Trowbridge Amateur Operatic Society AN insurmountable aversion to Julie Andrews stopped me seeing Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical, The Sound of Music when the film version was released in 1964, or at any time since. I was probably one of the very few people in Monday’s first night audience at the Civic Hall who knew next to nothing about one of the most popular shows ever. So TAOS’ production came as a delightful surprise. From the opening bars of the title song, it caught the audience up in the romantic tale of Maria Rainer, the young postulant at Nonnberg Abbey who becomes governess to the children of an Austrian aristocrat. Watching Tracy Wall’s fresh and unaffected performance as Maria, what became blazingly obvious was the fact that Julie was horribly miscast. Even as a young woman, her sensible hairdo and matronly features were all at odds with Maria’s joyful personality and irrepressible youthfulness. Tracy Wall made sense of Maria. Her lovely voice and sweet smile made it impossible for the von Trapp children, or their starchy father – a suitably stiff-upper-lipped Peter Wilkinson – to resist her. Having enjoyed enormously the society’s last three productions, I expected quality performances from the principals – but The Sound of Music relies heavily on the young singers playing the Von Trapp children: all seven were stars. From Liesl – Sixteen, Going on Seventeen, in a charming performance by Jessica Hunter – to tiny Gretel – six-year-old Ruth Butler in a show-stealing performance that enchanted the entire audience – they not only sang beautifully, they could act well too. Megan Brand was particularly good in a demanding role as the bossy Birgitta, and Daniel Hallisey, Laura Maslen, William Holland and Sarah Hartigan brought real individuality to their roles. What is really remarkable is that the younger children are played by six more equally talented children on alternate nights, which certainly bodes well for the society’s future. TAOS regulars were in good voice in numerous supporting roles: Joan Francis as the Mother Abbess, Allison Lomax as Captain Von Trapp’s fiancée Elsa Schrader, Christopher Worthy as Liesl’s beau, Rolf, and Mike Kemp as the man who thought up the idea of the Von Trapp family singers, Max Detweiller. Tina Foxon and Patricia Davies were particularly well cast as Sister Margaretta and Sister Berthe – and indeed all the nuns looked and sounded remarkably authentic. The orchestra, conducted by Keith Lawley, put in an assured performance, and Paul Butler’s set design was effective and versatile, with HMP Erlestoke once again providing the construction skills. The costumes, too, were excellent – and must have provided the backstage assistants with a lot of quick changes. At the end of it all, on a hot, hot night in the Civic Hall, the audience joined in enthusiastically with the final chorus of Edelweiss – and it wasn’t only the proud parents of tie little Von Trapps who had to wipe away the odd tear. It was worth waiting 34 years to see. Joceline Bury
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