Chichester has recently established a reasonably high standard for producing West End-caliber musicals. This flawless production is not an exception. Rather than attempting to reimagine the greatest musical collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, director Adam Penford crafts a nuanced masterpiece that revels in its fidelity. The Nazi-era drama about Maria, a novitiate nun-turned-governor (Gina Beck) to the von Trapp family, made its Broadway debut in 1959. It is nevertheless a corny love story and a constantly happy tale of triumphing over hardship. But there could be a sincerity to it all here that really does make for entertaining.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hit songs
Not to mention, of course, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hit songs—is there any musical with as many well-known pieces as this one? Not only are they beautifully sung by each performer, but Lizzi Gee’s clever choreography adds a playful element to the performance. This is especially evident in the more lighthearted songs like “Do-Re-Mi,” which Maria teaches the kids to sing, and “The Lonely Goatherd,” which the kids run into when they hear thunder outside. The children in the row are adorable in their matching costumes, and their movements are so well planned that it seems as if operetta, dance, and musical theater have been combined into one.
Robert Jones’s set effortlessly transitions from a cathedral gray background to a pastel color scheme that evokes The Nutcracker and the von Trapp family’s former Austrian splendor.
Beck has Julie Andrews’s same hairdo and gorgeous wide-eyed glow from the 1965 film, along with an overall striking similarity. From the exuberant notes of her first performance forward, she carries all of her songs with a strong presence. She also has a perfectly balanced blend of honesty and mischievousness; we root for her to get romantically involved with the Captain (Edward Harrison) and wait for his heart to soften.
Striking likeness to Julie Andrews Maria, played by Gina Beck. {Image~: Manuel Harlan
Even if her role as Maria’s mentor has the makings of a motivational coach, lecturing about seeking God—and love—in pompous homilies, opera soprano Janis Kelly is great casting as Mom Abbess, especially with her lingering version of Climb Ev’ry Mountain. The whole e-book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse is shamelessly corny. We hear in a conversation between the captain and Maria that when God shuts one door, he opens another.
However, grim reality still seeps into the narrative, and this production gives an unsettling edge to the story’s closing moments, which take place after the Anschluss of 1938 and feature Nazi officers encircling the von Trapp family as they perform for their singing rivals in Salzburg. Harrison delivers an achingly clear version of Edelweiss, “Bless my homeland eternally,” and the song takes on ominous undertones. The stormtroopers could read the song’s innocent patriotism in a different way. The image of this family wearing traditional Austrian clothing may become a scene from the Aryan fantasy on stage, controlled by the Third Reich, who is trying to join the captain by force. The music’s lighthearted marching band overtones could also become a powerful martial pounding.
So, a musical romance that checks all the boxes: a line of youngsters performing, a group of nuns singing, plenty of upbeat tunes, and the von Trapp family’s successful flight into the Swiss Alps means that the Nazis are defeated. According to Julie Andrews, “What extra do you want?”
