Sound of Music at The Hollywood Bowl this summer will star... — Page 2

I saw this last night and have not seen any reviews on the board. The production was the complete original musical, i.e., not just selections and not a sing-along (thank god). Characters were in costume, but there was minimal staging, mostly just a few pieces of furniture brought out for particular scenes, and simple choreography

One confession before I begin commenting. I find the Sound of Music incredibly saccharine and cannot stand the movie. The lyrics are so sappy that they often make me want to bang my head against the wall. And I will admit that I was rolling my eyes at times at the lyrics last night.

But I still enjoyed the production. With the exception of Jeffrey Tambor as Max, everyone sang well. Marni Nixon had to warble a bit, especially on Climb Every Mountain, but there were flashes of her original singing voice and even the warbling fit the character of the Mother Abbess. I actually liked that she was significantly older than Maria, and not just 40 or 50. It gave some weight to the role.

The other standouts were John Schneider, Rachel York, and Andrea Bowen (Liesl). Schneider sang well and had a nice presence as Captain Von Trapp. York stole every scene she was in and she made you see Elsa as a creature of the complex circumstances. Bowen, mainly known as the daughter of Teri Hatcher (who was in the audience) on Desperate Housewives had a surprisingly good singing voice and clearly has had ballet training. Of the other kids -- who mostly were just cute -- Dorsey was particularly winning as know-it-all Brigitta.

Melissa Errico as Maria was good, and captured the wide-eyed, naivete, and optimism of the character. Her singing was fine, but she lacked the stage presence of York and Schneider. The character of Maria, imho, is so shallow and without nuance that it is hard to comment on the acting. I have never seen a stage version of Sound of Music before, so I cannot tell if other actresses have given Maria more gravitas.

The production was long. It started at 8:30 and did not end until after 11:30.

I've been waiting to see a review of this. Thanks so much for posting, jwsel. While I agree with you about the show itself, I was very curious to see how this staging would fare. The cast sounded promising, and it seems as though they did deliver, for the most part.

Maria truly is a thankless role in some respects. I think she comes across better on film, not just because it was Julie Andrews, but because opening the scenes up allowed her to scamper through the countryside and ride bikes with the kids and such. Her childlike exuberance and innocence are better expressed through that kind of physicality. The stage production puts her in a candy coated box a bit. I'll bet Melissa sang it beautifully, though.

Since Rachel York is a personal favorite of mine, I'm so glad to hear she did such a great job. I have always been impressed with her stage presence and her ability to plumb the depths of every character she's played. Elsa can be a very meaty role when played as more than a simple villain, and it sounds like Rachel nailed it.

I like John Schneider, too. I think he is underrated a bit because of his "Dukes of Hazzard" roots.

And thanks, MCfan2, for the link to those great photos. It looks like it was a beautiful warm summer night at the Bowl. It brings back memories from many, many years ago when I had the pleasure of listening to Beethoven's Fifth from way, way up in the amphitheater. What a venue!

lc

Updated On: 7/30/06 at 01:57 PM

David Larsen was fine singing, but I found the character a bit confusing. I've always seen Rolf as a young man, who buys into the propoganda of the time, but ultimately makes the right choice in letting the family escape. He was only onstage a couple of times, but he came across almost sinister in Sixteen Going on Seventeen. So it was hard to view him as an innocent kid who has been duped by propoganda and it made his final decision a bit harder to view as consistent with the character so far. But I think that is probably as much a flaw in the musical and direction as in the acting.

I saw it last night, and I will review it later.

MCfan2,

Scroll to the second page of the link you provided. There are some really nice shots of Melissa, and Rachel.

lc

Dear Rachel York,
I love you. You're Beautiful.
Love,
Andrew

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Yero,

You're too much!

lc

I saw The Sound of Music last night at the Hollywood Bowl, and I must say I was suprised. I wasn't suprised by Melissa Errico or Marni Nixon, but by Rachel York who was the real star of the show. Rachel York as Elsa Shraeder was really the stand out of this production. Every scene that she was in, I could not take my eyes off of her. The character of Elsa Shraeder all of a sudden was much more complex then before, and ten times more funny. I found myself hoping that they wouldn't climb every mountain, just so I could hear more of Rachel singing.

The Vontrapp children were for the most part in tip-top shape. The standout from the Vontrapp kids was Andrea Bowen as Liesl. She has a beautiful voice and really was the other standout from this show. She had great stage presense and had really devloped a character with many layers that the audience could relate to. Ben Platt and Andrew Hoeft were great as Friedrich and Kurt, and also stood out from the kids. My only real problem from them was Gretl. Gretl is always supposed to get you with her "cutness", but I hate to pick on a little kid, but she really didn't do anything for me.

The other three problems I had were Marni Nixon, Melissa Errico, and John Schneider. Marni Nixon was not that big of a problem, except for...SHE KEPT FORGETTING HER LINES! She stopped several times after starting off saying the wrong line, then backtrack and say the correct one. Also, as expected she does not have the voice she used to have. John Schneider I have never heard of. He has an excellent singing voice, but his acting was crap. He really didn't capture the role of Mr. Von-Trapp AT ALL. It was almoust as if he was reading lines of a paper, he wasn't strict or firm, but nice and very sensitive. Unlike John's under acting, Melissa over-acted the role. Her voice was too vibrato for my taste, and she like I said over-acted the role of Maria Rainer.

Overall The Sound of Music was a good production Jeffery Tambour was there to provide Comic Relief and David Larsen was there to provide some of the more dramatic. The Sound of Music certainly was heard at the Hollywood Bowl, with some help from John Mauceri and his gorgeous orchestra.


Sorry if there are spelling mistakes, I am in a hurry.

Did you see it tonight?

I didn't think that John Schneider was good, I just thought he was bland and mediocre. I recognized Lisel (Andrea Bowen) from the second she came out, but I couldn't figure out where I knew her from, and when I did realize it, I was VERY impressed.


Edit: Sorry, who is "Bo Duke"?

Updated On: 7/31/06 at 02:09 AM

This was the original stage musical.

In this he finds the family, calls the officer and holds a gun to Captain Von Trapp. Then Lisel stands in front of him, and he looks at her for a minute then says, NEVERMIND THEIR IS NOBODY HERE, and runs off.

Yes she did, like I said in my review above, she was the stand out of the show. She was AMAZING in How Can Love Survive and No Way To Stop It. I can't say enough good things about her. After last night, I have listened to How Can Love Survive 16 times!

I was there last night, too. Wow, lots of BWWers, and most of us who were there probably aren't even from California!

Anyway, I'm obviously biased, but I thought Melissa was absolutely wonderful as Maria. However, the star of the evening was Rachel York, who was simply delicious as Elsa. Everyone was wonderful with the exception of Ms. Nixon, who seemed to be having pitch problems. Still, it was definitely worth a trip to California. Hopefully we won't have to wait long before we see Melissa (and Rachel) in a full-fledged production

I love Rachel York

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