Interview: Richard Israel of THE SOUND OF MUSIC at 5-Star Theatricals

Richard Israel has been a member of the Los Angeles theatre community for over 20 years and is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Milton Katselas Award for Career Achievement in Direction, as well as multiple LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards.  Recently, he directed 5-Star Theatricals' productions of Mamma Mia! (2021) and Something Rotten (2022) but has returned to helm their latest production, Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound Of Music. The show opens on Friday, July 19 for a two-weekend run. Here is our conversation.  

VCOS: The Sound of Music is obviously a classic. Most people have already seen it and know the story and the songs. But they return every so often as if they are visiting an old friend. As a director, do you feel an obligation to present the show in a classic way, if there is such a thing, or do you have an approach that might be considered a little different?

RICHARD: That's a great question. There's a reason why classics are classics and I think that there is an obligation to present the show as the show was written. That being said, in musical theatre, no two productions of a show are going to be exactly the same because you've got multitudes of people with viewpoints that are contributing to our unique narrative and so I don't think you have to upend a show, and my personal opinion is that I wouldn't upend a show unless it was a show that really lent itself to that and there was a way that it amplified the storytelling. I don't think that The Sound of Music requires that. The Sound of Music requires honesty, openness, and generosity of spirit but every production of it is going to be different just depending on the aesthetic and the viewpoint that it's being told through. I don't think you have to gut a show like this. The storytelling here is pretty stirring and you come to the end of the show with a different understanding of things. I can't say that we are doing a "classic" rendering of the show because I'm not completely sure what that means but I also wouldn't say that we're breaking new ground. I think we're doing "our" version of the show.

VCOS: A director, however, is still basically a creative person so when you get a show like this, do you feel like you're straining at doing it by rote because it has to be that way? How are you able to flex your creative muscles under those kinds of restraints?

RICHARD: That's a great question, too. I don't feel like I'm straining or doing it by rote because my interpretation about how Maria and Captain Von Trapp interact with each other is different from the next person's. And I don't think that there is "a way" to do the show. I really don't. I think that there are some wonderful parameters placed on the show based on what we're doing scenically. I don't know that that dictates anything, but there are some rules that have to be followed only because the set is a certain thing. In this process, it's been quite the reverse, actually. I think that my approach to the show has changed because the more deeply I get into the show, the more it seems to reflect my personal worldview and I'm able to flex my creative muscles pretty strongly, only because I tend to come from a certain place as to how I tell stories and this show really lends itself to that. So I don't think, oh my gosh, I have to do this like the movie or oh my gosh, I have to do it like the most recent revival. First of all, I don't expose myself to that stuff, I wouldn't even know how to. And second, there's just no world where I'm going to...If I felt like I was just going to have to do it by rote, or do somebody else's version of the show, I just would have said no to it.

VCOS: Using that as a basis, meaning your own particular worldview, what would you consider to be the main storyline? Because it does shift throughout the show. You have the relationship between Maria and the Captain and then Maria and the children, and then you have the Captain's battle to avoid the fascists in the government. Does one of these predominate for you?

RICHARD: Well, I think that what you have just mentioned is all plot. But I think that the overall narrative or the overall impression that I think runs through the show is how family and leading with your heart wins. Always. It wins over grief, it wins over emotional self-protection, and you take that all the way to winning over fascism. I'm not convinced that the story takes a turn. Yes it does in that Act II is much more steeped in the Anschluss and now this is about a family that is up against political forces over which they have no control. But ultimately, I think it always comes down to this family that was hunkered down, broken, and emotionally withdrawn as a defense mechanism, and this woman comes in with heart and compassion and music and fixes that.

VCOS: So they are all stronger as a whole.

RICHARD: It does. Because once they're able to slough off their grief and their hunkered-downness, they open up to each other and that makes them a stronger unit. And then they absolutely have the power to stand up to whatever comes their way.

VCOS: Okay.

RICHARD: And they have the power to climb the Alps.

VCOS: Which could be a suspension of disbelief, based on what they carry with them (laughs)

RICHARD: You know what? It's not. I've walked the Alps and you can do it. And they did it. They actually did it. I mean it doesn't exactly hew to historical fact, but this is based on a true story.

VCOS: All of that happens after the curtain falls anyway so you assume they make it.

RICHARD: Yeah, we know that they made it (laughs).

VCOS: I've been to the Hollywood Bowl when they've screened the film and had the singalongs, which is a whole lot of fun, but I've noticed a tendency to make the Baroness a bad guy. The audience boos and hisses whenever she comes on the screen and the people really enjoy casting her as the villain. Do you agree with this or do you try to make her more sympathetic?

RICHARD:  Well, I don't think anybody's the bad guy, except the Nazis. I don't think any director who is good at their job is going to encourage an actor to make their character wake up and think, "I'm going to do an evil deed today." If you really look at the text, there is nothing in there that says this is a bad person. This is a woman who is in love with this man and then, again, through forces that are way larger than she, the relationship is doomed. You can talk about her motivation for the relationship, but ultimately, I don't view her as somebody who is evil or motivated by nefarious intent. Everybody's got a job to do.

VCOS: It's just that she threatens the relationship between Maria and the Captain, which we are all rooting for.

RICHARD: She doesn't, though because Maria doesn't even realize it's a relationship. And the Captain doesn't realize it's a relationship. Until Elsa is gone. I mean, WE know, because we know the story but if you did not know the story, I don't believe that you would see Elsa as a threat. You might not love her. You might think, wow, it might be better if he ended up with Maria, but textually, I don't see her as mwa-ha-ha, he's having a relationship with Maria and I'm going to sabotage it. And Maria and the Captain don't even come to an admission of their feelings for each other until Elsa is out of the picture and the creators were very specific about that.

VCOS: She just doesn't come across as being as warm as Maria is, and certainly doesn't show any kind of depth of relationship with the children.

RICHARD: And nobody's going to come off as warm as Maria anyway because the story is about Maria. Maria is the catalyst for bringing, heart, warmth, and compassion into this house.

VCOS: The show was written almost 65 years ago now. Are there ironies in the story that have become more relevant to today's audiences?

RICHARD: Oh my God, yes. Yes! I mean, you can't listen to the song "No Way to Stop It," which is the song that says "Put your head in the sand and compromise." You can't listen to that and turn off your ears and your eyes to the landscape that we're in right now. Well, I guess you could, but you'd have to work really hard.

VCOS: Is that song an absolute inclusion in the show now? It wasn't used in the film.

RICHARD: Yes. The film changed a lot of stuff. You can't just delete stuff out of the show. The licensing doesn't allow you to. You can't just willy-nilly say, nah, we're not going to do that. It is an absolute inclusion because it is in the show. They allow for one substitution, which we're taking advantage of. We're replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with "Something Good." On one of the first pages of the script, they reference permission to do that substitution, because they came up with a song for the film that could be considered a better song.

VCOS: It's also been customary to include Richard Rodgers' song "I Have Confidence," which he wrote for the movie.

RICHARD: We're not because it's not licensed. You have to ask for special permission to do that and it's not my favorite song anyway.

VCOS: That's the one that Rodgers wrote without Hammerstein, who had died.

RICHARD: Well done, yes!

VCOS: Tell me about your cast. Did you have specific expectations or did you get someone who surprised you?

RICHARD: Oh, you ask the best questions (laughs). I don't think I had specific expectations, to be honest with you. The show has become so much more to me at my place in the continuum of this show. As I've worked with these actors and as I've worked with everybody who is on the team, the show has sort of deepened for me. And so I don't know if I had expectations. I think I always have a certain expectation as a director as to how much of themselves they're going to bring, how generous they are with their own actor hearts, how simple and honest they're willing to be, so I always sort of have that. It has been a pleasant surprise, the degree to which everybody who is in the cast is doing that. And then some. So that is the base expectation that I always have going in. But they have way passed my expectations in terms of how committed they are to telling the story with honesty and without that "It's a classic!" wrapper. It would be very easy for them to fall back on that. And they never, ever do.

VCOS: Does it help that the characters are already baked in?

RICHARD: Yeah, I think so, but I would also say that I don't think that we've ever, at any level, spoken in the language of preconception. The actors always ask really informed, really smart questions that are always about "Where am I at right now?" and "What am I trying to do in the scene?" So I don't look at them and go, "Oh, my gosh! It's just like Christopher Plummer!" If they had preconceptions of it, I have never seen evidence of that.

VCOS: They have to flex their creative muscles, too.

RICHARD: Yeah. Absolutely. And that's why. We have a cast of 28 and they all have their own creative muscles that are being exercised. And a core of wonderful designers and a music director and a choreographer and a stage manager. That's the beauty of the art form. It's completely collaborative. And this is why no two productions are going to look the same, unless somebody Googles a production on their laptop and directs that.

VCOS: This brings up the visual aspect of The Sound of Music specifically and theater in general. I wanted to get your personal opinion on a trend I've been seeing at least in community theater. Broadway has been changing its look, in large part because of technology, which has resulted in fewer and fewer physical sets and the reliance on rear screen projection and animated video walls. What is your opinion of these tools and are they robbing productions of individual creativity?

RICHARD: You're talking to the wrong guy. I think they're great when they appropriately serve the storytelling. But I think that sometimes there can be an over-reliance on that. I'm not saying that's wrong. It's just feels like...how can I put this? I'm a man of a certain age. So I always look at things as, will projection enhance this? And I think a lot of people a generation or two below me are looking at technology as a foregone conclusion. My approach is, again, because I came up with NO technology, or limited technology, if someone came up to me and said, "Richard, do you want to use this technology?" I would probably say no. Now, that being said, we have a beautiful scenic rental package that is gorgeous, and very conventional, but absolutely correct for the storytelling. And then there are other shows where you have to have projection because the show is built that way. So it just depends on how the show is built. It's not a foregone conclusion for me.

VCOS: What will you be working on immediately following this production?

RICHARD: My next project is the West Coast premiere of a brand new musical called The Civility of Albert Cashier. That will be running at the Colony Theatre in Burbank and opens on September 7. So I will go right into rehearsal for that. It's based on a true story about a Civil War soldier who was born biologically a female but served in the Civil War as a male, served with distinction, was honorably discharged, lived as a man his entire life, but very, very late in life was discovered to be biologically female and was actually taken to court by the United States Army and sued for back pension because the case was made that by impersonating a man, his service was null.

VCOS: Wow.

RICHARD: And it's all true. It's a really, really compelling story and we're really excited to be doing a full production of it.

VCOS: Sounds like "Yentl Goes to the Civil War."

RICHARD: Ha-ha-haaa! It is! I will posit that the music will be a little bit more exciting, though (laughs).

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The Sound of Music runs from July 19-28 at the Fred Kavli Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks. For tickets, visit www.5startheatricals.com.

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