Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy
Vote of No ‘Confidence’
Back-to-basics musical swaps out newer songs for faster pacing and stronger relationships
Columbus doesn’t have many hills of note, but later in January, they’re sure to be alive with the sound of…
Well, you get the idea.
Broadway Across America brings director Jack O’Brien’s new production of The Sound of Music to the Ohio Theatre for eight showings from Jan. 26-31.
The production has been stripped down and promises to be unlike many of the productions that have come before it. O’Brien – three-time Tony Award-winner for Hairspray, Henry IV and The Coast of Utopia – decided to show The Sound of Music as it was in 1959.
“(O’Brien) just looked and saw what was there and just went right for it,” says Ted Chapin, president of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, which owns the rights to the famous duo’s musicals. “There were discoveries to be found, because as the cast was rehearsing this, it was like ‘Wow, look at this. How interesting is this?’”
Audiences should not expect to see “I Have Confidence,” the number that, in the 1965 film, takes Maria from the Nonnberg Abbey to the von Trapp house. In addition, “The Lonely Goatherd” replaces the film’s “My Favorite Things” during the thunderstorm that scares the von Trapp children into Maria’s bedroom.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy
Vote of No 'Confidence'
Other fan favorites did make the cut, though, such as “So Long, Farewell,” “Do-Re-Mi” and the personal favorite of Ashley Brown, who plays the Mother Abbess: “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.”
“I can’t help it. I love singing that song. I mean, I hate to pick my own song to say it’s my favorite, but I do, I just love it, I love the simplicity of it,” says Brown. “It’s an honor to be able to sing the national anthem of musical theater every night.”
At age 33, Brown, who toured the U.S. as the title character in Mary Poppins in 2009-10, will be the youngest Mother Abbess in Broadway history.
“When (O’Brien) called and asked me if I would play the part, I was like, ‘Um, I might be a little young. You know I’m only 30?’ but he had a brand new idea of what to do with these roles and how the relationship between the Mother Abbess and Maria was going to be really different,” Brown says. “That’s kind of what drew me. … I was taking a role that’s been done a lot of times and truly making it my own without having a prior example.”
Because this production features such a young Mother Abbess, both Chapin and Brown said the relationship between her and Maria will be different than in any production before.
“The Mother Abbess in this production is extraordinary. She’s the youngest Mother Abbess ever, but she’s somebody who has a killer voice, and she has a kind of maturity to her,” Chapin says.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy
Vote of No 'Confidence'
“I think it just makes the relationship between her and Maria more interesting. She’s not in a resolute place, the Mother Abbess, you know?” Brown says. “In past productions, it’s like she’s the old lady who knows everything, and she just tells how it’s done. … The show doesn’t start where the Mother Abbess ends.”
Audiences may be pleased to hear something else that was changed for this production: O’Brien completely removed blackouts.
“Jack feels quite strongly that modern audiences don’t tolerate (blackouts); modern audiences want it to keep moving,” Chapin says. “They’re happening in a way that doesn’t stand in the way of the story being told. It’s modern.”
Despite the changes, Chapin says, audiences will feel like they’re “revisiting an old friend” during the production.
“I’m very proud of the production. I think it’s wonderful,” Chapin says. “Audiences who love The Sound of Music will be more than satisfied because they will be revisiting an old friend, and they will walk away thinking, ‘I didn’t realize this or that about that old friend,’ and that’s perfect as far as I’m concerned.”
Even longtime fans of the stage and film versions of The Sound of Music will find excitement and suspense in O’Brien’s production right up until the end.
“I think Jack has really just gotten down to the bottom of the material,” Brown says. “The relationships are different, and I feel like the stakes are higher.”
O’Brien and the design team are all multiple-time Tony winners, Chapin says, and all of them are 100 percent dedicated to the show.
“This is an extraordinarily positive, exciting rehearsal period,” Chapin says. “I think the audiences in Columbus will be very, very pleased by it.”
Amanda DePerro is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
RELATED READS
-Chef and former actor Jim Yue
