Previews: The Hills Will Soon Be Alive With THE SOUND OF MUSIC At Forte Theatre Company

Forte Theatre Company is about to bring one of the most-beloved musicals of all time to Franklin's Saber Center for the Performing Arts. Led by Artistic Director Randall Dodge and Executive Director Brenda Dodge, The Sound of Music runs October 7-16, 2022.

Set in Austria, 1938, The Sound of Music is the timeless story of how a young governess brings music and joy back into the home and hearts of the Von Trapp family, all in the shadow of Nazi Germany. With music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hammerstein, this a classic musical for the whole family. I recently chatted with Brenda and Randall Dodge about the upcoming production:

Tell me about Forte Theatre Company -- what do you want people to know?
Forte Theatre Company is the first professional theatre company in Milwaukee's Southwest suburbs. We launched in 2018, not long after we (Artistic & Executive Directors Randall & Brenda Dodge) moved here from the West Coast. We are both professional actors by trade and met doing The Pirates of Penzance in Southern California. When we relocated here to be closer to our extended family, we realized that there weren't any professional theatre companies in Milwaukee's suburbs.

Now based in Franklin, Forte is a 501(c)3 nonprofit theatre company that seeks to enrich and engage our community through professional shows and quality education programs. Not only do we want to be a part of the stellar performing arts scene in Milwaukee, we want to make quality theater accessible and affordable to audiences who may not otherwise go downtown to see a show. Forte serves the Greater Milwaukee area with a focus on the Southwest suburbs. We hire professional talent from all over the Greater Milwaukee area.

What made you choose The Sound of Music to open this season?
The Sound of Music has been on our short list of shows we want to produce for a while, but we knew the timing and the venue needed to be right. When we were given the go ahead for our inaugural mainstage production at the Saber Center, we knew it was time. It's such a classic and it draws such a wide audience. We especially love the focus this show puts on the importance of music in our lives.

In a lot of ways, we feel like we're reintroducing ourselves to our community. Even though we've been producing since 2018, our previous shows have been at Martin Luther High School's Fine Arts Center in Greendale and produced on a much smaller scale. What better way to drive home our mission than this big, beautiful show in a big, beautiful venue?

On a side note, this show also means a lot to us personally. We got engaged while performing in a production of The Sound of Music together at Moonlight Stage Productions in Vista, CA, back in 2005.

There are 7 Von Trapp children -- how did you go about casting them?
We held open auditions for all of the roles in the show, and we're blessed to have access to some wonderful and talented kids due to our youth education programs. In addition to our professional mainstage shows, Forte produces youth musicals for students ages 10-18. The mission of our education program is to cultivate and educate young actors, and to get them working and learning alongside theater professionals.

We produced Frozen Jr this past summer with a cast of 42 students representing 18 different schools from throughout the Greater Milwaukee Area. Our youth musical this winter will be Music Man Jr.

While it's certainly not a requirement, just about all of the kids playing the vonTrapp children have done shows or taken classes with us before. And it's so fun to see them up onstage working with some of Milwaukee's top professional talent

How can other kids get involved at Forte Theatre Company?
We encourage them to attend one of our shows and see what we're all about. If they think it's something they'd like to pursue, Forte Youth Productions currently produces two musicals per year -- one in the winter and one in the summer. Audition sign-ups are now available for our next youth production, Music Man Jr, which starts rehearsals in November. They can learn more at fortetheatrecompany.org/season-3-youth-shows.

What about the rest of the cast? Any notable personalities or tales from behind the scenes?
This cast is chock-full of exceptional talent! Truly, we couldn't be more thrilled to have assembled such an amazing, dedicated and talented group.

Sarah Zapiain, who's playing Maria, also played Jo March in our mainstage production of Little Women: The Broadway Musical last spring. She was phenomenal and brought so much warmth and humanity to the role. We knew she'd be brilliant as Maria.

We're so excited to have Kathy Pyeatt playing Mother Abbess. She has sung with opera companies throughout the country including Asheville Lyric Opera, Florentine Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Winter Opera St. Louis, Skylight Opera Theatre and more. You definitely won't want to miss her singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain".

Another person of note is Ryan Jay -- of Ryan Jay Reviews/TMJ4/The Morning Blend fame -- who is playing Max Detweiler. This marks his first return to the stage in 30 years and we're thrilled to have him involved.

I know this is your first main stage production at the Saber Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin-how exciting! Tell me more about that.
We're very grateful to Franklin Public Schools, and Brad Anderson and Tracy Stewart in particular, for their partnership and advocacy. The relationship began when Forte became the first performing arts company to be a feeder program for students in the district. That opportunity opened the door for us to begin producing our youth musicals there. Once the district started to see the community impact and interest in what we do, it was a natural progression for us to produce our professional mainstage shows there as well.

The Saber Center for the Performing Arts is a beautiful, state-of-the-art 850 seat theatre that many people may not have been able to enjoy yet. It was built for community use, in addition to the district needs, and we're thrilled to be helping provide performing arts programming for our community.

One of our long term goals is to have our own performance space. We're working towards producing more shows year round, in the hopes of eventually serving a season subscriber base. If we had our own performing arts venue that wasn't attached to a school, it would be the first of its kind in Milwaukee's Southwest suburbs.

The Sound of Music is such an iconic movie musical. What would you say to movie fans who have never seen the show on stage before?
We love the movie too! You'll recognize the same songs and story from the movie, plus two additional songs that were cut from the film.

There's nothing like the magic of live theatre. It's always fun to see a beloved story from the screen come alive onstage right in front of you. We hope to see you there!

To learn more and secure your tickets, visit fortetheatrecompany.org.

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