burke) – He’s only been in the role for a just over a week, is still re-discovering the role after an absence of a few years (having played it opposite the winner of the BBC reality show). He plays the role well & has good connection with his fellow actors, including the kids. Obviously not Maria though.
Liesl (Sarah Higgins u/s) – She was fine. I thought she was a little too whiny & “pouty”, which is how I think the role should be played in the early stages of the show, however there is a fine line. She hasn’t found it. But I can over look that, as the fine line wasn’t crossed by much. Comedic timing hasn’t been found yet, but she is sings well enough, and worked well with the children.
The Children von Trapp – I am not the type of critique children. That is not my thing. They are kids, I just can’t do it. But some things I noticed A) Gretel was too adorable for words! B) Friedrich says he’s 14 … actor looks MAYBE 12 C) It is Brigitta that notices Maria and the Captain have fallen for each other, not the Baroness. In fact the Baroness has nothing to do with Maria returning to the Abbey. She does it all on her own accord.
Rolf (Louie Rossetti) – He was very good in a role that doesn’t have much to it other then one song and a few appearances on stage. Rolf’s character makeup is different on stage then it is in the movie. First off all, yes, he still joins the Hitler Youth, but it is him that gives a strong HINT disguised as a harsh warning that perhaps the von Trapps should waste no time fleeing. He is still the one who finds them hiding in the garden of the Abbey, but instead of turning them in he gives the all clear and the SS leaves. These are two small changes in script. That means nothing apart from each other. But together, affect how one perceives the character.
Baroness Schraeder (Blythe Wilson) – I last saw her as Donna in the Toronto Closing Cast of Mamma Mia. Good then, and good here, in two different roles. As I touched on above, she is not the one to essentially drive Maria back to the Abbey as it is in the movie. And she and the Captain end their engagement on stage, due to differing opinions on Austria, Germany and the War at hand.
Max Detweiler (Keith Dinicol) – I really enjoyed his performance. Charming, charismatic, funny, serious and loveable. Everything the character should be.
Herr Zeller (Warren Kimmel) – Small role, played well. There isn’t much more I could say about this.
The remaining roles are all ones where the person may have been on stage for 2 seconds, but the character was named so it got a credit in the cast list. However the 3 men, who played the Trio at the festival for all of maybe 5 seconds, brought much needed humour to the moment. Between the Swastikas surrounding the theatre (creepy and unsettling) and the level of suck!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Toys! The Theatre Tech TOYS!! I want them! The opening (Hills are Alive) and the Finale (the Climbing of the mountain) was done on what I can only describe as this large slate hovering about 3 feet off of the floor of the stage (but not a rising part of the floor), that begins on almost a 90 degree angle and levels off, after Maria “stands up”, to allow her to run around for the rest of the song. After Maria exists (Stage Left naturally) it is then raised into the gods for the rest of the show. It returns at the end where it is tilted nearly 80 degrees (eventually) in the other direction to simulate the family walking over the mountain into Switzerland. I also liked how the von Trapp Villa was constructed and utilized. And, the large scrim over the audience for the concert festival scene was nice too.
The Nuns and a few Male members of the Ensemble entertained the Audience with Christmas Carols before the show and at Intermission for a donation (which will then be split among several Toronto Charities after the holiday season). They are very good.
So, on the “Brae Scale” 10 being really good (Last Empress...) to 1 being crap (Hairspray at the Princess of Wales – resident Toronto), how does this one rank?
1.5. The Christmas season had me feeling generous.
The Sound of Music. Everyone knows this show, mostly because of the Julie Andrews/Christopher Plummer movie, I mean, who HASN’T seen it at one point or another.
In the Summer of 2008, the CBC imported a BBC “reality” show called “How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?”, where Andrew Lloyd Webber found a Maria for the London revival of The Sound of Music he was producing.
From that CBC show, ALW, Mirvish Productions and the Toronto Revival found a Maria (and an alternate). I wasn’t impressed with either girl & decided not to go. But, like with the Twilight books, I decided I needed first hand knowledge in order to have an opinion, rather then an assumption, based on 2nd hand thoughts. So off I went.
I was happy that the stage version restores several songs to their original places. For example, “My Favourite Things” takes place between Maria and the Mother Abbess, “Do-Re-Mi” when Maria first meets the Children and “Lonely Goatherd” during the Thunderstorm. Also added were some of the songs written for the movie, such as “I Have Confidence”. Several small changes in the plot/script between play & movie make a big difference; I will get to those as I get to the affected characters.
Moving on…
Cast – in order of appearance (for the most part).
The Mother Abbess (Noella Huet) – This woman was fantastic! Her credits are by & large, Operatic. Her renditions of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” were both fantastic!
Maria (Elicia MacKenzie) – *groan* The one “Canada” chose on that casting show. I just don’t know where to begin. Well, my brother told me she couldn’t decide on an accent when he saw her in the spring, he should know she has narrowed it down to 2. Really bad English and worse English with her Canadian accent seeping through (in both cases). What we have here is someone trying so hard to be Julie Andrews playing Maria and failing. She never connected with the role, her fellow actors or her audience. Poor acting, poor choices with the character equal one giant TRAIN WRECK! If she won the show, I would hate to see what the runner up is like. I am of the opinion, that this musical, no matter how good the rest of the cast is; it is only as good as it’s Maria. And this Maria was dreadful (among many other adjectives, all meaning pretty much the same thing). I have heard she has been cast as the female lead in Rock of Ages … Darn! I really wanted to see that!
The Nuns [Sisters Berthe, Margaretta & Sophia] (Jayne Lewis, Mary Ellen Mahoney, Jennie Such) – All were very good, and quite comical when they needed to be.
Frau Schmidt (Brigitte Robinson) & Franz (James Kall) – I don’t know what it is about them, but I really liked them. Neither role is large, but both are necessary.
Captain von Trapp (Simon Burke) – He’s only been in the role for a just over a week, is still re-discovering the role after an absence of a few years (having played it opposite the winner of the BBC reality show). He plays the role well & has good connection with his fellow actors, including the kids. Obviously not Maria though.
Liesl (Sarah Higgins u/s) – She was fine. I thought she was a little too whiny & “pouty”, which is how I think the role should be played in the early stages of the show, however there is a fine line. She hasn’t found it. But I can over look that, as the fine line wasn’t crossed by much. Comedic timing hasn’t been found yet, but she is sings well enough, and worked well with the children.
The Children von Trapp – I am not the type of critique children. That is not my thing. They are kids, I just can’t do it. But some things I noticed A) Gretel was too adorable for words! B) Friedrich says he’s 14 … actor looks MAYBE 12 C) It is Brigitta that notices Maria and the Captain have fallen for each other, not the Baroness. In fact the Baroness has nothing to do with Maria returning to the Abbey. She does it all on her own accord.
Rolf (Louie Rossetti) – He was very good in a role that doesn’t have much to it other then one song and a few appearances on stage. Rolf’s character makeup is different on stage then it is in the movie. First off all, yes, he still joins the Hitler Youth, but it is him that gives a strong HINT disguised as a harsh warning that perhaps the von Trapps should waste no time fleeing. He is still the one who finds them hiding in the garden of the Abbey, but instead of turning them in he gives the all clear and the SS leaves. These are two small changes in script. That means nothing apart from each other. But together, affect how one perceives the character.
Baroness Schraeder (Blythe Wilson) – I last saw her as Donna in the Toronto Closing Cast of Mamma Mia. Good then, and good here, in two different roles. As I touched on above, she is not the one to essentially drive Maria back to the Abbey as it is in the movie. And she and the Captain end their engagement on stage, due to differing opinions on Austria, Germany and the War at hand.
Max Detweiler (Keith Dinicol) – I really enjoyed his performance. Charming, charismatic, funny, serious and loveable. Everything the character should be.
Herr Zeller (Warren Kimmel) – Small role, played well. There isn’t much more I could say about this.
The remaining roles are all ones where the person may have been on stage for 2 seconds, but the character was named so it got a credit in the cast list. However the 3 men, who played the Trio at the festival for all of maybe 5 seconds, brought much needed humour to the moment. Between the Swastikas surrounding the theatre (creepy and unsettling) and the level of suck!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Toys! The Theatre Tech TOYS!! I want them! The opening (Hills are Alive) and the Finale (the Climbing of the mountain) was done on what I can only describe as this large slate hovering about 3 feet off of the floor of the stage (but not a rising part of the floor), that begins on almost a 90 degree angle and levels off, after Maria “stands up”, to allow her to run around for the rest of the song. After Maria exists (Stage Left naturally) it is then raised into the gods for the rest of the show. It returns at the end where it is tilted nearly 80 degrees (eventually) in the other direction to simulate the family walking over the mountain into Switzerland. I also liked how the von Trapp Villa was constructed and utilized. And, the large scrim over the audience for the concert festival scene was nice too.
The Nuns and a few Male members of the Ensemble entertained the Audience with Christmas Carols before the show and at Intermission for a donation (which will then be split among several Toronto Charities after the holiday season). They are very good.
So, on the “Brae Scale” 10 being really good (Last Empress...) to 1 being crap (Hairspray at the Princess of Wales – resident Toronto), how does this one rank?
1.5. The Christmas season had me feeling generous.
