Church troupe does ‘Sound of Music’

By Jenny Davis

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 | midnight

“The Sound of Music” will be heard from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church as the parish members perform the well-known musical Oct. 17 and 18.

Although most people are familiar with the 1965 Academy Award-winning movie, the musical play, based on an autobiography of Maria von Trapp, will pleasantly surprise some, said parish member and director Cassie McGuire.

“I thought I knew this musical until I got the script and I noticed they changed a lot for the movie,” she said.

The play has the familiar music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and is about Maria, a postulant, who leaves the abbey for a time to be the governess of the von Trapp children. During her stay with the family, Maria brings music and cheerfulness into the home, making the father, a widow, Capt. Georg Ritter von Trapp, change his mind about running the household in a military style. Eventually Georg and Maria fall in love and marry.

Set during World War II after the Nazis came to power, the play shows how Georg stands up in opposition to the Nazis, and ends up fleeing from Austria with his family to avoid a commission from the German Navy.

“The political angle in the play is much stronger than in the movie,” McGuire said. “The captain is Austrian and very proud of his heritage. He was a naval hero, but not in favor of the Nazis.”

What cast members like about the play is how Georg stood up for what he believed in. Vicki Wells, who plays Elsa Schrader, Georg’s fiance in the beginning of the play who tried to convince him to comply with the Nazis, said that the play shows that good always wins.

Participating church members say the musical is family-oriented, and not just because of the script. Michael Brooks, who plays Max Detweiler, has a daughter and his wife in the play; Todd Miller, who plays Georg, is acting with his son; Wells’ daughter is in the play and Carol Borzage, who plays Maria, also has two daughters in the play.

The cast has been rehearsing on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays for three hours at a time. This is the second annual adult show the church has put on. Last year the church performed “Music Man.”

“During all the rehearsals, you think, ‘What was I thinking?’ There is so much rehearsing,” Wells said. “But at the last show, you always think, ‘When’s the next one?’”

Although some of the actors, including Miller and Borzage, have participated in theater for years, some are first-time actors, including Wells and Brooks. However, Wells proudly pointed out that she was a townsperson (with no lines) in “The Music Man.”

Cast members said getting into the characters came easily for the most part because they all had a little bit of the characters inside them.

Kristina Wells, 13, said that like her character, Brigitta, she’s a good girl who doesn’t act up in class.

“But the difference between us is that I don’t wear pigtails a lot,” she said.

As a naval officer, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and a United Airlines captain, portraying Georg came easily to Miller by exaggerating all the military stereotypes.

“Nobody really uses a whistle to call their children,” he said.

McGuire said the church isn’t trying to get rich from the production but hopefully will break even while bringing good family entertainment.

The production also allows the community to visit the church and build relationships, Brooks said.

“This is a church and community building exercise,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re not in it for the money, but to build the community.”

The cast members also build unity with each other throughout the process.

“You really become a big family,” Kristina said. “You become really close and want to do it again someday with the same cast.”

Jenny Davis can be reached at 990-8921 or [email protected].