"THE hills are aliveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee… with the sound of musiccc!"
And so, it begins.
Music, lights, dazzling performances — all the hallmarks of a Broadway show — transports me to a time and place where family, love, faith and loyalty triumphed over war, fascism and adversity.
Musicals are exceedingly difficult; they not only have to ace all their disparate elements, but also shuffle them perfectly. Perhaps that's why they're so thrilling when they succeed — and why The Sound of Music remains my favourite musical to date. And if "all art constantly aspires toward the condition of music," as Walter Pater wrote, what can poor songless plays hope to achieve?
The Sound of Music seems to be as popular as ever; a bedrock memory of untold millions of childhoods. Mine, for sure. Some far-off day, when neural engineers do a digital download of my dying brain, they will find, way back with the oldest grudges, secret loves and PIN numbers, The Sound of Music soundtrack, every line and rhyme. She climbs a tree and scrapes her knee. When the dog bites. Yodel-ay-hee-hooooooo!
With the Broadway musical making its way to our shores, there's little doubt that many middle-agers and Boomers will go, eager to visit an old friend whom they hope hasn't aged a bit.
Of course, the added attraction of a Malaysian cast joining the show adds to the anticipation and excitement. The group of children between the ages of 6 and 13 were selected based on their acting, singing and dancing abilities to play six out of the seven von Trapp children — Friedrich (age 14), Louisa (13), Kurt (11), Brigitta (10), Marta (seven) and Gretl (five).
Friedrich, the eldest son of Georg von Trapp will be played by Izz Quedy Akhirudin (13) and Christian Duvan Garry Malo (12). Louisa will be played by Chloe Siaw (14), Doreen Yip Zhi Ying (11) and Isabelle Ho (12).
Plain-speaking Brigitta will be brought to life by En Huang (10), Natasha Tan (13) and Vern Faye Yeoh, and Kurt's character will be performed by Sean Lee Hong Jun (12), Lafayette Victor (11) and Norman Ong Wen Zhe (nine).
The role of Gretl will be alternately performed by Kimaya Peiris (eight years old), Olivia Leong Yue Shuen (nine) and Nur Lily Armani Saiful Bahtiar (seven), while. Marta will be played by nine-year-olds Allegra Ai Ping Hew, Wan Emma Rose Wan Mohd Fyzaal and Olivia Aisha Wood.
To listen to the evergreen music, get our sodden moods uplifted by the sheer magic of the musical and be inspired by a story that never seems to fade with time, reflecting what I hope we'll come to see as a time of awakening, which is always a time for singing.
So, what better way to kick off 2023 than to sing: "These are a few of my favourite thingggggggggggggs!" along with Maria and our exuberant Malaysian children on stage?
MUSICAL HISTORY
The longest running Broadway musical of the early 1960s, The Sound of Music marked the last collaboration between composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), just before Hammerstein's death from cancer.
Based partially on Maria Von Trapp's autobiography, The Trapp Family Singers, and partially on a German film, Die Trapp Familie, the show was first written for Tony Award winner Mary Martin in mind. Martin was a muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein's, and had already appeared as Nellie in their musical South Pacific.
Like many other Rodgers and Hammerstein productions, The Sound of Music included a remarkable number of popular songs: The Sound of Music, My Favourite Things, Climb Ev'ry Mountain, Do-Re-Mi and Edelweiss.
The setting for The Sound of Music is Salzburg, Austria, where Maria, a postulant at Nonnberg Abbey, is too free-spirited to accept the discipline of the order easily and frequently escapes to the mountains.
Thus, the Mother Abbess arranges for Maria to work as a governess for the wealthy, aristocratic Captain Georg Von Trapp — a widower with seven children. By adding music and outdoor expeditions to the children's normally rigorous schedule, Maria wins the children's hearts.
Although Captain Von Trapp is engaged to the elegant socialite, Elsa Schraeder, through the course of the play he falls in love with Maria and eventually marries her. But it is 1938, and the Von Trapp's married life is quickly disrupted by Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria.
After participating at a local contest as a family, they manage to escape and cross the mountains on foot to Switzerland. The first romance of Von Trapp's oldest daughter Liesl, unfortunately with a young Nazi, provides a bittersweet subplot.
MAGIC UNFOLDS
It feels a little surreal to be walking backstage just a day after catching the show at the Sands Theatre. The endless corridors, make-up rooms and rows of neatly hung clothes. Winches, steel wires, cables, lights, built sceneries share the space backstage along with the actors and stagehands. A lot certainly goes into putting on a Broadway show — from the performances and sound engineering to stage management and lighting.
New technologies have been integrated with a variety of old-fashioned stage tricks and tools, including automation, motorised winches, steel wire and hydraulics — all of which are now operated and monitored by computers.
They have also been integrated with manual labour, of course, which is still required to monitor and assist the machines in getting things on and off the stage smoothly. There's so much happening onstage, that often, theatre-goers miss the smaller details — like the props, wigs and even costumes.
"I don't think people realise that half of the people they're looking at are wearing a wig," says James Gray, the affable tour choreographer who leads the motley group of journalists on a brief tour backstage.
He continues to quip with a grin: "And that's where a lot of that labour and that love and that work go unnoticed, because if you do it properly, no one knows ... that you were ever in the building!"
That probably describes the role of just about every single stagehand behind the scenes who help bring the Broadway show alive on stage. It certainly takes an army of invisible hands to turn a show into something so captivating that you're transcended by watching a stage performance. You get goosebumps, your heart races, you laugh, you cry, you applaud.
Theatre, by its nature, is ephemeral. It happens for that one moment, and then it's gone. However, the same show is performed on Broadway eight nights in a row, and it's always different and magical.
"It's magic!" he surmises with a grin, shrugging his shoulders.
At a sit-down later with assistant director Anthony G. Daniel and children's director Jordan Murphy, Gray promises that there is much to look out for in the upcoming shows in Kuala Lumpur, besides the usual Broadway "magic".
"For one, the (Malaysian) children are amazing," he says, beaming, adding: "We weren't looking for showbiz-trained kids. We wanted the children to look like, well, real children and not the sunshiny saccharine kids you find in some versions of the show!"
Gray wasn't disappointed with the talents he unearthed in Kuala Lumpur. "We saw around 800 odd children and it was fabulous to see that amount of raw talent. We were looking for individual personalities with each one of them."
Murphy chips in: "There are seven Von Trapp children and each character is so different with their own little backstories and different relationships with both the Captain and Maria. We were looking for individual personalities who could bring these characters to life."
They were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. "From day one, we told the children that we weren't looking for a polished performance. We just wanted to meet them and get to know them," says Daniel.
Gray recalls: "We had this little boy Lafayette who, when asked by the press if he was nervous during the audition, replied, 'I was nervous to begin with. But Mr James and Mr Anthony told me that they weren't looking for children similar to those in the movie, they just wanted to meet me. I realised that I didn't have to worry about my ethnicity and so I had a fabulous time!'"
Gray pauses a while before continuing: "This is the essence of this tour. We're breaking barriers. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from. If you're talented, you can play the role."
The trio is determined to highlight a story that they say is still relevant decades after it first debuted on Broadway. "We tell this story over and over again because our world will always be in peril. The great value of The Sound of Music is that it happened. It's not fiction. And any time you see people stand up for their rights and make a moral decision, it's riveting," says Gray.
Continues Daniel: "There's not just one reason why this has become one of the most beloved shows in American history. It's because it literally touches everybody. Children who have never seen a stage show before see kids their own age making discoveries and responding."
Adding, he says: "Parents see what it is like to lose somebody. And everybody sees not only how important it is to love and to be loved, but to have something worth loving. And that is ultimately your country. This story has almost all the bases covered, and our job is to uncover them."
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Much later, the children wait patiently for their turn on stage as Gray, Daniel and Murphy walk each group through each scene of the Broadway show. "You have to move… here!" instructs Gray patiently, adding: "Let's start again!"
Few children are built for Broadway, which requires adult-size doses of discipline, focus and resilience (as well as talent, of course). Our little motley group of Malaysian children are as resilient as they come. The hours are long but they willingly go through their scenes over and over again — as long as it takes to get it right.
"It's quite a technical feat," admits Gray, adding: "They need to know where to stand and where to move. With all the moving sets and props thrown in the mix, safety is paramount. So, they need to be acquainted with everything on the set and know the cues. Like they say, it's all practice, practice, practice!"
Parents aren't allowed backstage, so Murphy rein in chaos and helps the youngsters make their cues and follow their stage directions. They shadow him and he shadows them.
Part hall monitor, part confidante and part "big brother", he chastises the children for running, comforts them when they're exhausted and gently steers them back on course when their self-control starts to dwindle.
"They're working so hard," observes Murphy, adding: "Both Anthony and James work so specifically with them. But it's done in a way that's not overly super logical. Instead, we try to make it fun and enjoyable."
Continuing, he says: "One of the scenes you'll see is when they're in the bedroom having fun. It looks convincing because it comes from realness. Why it works so well is because we've got real children who love having this experience and who love these characters."
There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say "cuckoo"
Cuckoo, cuckoo
Regretfully they tell us Cuckoo, cuckoo
But firmly they compel us Cuckoo, cuckoo
To say goodbye…
Cuckoo!
…to you
Their confident voices ring through the empty theatre.
"You should've seen their faces yesterday when some of them walked onto the stage for the first time!" says Gray quietly, adding: "I got a bit teary because I was a kid when I first started. It's just fabulous to see that wonder. Whether they go into showbiz or not, I know that this experience will be etched in their memories for the rest of their lives."
YOUNG TALENTS
MEET Christian Duvan Garry Malo, Huang En and Olivia Aisha Wood who will be playing Friedrich, Brigitta and Martha respectively.
HOW NERVOUS WERE YOU DURING THE AUDITIONS?
Christian: I was very nervous. It's the first time I've ever attended a big scale audition. My mother was the one who told me about the auditions. On the very first round, I had so much stage fright so I sang in a deeper voice than usual. Thankfully, I was able to get to the second round.
Olivia: I was nervous. It was my first time auditioning so it was stressful!
En: The audition process was quite nerve-wrecking for me because there were many amazing performers and I knew getting the role would be difficult. I didn't think I'd get chosen because I suffer from stage fright. I'm just glad I got chosen with my two other Brigittas!
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE CHARACTERS YOU'RE PLAYING
Christian: Friedrich is 14. It's surprising because I'm 12! He's used to being the man of the house because his father, the Captain, ignores his children. Very bad father, I tell you… well at the start! I'm somewhat similar to Friedrich as I'm the eldest in my family. I try to be the man of the house when my dad is away.
Olivia: Not a lot to say about Martha. She's just happy to be there!
En: Brigitta is very truthful. She doesn't like to lie. She acts so smart. The thing is I don't understand why she has to wear glasses. I look like a grandmother in them!
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH STAGE FRIGHT?
Christian: Personally, I didn't think I've ever had stage fright. I've never performed before so I've never really thought about it. But once I got to the Sands Theatre, it felt all too real. I realised then that I might die of stage fright!
Olivia: I'm not that nervous actually. I quite enjoy being on stage and I love the role of Martha.
En: My mum really wants me to overcome this stage fright. Once she wanted me to sing in front of my friends and I couldn't. I cried, but I'm slowly overcoming it. I've not recovered completely yet.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE SCENE IN THE MUSICAL?
Christian: The opening scene. Not only is it the first scene you see in the movie, but it also takes all the major songs in the movie, puts them all together to create a beautiful piece of music.
Olivia: Every scene!
En: The scene where Maria gets married.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?
Christian: Even if you won't do anything similar like this again, I will never ever forget this experience. Also, once you're on the stage, you are your character. You are not yourself. Jordan told us that!
Olivia: You have to be loud… it's a really large theatre!
En: You have to learn how to express yourself. It may be your one and only chance to be here. You never know if you're going to be in another musical again. You have to learn how to enjoy yourself on stage and savour every moment.
To purchase tickets for The Sound of Music, go to www.istanabudaya.gov.my/en/acara/the-sound-of-music-2/