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Once again, the flatlands of the East End are alive with “The Sound of Music,” currently being given an appealing production by the North Fork Community Theater in Mattituck.
If ever there was a family show, it’s “The Sound of Music,” and if ever there was a family theater group, it’s the NFCT. Faithful audiences fill their theater in a church for whatever show is mounted, and the warm support they give their local casts is not only admirable, it’s contagious and family-like.
Their current venture is an entertaining mixture of much delight and some diminishment. “The Sound of Music” is a big show, with large choruses, and an endless procession of varying scenes in a variety of places. The theater in Mattituck, on the other hand, is small and the pool of talent is limited, though for this production, the company has assembled some excellent players, including a group of the most adorable children on the planet.
The show then, because of the inability of the theater to accommodate scene changes, contains one basic set consisting of an impressive painting of a mountain scene, a railing suggesting the Von Trapp chateau, and a flat with a stained glass window that’s brought on for the convent scenes. It makes for some interesting challenges to the imagination.
But then, the people are the most important ingredient in live theater, and the people who populate this “Sound of Music’ are all hard working and dedicated, and to a person, believable in their roles. And director David Markel moves them gracefully and swiftly through the first act at a satisfying tempo.
On opening night, the second act suffered from what appeared to be some missed rehearsal time, a situation which will undoubtedly be corrected by the time this review appears.
Musical director Dee Laveglia has set a high and rewarding standard for the singers. The choral work by the nuns and especially the children is lovely and sure; the soloists are the same. Mr. Laveglia’s accompaniment from his station to the left of the proscenium is another thing entirely.
There is richness to any Rodgers and Hammerstein score that demands much inner voicing to be heard as it was intended. Mr. Lavegelia employs a piano and a synthesizer that apparently has no bass register, since its sounds are as tinny as that of an amplified toy piano. And Mr. Lavegelia’s piano accompaniment seems to ignore the written score and accompany the singers with mere chord changes, which gives them little underpinning. In spite of this, the singers soldier on like troupers, singing gloriously, and selling their songs to satisfying effect.
Anne Marie Grossman, Keara Galvin, and especially Mary Motto Kalich take on their roles as three nuns with admirable musical solidity and definition of character. Ted Lapides and Paulette Stafford are delightful as the butler and housekeeper of the von Trapp family.
David Bofill is a laid back Max Detweiler, a role normally played as comic relief. Chip Sullivan, Mike Minogue, and Alan Stewart are properly menacing as second-act Nazis.
The children—oh, the children, who have the power to instantly grab your heart—are all, to a person, nascent and shining stars. One, Jacqueline Minogue, shines particularly brightly, but they’re all wonderful.
Tess Leavay, as Leisl, the teenage child, is played with great assurance and silvery singing. Nick Troisi as her boyfriend-turned-Nazi, is game, but has a challenge keeping up with her in the catchy “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”
Susan Hedges has a beautiful voice and delivers the sophistication and strength of the Captain’s rejected fiancée, Elsa Schroeder, with grace and assurance. The other very trained voice in the cast—she trails a long list of credits that include the New York City Opera and the Kennedy Center—belongs to Leslie Luxemburg.
Her delivery of “Climb Every Mountain” is thrilling as a solo, and would have been even more so in the finale with a chorus of more than four. The “Chorus Line” trick on Broadway of augmenting the onstage ensemble with an offstage one composed of the rest of the cast might have been employed here, but Ms. Luxembourg overcomes the lack of backup with her lovely, sculpted, ringing tones.
Bob Boedeker is strong in both the acting and singing departments, delivering the transformation from martinet to lover with ease and grace.
The huge role of Maria is done with gentle beauty by Jessica Raven. Possessed of an abundance of charm and a sweetness that is in precise proportion to it, she has a natural acting style and delivers her many songs with fine-tuned shadings. On opening night, both lyrics and dialogue were delivered at a volume so faint that both were nearly inaudible to all but those in the first two rows. Some projection practice by director and actress this week should correct this and let Ms. Raven’s abundant talent and thoroughgoing understanding of the role shine as they should.
Once its second act troubles are corrected, this production of “The Sound of Music” will be a complete delight. As it is, the ebullient presence of the children alone makes it more than worth the trip to Mattituck.
“The Sound of Music” continues on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 and Sundays at 2:30 through May 31. The box office number is 298-6328.
on May 19, 2009