REVIEW | The Sound Of Music, Chichester Festival Theatre

Gina Beck as Maria in The Sound Of Music. Credit: Manuel Harlan

★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewer - Becky

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

Potential triggers: flashlights and searchlights shone into audience at the end of Act II (not noted on warning materials).

Accessible performances: Audio described (3rd, 5th August & 1st, 2nd September); Captioned (10th August—matinee and evening); Dementia-friendly (10th August—matinee); Relaxed performance (16th August).

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Chichester Festival Theatre’s The Sound of Music is not one of those revivals that wants to reinvent the wheel (a lá some of CFT’s other offerings under former Artistic Director Daniel Evans), but it’s a bundle of nostalgia neatly tied up with string. While it’s not one of my favourite things, it carefully toes the line between replication and reinvention in a way that will be loved by many.

This is a production, first and foremost, that treasures and uplifts its female characters. Whilst Gina Beck’s take on Maria is worth the price of admission alone, she is not the only performer worthy of mention here. Take, for instance, Lauren Conroy, whose Liesl may only be “sixteen-going-on-seventeen” but has a maturity and stature which grows throughout—from girlhood to young-adulthood. In a way, Conroy’s Liesl is the show’s strongest female character (and a delight to watch): overcoming betrayal and heartbreak in the name of family is no mean feat. Conversely, Emma Williams’s Frau Schraeder follows not her heart, but her head. A strong pragmatist rather than an archetypal villain, she would not be out of place on HBO’s Succession. “It is nothing personal, it’s just business,” her Schraeder may say if she were Chairman of a company in 2023. Add in the chorus of nuns, led by Janis Kelly as the Mother Abbess, who between them create a sound that feels Holy, and it’s blindingly clear that women are at The Sound of Music’s beating heart.

Gina Beck and the Von Trapp Children in The Sound Of Music. Credit: Manuel Harlan

Perhaps the female characters shine in this production because the principal men, unfortunately, almost fade into the background. This review has taken so long to write because I was trying to find a turn of phrase more pleasant than: Edward Harrison’s Captain Von Trapp was there. I have no better way to say it—throughout, both Williams and Beck were trying their darndest to appear in love with him, and it felt like that emotion was being relayed to a brick wall. It’s a shame, as Harrison’s performance of ‘Edelweiss’ was heartfelt, if slightly underpowered. Ako Mitchell’s take on Max, similarly, was overshadowed by the women around him (especially Williams), and some of his jokes didn’t quite land. But really: the show’s run is two months long, there’s still time aplenty to grow into it. 

Finally, to return to the name above the title. The misguided decision to utilise a Julie Andrews wig aside—it definitely prompts an unnecessary comparison and suggests a need to invoke Andrews, when this take on the role is assured and compelling—the performance Gina Beck gives as Maria is nothing short of extraordinary. Reviving The Sound of Music opens an inevitable trap: replicating Andrews’s acclaimed turn in the film (which, admittedly, I’ve never seen—sorry!). Wise, then, is Beck’s interpretation, playing Maria slightly older (no questionable age gaps here) and very maternal. But Maria’s a cool mum, not an overly enthusiastic one—there’s an unquestionable warmth that can almost be felt across the auditorium. No wonder the Von Trapp children embrace her almost immediately. When she opens her mouth to sing that famous titular number, it’s impossible not to smile. Julie Andrews who?

The Sound of Music, then, closes Daniel Evans’s period of artistic direction out with a nostalgic revival of a classic—Adam Penford plays it safe, and it’s not a wholly unwise thing to do. I like my revivals a little grittier, maintaining the songs but probing a little deeper; this production of The Sound of Music isn’t for people like me. It’s for the families who grew up with this film, this score, and this story. And you know what? I’m perfectly okay with that. Sometimes musical theatre just needs to make you smile—this is one of those times.

• At Chichester Festival Theatre until 3 Sept.