“Getting To Know The Sound Of Music”, will be presented by the Children’s Theatre of Winnetka, April 28-May 1 at the Winnetka Community House. The theatre’s production, based on the original Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, presents a slightly abbreviated version of this beloved classic.
The cast and crew of the show features 72 children in fourth through eighth grades from across the North Shore.
Based on a true story, “The Sound of Music” tells the tale of the von Trapp Family Singers, and of young postulant Maria Rainer, who serves as governess for seven motherless children, transforming the von Trapp family home from a place of strict rules and regulations to one filled with joy, laughter and music. Classic songs from the musical such as “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favorite Things,” “The Sound of Music,” and “Edelweiss,” will be performed in the Children’s Theatre of Winnetka show, which is double cast.
Fourteen-year-old Lucy McDowell of Winnetka, in the role of Maria, claims a love for music tied to her own family history. “My entire family on my dad’s side are singers,” McDowell said. “My dad and aunt were both choral singers while at New Trier, and my grandmother is the director of the North Shore Choral Society, thanks to them, and our shared love for singing, I’ve found my own voice.”
A main challenge during rehearsals, as described by co-director and choreographer Holly Francis of Wilmette, was connecting the kids to the historical backdrop of the play — World War II, the Third Reich and what was happening in Vienna at the time, she said. “So we sat down with our actors and talked about the world and the history that is at the basis of this production,” Francis said.
Acting is much more than just memorizing lines and speaking them, said Barbara Weldon of Winnetka, the theatre’s co-director and founder. “In ‘The Sound of Music’ we immediately discussed what the Third Reich means, what Anschluss was, and the terror many Austrians felt about the Nazis,” she said. “We visualize what seeing a Nazi soldier might make an Austrian feel like. I often ask actors to remember something from their past when they were angry or scared and to use that feeling in the play.”
Liam Ryan, 13, of Northfield, said he is building his character of Captain von Trapp from the ground up. “I think the Captain’s weakness is that he can’t let go of the past, and that part of him died when his first wife died. His sternness with his kids is a way of controlling his emotions, because the kids remind him of that loss. When Maria brings music back into the Captain’s home it heals him.”
The role of Mother Abbess serves as a moral and spiritual compass, played by Sara Bunge, 14, of Wilmette.
“I think about when my friends come to me needing advice,” Bunge said, “but this role is really cool and the opposite of what the average teenager is like, because Mother Abbess is so wise. She always has Maria’s best interest at heart, and what I really relate to is when you love someone, you want them to live the life they were born to live, not to pretend they are someone that they are not.”
‘Getting to Know The Sound of Music’
When: April 28-May 1
Where: Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $10
Information: (847) 446-0537; www.childrenstheatrewinnetka.com
