REVIEW: "The Sound of Music" at Paper Mill Playhouse
An enduring, Tony Award-winning classic, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III’s The Sound of Music is a ubiquitous, stalwart musical theatre crowd-pleaser given an enthralling new production at Paper Mill Playhouse.
The infamous story---based on real people and events---follows the remarkable journey of Maria Rainer (Ashley Blanchet), a restless postulant at Nonberg Abbey in Salzburg, Austria, soon forced to navigate a changing world outside the convent walls.
It is 1938, and as the oncoming German threat looms in the near distance, Maria is reassigned by Reverend Mother Abbess (Caitlin Burke) to become the new governess for stoic Naval Captain Georg von Trapp (Graham Rowat). A widower who seems to have lost any sense of joy, the oft cold Captain runs his household with a strict, stern demeanor, whistling for children and staff as if in command of one of his previous ocean vessels.
“As the eldest Van Trapp, Analise Scarpaci is graceful and a lovely singer. She captures the blush of first flirtation and the tightrope of adolescence perfectly.”
