At the Stanley until January 5, 2020
Tickets from $39 at artsclub.com or 604-687-1644. Some performances already showing ‘Limited Availability’
Posted November 16, 2019
Overheard in the Stanley lobby after the curtain came down on the opening night of The Sound of Music: “And those kids. On a scale of one to ten, they’re a twelve”. It’s true. And the seven von Trapp youngsters aren’t merely incidental to the plot; they’re pivotal to the romance between Maria (Synthia Yusuf) and Captain Georg von Trapp (Jonathan Winsby). From sixteen-going-on-seventeen Liesl (Jolene Bernardino) to three year old Gretl (Naomi Tan) and all the von Trapp children in between, these young performers are real troopers. And I hear they’re a load of fun backstage, too; twirling around in their costumes and jumping in and out of a big overstuffed chair. I love the job title – The Wrangler – whose task it is to keep the kids happy, under control (more or less) and back on stage when their cues come up.
I confess I was not excited at the prospect of seeing The Sound of Music although I have never seen it on stage before. But I’ve been roped into watching the movie more times than I care to remember. Music is by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Every song is so capital ‘I’ iconic. The swelling music, the swelling emotions. It’s all too much. But, damn, when the rigid disciplinarian Captain von Trapp finally breaks down and sings with his children, all clustered around him, my silly heart went pit-a-pat.
Directed by Arts Club Artistic Director Ashlie Corcoran, this is a splendid production from Drew Facey’s handsome set and costumes to Itai Erdal’s lighting, Shelley Stewart Hunt’s choreography and Ken Cormier’s musical direction. Without being ‘Christmassy’, it’s the ideal family show for over the holiday season. At over two-and-a-half hours, it’s long so you don’t want to take a three-year-old but it’s perfectly manageable for older kids. Teenagers may think it’s not cool but might blush if you catch then singing along to “Do-Re-Mi” or “My Favourite Things”.
Young and leggy Synthia Yusuf, a Capilano University Musical Theatre Program graduate, makes a coltish Maria, a credible tomboy who is not doing well as a postulant at an abbey close to the von Trapp hillside estate. Yusuf, with her lovely clear voice, exudes confidence despite the unavoidable comparison to Julie Andrews who made her career singing the role. Andrews was thirty when she played the role; Yusuf is much younger but very self-assured. The age difference between von Trapp – a widower with seven kids – is a bit creepy but, hey, it’s theatre and, besides, Jonathan Winsby (as von Trapp) comes across as fairly young, too. Winsby, of course, has a voice to make your heart beat faster; he’s handsome, he’s endearing even when his character is calling his children by blowing a whistle – as if piping them aboard their own home. A retired naval officer, von Trapp is all about “discipline, decorum and orderliness”.
The Mother Abbess (Annie Ramos) and several of the nuns ponder over what to do with Maria when they sing “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” Tiny Ramos must be all lungs; she blows the Stanley apart when she sings “Climb Every Mountain”. What the Abbess does with Maria is send her away from the abbey for a while to be the governess for the von Trapp children. Maria turns the household upside down and von Trapp, engaged to Baroness von Schraeder (the lovely Meghan Gardiner), falls in love with her.
It’s pre-WWII Austria and Hitler is on the move. Hinted at throughout the musical, the darkness of the period doesn’t really have an impact until late in the play. But (if you can believe von Trapp) he, Maria and seven kids ranging from three to sixteen will make it on foot over the snowy mountains to safety in Switzerland and the story will have a happy ending.
Credit: Emily Cooper
It’s a good production, the voices are all extremely fine and the kids (including Georgia Acken, Jolene Bernardino, Quinlin Koebel-Pearce, Jaime MacLean, Fontaine Molyneaux-Behgooy, Naomi Tan and Xandrie Umandal) are real pros.
If you absolutely can’t refrain from singing along, there are two Sing-along Performances: December 26 at 7:30 PM and January 4 at 2PM.
Be warned: all those iconic songs are major ear worms. Leaving the theatre and walking down Granville Street after the show, I heard snatches of “Edelweiss”, “My Favourite Things” and “Do-Re-Mi” from departing theatre-goers. Three days post-show, I still catch myself singing “The hills are alive/With the sound of music”.
At opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum, the East Van Panto: Pinocchio (York Theatre, November 20-January 5) and The Sound of Music are sure bets for holiday family entertainment. Both will sell out early.
Credit: Emily Cooper