Pieter Toerien with Cape Town Opera will present the world’s most loved musical – The Sound of Music – at Artscape in December 2023. The production is directed by Steven Stead, who talks to BEVERLEY BROMMERT about the process:
Small wonder that, with its engaging amalgam of hummable melodies, heartwarming humanity and romance dramatically offset by the menace of an ever-darkening political climate, The Sound of Music has become the darling of the musical repertoire.
Staging such a perennial favourite presents manifold challenges, but seasoned director Steven Stead approaches the undertaking with an ideal combination of confidence and humility.
“I’m fortunate in being able to bring a fresh perspective to The Sound of Music, and don’t feel the need simply to recreate the all-too-familiar movie on stage”, he remarks.
Having himself played two of the adolescent boys in the musical as a teenager, he is well placed to assess the piece from the inside as well as out, adding an extra dimension to its interpretation. This project, given the wealth of latent potential in the material with which he has to deal, elicits warm enthusiasm from the director:
“I have great respect for this work, and since starting on its production I’ve discovered so much beyond the obvious; rather like an archeologist excavating unsuspected riches.”
He identifies, for instance, the inner truth and motivation of the characters as well as the themes of triumph over adversity, the redemptive power of music and nature, the public and the personal, external reality and private drama…
Amid this plethora of optics, Stead finds human nature the most engrossing, explaining his take on the various personae:
“There are no real villains in The Sound of Music, just people with an agenda. One should feel that these are genuine individuals and not be judgemental, but rather be sorry for them; theatre often has that function of evoking empathy from the audience.”
The power to surprise
On the subject of the female lead Maria, he comments that “she always speaks her truth from the opening song to the end, a young woman without contrivance and given to joyous, open communication with all around her, the antithesis of the shallow, pragmatic people with whom Von Trapp associates to face his grief following the loss of his wife.”
As for the political aspect of the plot, he notes its value as a brutal counter to the pastel, wholesome world of Maria and her young charges, a contrast essential to generate drama.
Every character in this musical has his or her own texture and humanity, even minor participants like the nuns, all too real in their feminine gossip and bickering…there is ne’er a caricature nor a stereotype in sight.
Summing up his view of The Sound of Music, Stead says: “Everyone thinks they know it so well, but in this production things might be revealed which were not previously considered.”
There speaks a director who eschews the obvious and adds extra layers of insight to enrich rewards already anticipated by an eager audience.
Stead, whose experience encompasses most genres from Shakespeare to pantomime with many an opera in between, knows what it takes to present a much-loved show which, while reassuringly familiar, can still have the power to surprise its spectators.
Lead performers in The Sound of Music are Brittany Smith (Maria), Craig Urbani (Captain von Trapp), Janelle Visagie (Mother Abbess).
What: The Sound of Music
Where and when: Artscape from 14 December 2023 to 14 January 2024
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
