Review Roundup: Charlotte Maltby as 'Maria' in New SOUND OF MUSIC Tour

The lavish new production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien, features Charlotte Maltby as the new Maria Rainer, who began her national tour debut on January 3.

Charlotte Maltby joins a cast that includes Ben Davis (Broadway's Violet, A Little Night Music, La Bohème) as Captain Georg von Trapp and Melody Betts as The Mother Abbess with Merwin Foard as Max Detweiler, Teri Hansen as Elsa Schraeder, Austin Colby as Rolf and Paige Silvester as Liesl. The von Trapp children will be played by Roy Gantz (Friedrich), Ashley Brooke (Louisa), AUSTIN LEVINE (Kurt), Iris Davies (Brigitta), Kyla Carter (Marta) and Anika Lore Hatch (Gretl).

The ensemble includes Carey ReBecca Brown, Ronald L. Brown, Cáitlín Burke, Christopher Carl, Donna Garner, Jillian Jameson, Robert Mammana, Darren Matthias, Anna Mintzer, Julia Osborne, Zane Phillips, Rebecca Pitcher, Michael Spaziani, Emily Trumble, Maria Failla, Meghan Hales and Adam Hill.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Elizabeth Kramer, Indy Star: Charlotte Maltby offers an awkward Maria who is more wandering tomboy than pretty girl next door (at the abbey) when she arrives at the opulent von Trapp estate nestled in the Austrian Alps. That's evident long before her arrival as she fidgets as The Mother Abbess (Melody Betts also who sings a vast vocal range) confronts her about not fitting in at Nonnberg Abbey and singing when she should be silent.... But Maria's awkward demeanor evaporates when she sings giving rise to Maltby's clear and striking soprano that comes through as nearly effortless through much of the musical's first half where she handles a large part of the singing. Maria's unease also melts away around children.

Katie Mills Giorgio, The Gazette: Charlotte Maltby, 23, had a playful stage presence in the leading role of Maria. Her smile was infectious and her lovely vocals did justice, or rather brought a distinctly optimistic vibe, to what could have been a daunting role.

By Betsie Freeman, Omaha.com: Charlotte Maltby plays Maria with lots of vigor and sass, giving her a tomboy sensibility. She also has a lovely, expressive singing voice. O'Brien has found a winner in Maltby, who just joined the tour at the beginning of the year. Like her predecessor, she's considerably younger than many who have played the role in the past.

Mike Fischer, Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel: Making her tour debut, 23-year-old Charlotte Maltby is every bit as good as predecessor Kerstin Anderson, who I saw when this tour visited Madison Last year. Maltby holds her own in this vocally exceptional cast, supported by an excellent 16-piece orchestra. Equally important, Maltby's Maria is also persuasively gangly and geeky before awakening to the reality that she's no longer the "girl" the Mother Abbess first sees, but a woman.

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