Sound Of Music 1998 Revival

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 10:45am

Does anyone have any info on this production?

[D2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 10:57am

tried posting a minute ago, let's see if this works.

I saw it - it was nothing special, although Rebecca Luker was charming. It opened to relatively lukewarm reviews and ran a little over a year - 500 + performances. My mother-in-law fell asleep.

[D2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 10:57am

sorry for the double post.

Updated On: 12/19/06 at 10:57 AM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 11:22am

sw it twice. Once with Luker. Once with Benanti. Benanti had all the warmth and charm of an iceberg... made you root for the nazis.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 12:17pm

All I know about it is that I was supposed to see it and it closed before I got to NYC. I saw CATS instead.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 12:21pm

same thing.. a shrill soprano shrieking... Benanti... a cat in heat...

[taylormade]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 12:36pm

Best thing was Patti Coheneuer as Mother Abbess. Luker couldn't act and the script had been tweaked with scenes from the film. On the whole, it was pointless.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 12:42pm

Any pics?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 12:46pm

The only good thing about the show was the front curtain. It had a beautiful snowglobe mounted in the center of it.

Rebecca Luker was a dull Maria. Patti Cohenour sang beautifully, but was way too young to play Mother Abbess. She was never able to achieve the proper level of authority. The house set was cheap looking. The abbey scenes were given a bit of interesting action. They had the nuns doing things like making pottery and gardening.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 12:52pm

I went to Rebecca's last performance and found this production absolutely dull.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 1:40pm

Nuns making pottery?
sounds hot.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:01pm

I saw it when I was eight. Don't rememmber much, I found it dull. I heard that Benanti was better than Luker, broadwayguy2.

[hannahshule]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:05pm

^^That doesn't say much does it.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:09pm

It seemed to be a very nondescript production - nothing memorable about it at all - and the music just didn't seem well-suited to Luker's voice (which I love)...I just found it boring.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:14pm

Any pics of the show or it's curtain?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:33pm

the easiest way to describe the show is the way it was billed "Presented by Hallmark".

Benanti had the voice... but no personality. And her, at 19, with a 65 year old Von Trapp.. was just EWW

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:38pm

i saw it on my 10th birthday with my dad (my mom saw sound of music on her 10th birthday with her dad...family tradition lol)...we were pretty disappointed primarily with the Captain....and we just felt the scenery lacked anything and the whole show was pretty average...we liked rebecca luker, but i remember my dad felt she was too old for the part even though she's so pretty...it was interesting because about a year later, i saw one of her understudies playing maria in a semi-professional production of sound of music and liked that production so much more!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:42pm

semi-professional? That sounds like the revival.

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 2:46pm

haha good point!! overall the revival wasn't much better than ok community theater.

well i just mean that it was community theater actors in the ensemble and playing the kids, but the leads were equity. lol

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 3:30pm

did they move "The Lonely Goatherd" to replace the "Do-Re-Mi" reprise way in the second act? that's what it seems to be on the CD. it's kind of annoying.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 3:58pm

"did they move "The Lonely Goatherd" to replace the "Do-Re-Mi" reprise way in the second act?"

Yeah, that song was moved somewhere else. I think like in the movie, they shortened it and sang it at the talent competition. Unfortunately, since the movie, nobody seems to get R&H's use of pastiche. But of course, they had to include the cloying "Something Good".

Updated On: 12/19/06 at 03:58 PM

[musicalangel12]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:27pm

This was my first Broadway show, so I have a fond place for it in my heart for that reason.

That said, it certainly wasn't the most memorable musical I ever saw. I only remember the wedding scene and that's it. Rebecca Luker made a bigger impression on me a few years later as Marion in The Music Man than here. Though I do recall some of the children as a few have gone on to do some TV work.

[joeybiltmore1]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:34pm

I thought Luker was lovely in it. Cohenour sang like a dream. Oddly, I remember the three other nuns running a pottery wheel(!) during "How Do You Solve..."

The kids were very natural and not show-bizzy, which helped things a lot.

Some nice directorial touches. The sudden drop of the huge swastika as they segued into the concert was particularly theatrical and jolting.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 5:43pm

Heidi Ettinger (also known as Landesman) was one of my favourite designers growing up and I know she was involved in this production, so if anyone has any pictures on the net floating around that show off the set at all I would appreciate it.

Akiva

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/06 at 6:03pm

i usually enjoy Heidi's work.. and I would listen to Patti Cohenour sing the phone book. I have that CD just for her.