BWW Reviews: Historical Context Lends Gravitas to Cumberland County Playhouse's SOUND OF MUSIC

With several Tennessee theaters prepping new productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic The Sound of Music over the upcoming months, one would be well-advised to make the trip to Crossville to see director Weslie Webster's (and music director Ron Murphy's) take on the Von Trapp family musical. Webster, one of Cumberland County Playhouse's most accomplished leading ladies, takes the helm of The Sound of Music with clear-headed confidence and commitment, giving the time-honored musical the added gravitas-the dramatic heft-of historical context, which all too often is glossed over and regretfully forgotten in lesser revivals.

Instead, in this sparkling and gorgeously sung revival of The Sound of Music, Webster reminds her audience of the play's place and time in history-both the history of the modern world and the history of musical theater-which allows the two-and-a-half-hour story to resonate more evocatively with the reverberations of the approaching calamities presaged by the story of the Von Trapps' flight from Austria in the aftermath of the Anschluss. It's heady stuff, to be certain, and in the wrong hands it could weigh down the material mercilessly, but with focus it works beautifully and imparts a history lesson that today's audiences need.

With Webster's direction (which is no small feat considering she's shepherding 107 actors to and fro upon the stage and in the environs of CCP's Paul and Mary Crabtree Theatre) lending a sharper focus to the book, crafted by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and featuring the lush musical score of Richard Rodgers and the lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and Murphy's attention to detail ensuring an unparalleled musical performance by that immense ensemble, CCP's The Sound of Music is heartfelt and reverent, without being slavish to preconceived notions about the piece or its enviable, theatrical heritage. In fact, Webster shows an unexpected lighter touch in some scenes, even while delivering her heavier history lesson (while the nuns won't be confused with The Three Stooges, there are added moments of levity during their onstage interactions), which makes those more serious moments all the more compelling.

With a pitch-perfect rendering of Maria by Playhouse veteran Lindy Pendzick(who seems born to play the role) and a gorgeously sung Georg Von Trapp from Stephen Len White (ideally officious and overbearing as the family patriarch), the current production offers audiences an auditory and theatrical feast made all the more sumptuous by Brenda Frye's (perfectly cast as the Mother Abbess) exquisitely beautiful rendition of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and the inspired pairing of Lauren Marshall Murphy and Jason Ross as Elsa and Max.

At curtain, the show curtain sets the scene as "Austria 1937," and the disembodied voices of radio commentators underscore the story that is about to be revealed behind that curtain with mentions of then-contemporary news events and feature stories that firmly establish the context of the world in which the young novitiate Maria Rainer and the upper crust Von Trapps live. That technique is employed throughout the production to indicate the passage of time, with each of those sequences growing darker and more serious each time, leading to the omnipresence of Nazi oppression and an undercurrent of repression that is felt throughout the musical's later scenes. It offers a chilling counterpoint to the hopeful, fanciful if you will, music that plays in each scene.

It works well, make no mistake about that, but there are some moments that seem somehow incongruous in that setting. For example, the Von Trapp children seem far too exuberant and exhilarated by their flight out of Austria after the Nazis have searched the Nonnberg Abbey garden. They're waving and bidding the nuns goodbye with such enthusiasm you would think they are embarking on a trip to Disneyland rather than trekking across the Alps to Switzerland. With three alternating casts playing the Von Trapp kinder, it can be expected that they might be uneven, but the White Cast's cheerfulness at the performance reviewed was a little off-putting.

But that is, essentially a small quibble, considering the production's overall success and the creative team's imaginative approach to the project. Leonard Harman's set design provides the perfect backdrop for the onstage action that is artfully illuminated by E. Tonry Lathroum's lighting design. Renee Luttrell and Rebel Mickelson's period-worthy fashions costume The Players in fine late-1930s style, while Leila Nelson's choreography adds a lighter feel to many of the musical numbers and, no doubt, helped Webster move the cast around the stage with ease.

Pendzick's Maria is high-spirited, yet somehow very grounded, and she plays her with such hopeful earnestness that you cannot help but be won over by her infectious smile and glorious voice. Her performance of the musical's title song is wonderful and stirring, yet somehow it's very different from Julie Andrews' performance in the much-loved film adaptation of the musical. And perhaps more to her credit, Pendzick interacts with the younger actors with a creative blending of childlike abandon and grown-up authority.

Authoritative and stalwart, White plays the Captain with a steely reserve that serves the character quite well and which provides a sound foundation for the latter scenes in which Georg is completely and thoroughly smitten by Pendzick's Maria. White's duet with Pendzick on "Something Good" is romantic and sweetly sentimental, helping us to get over the fact that only moments before has his engagement to Elsa been ended, with her still-warm engagement ring tucked neatly inside the pocket of his hacking jacket.

Lauren Marshall Murphy lends her tremendous stage presence to the role of Elsa, painting her vividly as an upper class dilettante in search of a wealthy husband at all costs. But Murphy very smartly shows enough vulnerability as the Baroness Von Shrader to make her actions late in the story believable and genuine. Jason Ross, probably the most popular actor to set foot on The Playhouse stage (he regularly gets entrance and exit applause from adoring audiences), plays the raffish roué Max Dettwiler with equal amounts of pomposity and lovability, ensuring yet another impressive role on his ever-growing resume.

Brenda Frye, as charming and lovely offstage as she is onstage as the Mother Abbess (which sounds rather odd, come to think of it), nonetheless is able to swathe her usual ebullience in a nun's habit and presents a sweetly maternal take on Maria's spiritual mentor. You're likely never to have heard a better performance of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and Frye's crystalline soprano can be heard high above all the other strong voices on the stage.

Among the ample supporting cast, Daniel Black is effectively dastardly as the neighborhood Nazi henchman Herr Zeller, the versatile Greg Pendzick and Catilin Schaub are good as the Von Trapp servants, and Emily Woods, Leila Nelson and Holly Hughes fare quite well as Sisters Berthe, Margaretta and Sophia.

Austin Price's Rolf is frighteningly menacing (his ferocity toward Maria and Liesl when he delivers that last telegram to the Von Trapp villa is especially chilling-and a mite overdone) and Jensen Crain seems far too self-assured to be totally believable as Liesl. The other actors cast as the Von Trapp children at the reviewed performance included Derek Wagner as Friedrick, Abbie Lee Webster as Louisa, Logan Malicoat as Kurt, Alli Crain as Brigitta, Emily Graham as Marta and Emma Rhea Sells as Gretl.

- The Sound of Music. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Directed by Weslie Webster. Music direction by Ron Murphy. Choreography by Leila Nelson. Presented by Cumbeland County Playhouse, Crossville. Through April 7. For details, go to www.ccplayhouse.com; for tickets, call (931) 484-5000.

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