Theatre Review: This Sound of Music is one of my favourite things

The Sound of Music
Chichester Festival Theatre, until September 3

While it is the music and lyrics of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III that are invariably the focus of The Sound of Music – and both are sublimely rendered in Chichester Festival Theatre’s revival – the director Adam Penfold invests it with real relevance by making sure the highly intelligent script by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse gets due attention, too.

With apologies to Gina Beck who plays Maria, the two key characters in this are Edward von Trapp (Edward Harrison) and Franz (William Ilkley). The former takes a principled stand against the Nazi tyranny in Austria, and the latter chooses instead to look out for himself and go along with it.

There are parallels to be drawn with how things have unfolded in this country and the lines of least resistance that so many politicians, media figures and others in the establishment have taken to what have very obviously been destructive political policies.

What this expedience can ultimately result in is made plain in a harrowing scene in Penfold’s production when vast Swastikas are unfurled around the stage and Nazi stormtroopers take up positions around the auditorium.

It’s powerful stuff, and, against this background, Gina Beck’s Maria has to work especially hard to bring her principled nun alive. She succeeds admirably with some spirited renditions of the title song, My Favourite Things, and Sixteen Going On Seventeen.

It is, however Harrison’s von Trapp, bearded, unlike Christopher Plummer in the film, to stress his naval background, and Ilkley’s weak and compromised Franz that dominate this mesmerising, inspiring revival.