The Sound of Music

At the beginning of auditions, I told the girls the reason I love this musical: while most Golden Age musicals become less adn less relevant as time goes by, the opposite has happened to The Sound of Music. Despite the increasing number of blended families, portrayals of loving stepmothers remain unfortunately rare. Maria Rainer is one of the few, shining exceptions.

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Throughout rehearsals, the students have given me new reasons to love the show. Musicals can tell stories that would be too much -- too sincere, too direct, even too embarrassing to tell in any other way. We see redemption after redemption in this show, achieved through the power of song. Captain Von Trapp is welcomed back into his family, the Mother Abbess opens Maria's heart to a love she never expected, and seven children find the family they've craved since their mother's death. We even see the redemption arc of a Nazi sympathizer! It all happens quickly and sincerely. There is no emotional cover in this show. Everything is felt truly, deeply, and musically.

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Music allows us to access this unembarrassed streak of pure feeling in a way that spoken words never could. Just as Maria uses it as the key to unlock the Von Trapp family's regimented hearts, the musical opens our own eyes.

 

It may feel terrifying to consider changing, even for love and family. Captain Von Trapp has been so afraid of what will come flooding out if he opens his heart again that he has kept himself and his children frozen in grief and military efficiency for years. Music helps him to risk the act of bravery to reach out to his children...and shows us all that once we take the leap, the world is so much better on the other side.