A powerful new production of the beloved musical The Sound of Music is captivating audiences at the Curve theatre in Leicester. Directed by Nikolai Foster, this revival delivers the expected nuns and Nazis but also honours the story's profound serious intent, creating a richly entertaining and deeply moving experience.
A Story of Melody and Meaning
While the show is famous for its lashings of melody and a love story that pricks the eyes, Foster's production ensures its weightier themes are not lost. The real-life story of the Von Trapp family's flight from occupied Austria becomes a potent tale of personal loss, political integrity, and the healing power of music. This was the final musical from the legendary duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, with the lyricist Hammerstein dying just months after its 1959 opening.
The iconic tunes come thick and fast, with the title song launching a first half driven by Maria's dreams and desires. Molly Lynch delivers a tremendous performance as Maria, scrambling over the rocks of Michael Taylor's impressive mountain set with rambunctious vim. She is endearingly full-throttle, more pagan than pious, and launches into her numbers with the energetic flourish of a guitar hero.
Damaged Men and Healing Harmonies
The musical world is dominated by high, female voices, from the warmly harmonising nuns led by Joanna Riding's abbess to the piping children and the blazing Maria. In contrast, David Seadon-Young's Captain von Trapp is a walking wounded, a bearishly ill-at-ease figure caught in a grief that disfigures his family life.
He seems profoundly lost in this soundscape, a feeling that intensifies with the political backdrop. Male authority, especially after the Anschluss, is confined to flat, humourless dialogue. The mood cools considerably with the first Hitler salute, a stark reminder of the darkness encroaching on this world.
A Production Rippling with Feeling
Foster's direction ensures the production ripples with genuine feeling, particularly in a first half packed with what the review rightly calls 'the bangers' – one lilting tune after another. Hammerstein's lyrics remain drolly unforced, and Rodgers' melodies are filtered to an alpine purity.
The second half is busier with plot and reprises, but it contains a standout moment: Seadon-Young delivers 'Edelweiss' with a memorably forlorn defiance that captures the character's core conflict. At the heart of it all, Lynch's Maria helps the von Trapp children, played by one of three alternating casts, to play again. A bed becomes a galleon, walls shuffle aside to make room for romps, and the children wonderfully embrace Ebony Molina's lolloping choreography.
This is a revival that understands the show's central characters are all adrift with loss, and it savours the journey of how music helps them find their way. The Sound of Music runs at Curve theatre, Leicester, until 17 January.
