One of the most iconic musicals ever scripted is coming to the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts this weekend. “The Sound of Music” is probably the most popular production from the famed theater-writing team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The original Broadway show first opened in 1959, and an Oscar-winning movie was released in 1965.
Free Press arts and entertainment writer Stephen Hu recently sat down with lead actors Sarah Mae Andersen, who plays Maria Rainer, and Tim Rogan (Captain Georg von Trapp) about their roles in the new Riverside production.
Stephen Hu: Is this your first appearance in “The Sound of Music?”
Rogan: I was fortunate enough to get to do this role just a couple of years ago at this great theater out in Long Island called the John W. Engeman Theater. That was my first time getting to do the role, so I’m happy to get to revisit it a couple years later.
Andersen: I was in it in high school my senior year, and I did play Maria. So this is also my second go-around.
Hu: What did you learn when you researched Georg von Trapp’s life?
Rogan: Everybody is familiar with Maria von Trapp’s book because that was the main gospel that people used to create the stage version of the show. But Captain von Trapp wrote an entire journal and archived his military career from the Boxer Rebellion in China all the way through the lead-up to World War II. I feel the show tends to paint him as this very polite armchair/desk jockey/military guy when in reality he was in the submarine trenches of things. The stuff he did was unbelievably intense and grueling and dangerous. I feel like that gets glossed over so much. There’s a little bit of grit that I wanted to be sure we didn’t lose. And the guy was an absolute paragon of a human being, so morally infallible. At that time, he was going against the grain about how he felt about everything that was going on around him which is pretty spectacular.
IF YOU GO
“The Sound Of Music” Riverside Center for the Performing Arts, runs until Oct 26th. Tickets are $65-87.
Hu: What does “The Sound of Music” mean to you?
Andersen: It means a lot of different things now that I’m an adult and not 17 years old playing Maria. I think the story has so much more weight to it now that I’m an adult woman and I’ve been in real love. The story has evolved from this movie that I absolutely loved and watched over and over again to a show my senior year that your parents talk about for the rest of your life. Now, I get to revisit it as a professional who’s gone through a lot of training and being a woman and a person learning about the world, it hits different, for sure. It’s such a joy to do, now that I know all my lines, to work with our fabulous set of kids and our cast. (Maria) was an amazing woman and they were such an amazing pair. They were so brave. She was incredibly brave. She got through quite a lot in her life picking up her chin and trudging right through. I admire her very much for that.
Hu: You have two icons to contend with because there’s the real life Maria von Trapp but then there’s also Julie Andrews, who starred in the movie. Is that intimidating?
Andersen: Absolutely, but instead of comparing myself to (Andrews), I’m trying to take what I think she does incredibly well and try to find the way that I can do that and bring that to the stage which isn’t always going to be the same as a movie. Luckily Julie Andrews was a stage actress so she has a lot of wonderful things about her that are not difficult for me to find as an actor. It’s definitely some serious pressure. I know some people who are coming in thinking, “Well, it’s probably not Julie Andrews.” That’s okay, I don’t need to be or want to be. Just as long as they enjoy the story and feel something after, then I’ve done my job.
Hu: How is the stage performance different than the movie?
Andersen: There are a couple of logistical things that change. The stage version was the first so a couple of songs are in different places. It’s a little more historically true in that it’s not the baroness that causes Maria to leave. It’s not that woman against woman thing that’s portrayed in the movie. The show diverts from real life after that. It’s more centered on the kids, and her and him, rather than the love triangle.
Rogan: The nice thing in the stage show is you begin to see how you have these three people, Elsa and Max and the Captain, and how they take different stances on what’s going on around them.
Jordan Stocksdale, who’s playing Max in our show, is transformational in the final scene. I think Jordan does a masterful job of having that come across.
Part of the reason why Georg falls for Maria is that he sees her as a potential mother to his children. In real life, that was the deal-breaker when Maria agreed to marry Georg, not out of something romantic but because the kids loved Maria so much that Georg felt like it would make everything easier. Then the two of them being two spectacular people with aligned ethics, morals and values, they began to see that romance blossom between them and would go on to have children together.
Hu: How is it working with the kids in the show?
Andersen: The kids are phenomenal. I’m their biggest fan. They are ready to work when they come into the room. They love the show. They’re sitting and watching the scenes together. They’re practicing their lines together on breaks. They are in it and committed. They want it to be right. For me as a person, I love that. I admire them and am impressed by them. I couldn’t say when I was their age I could be that well-behaved and professional as they are. As an actor I’m so grateful because they are the show for the majority of it. I interact with most of them on a one-on-one level. I also sing and dance with them. I rely on their energy and their readiness in the room. They’re giving it their all and that makes my job ten times easier.
A beauty of this show is they’re all different ages so they all have someone to look up to which is wonderful. Our Liesl, Ella [Schnoor] has been in shows here before. She is playing a teenager even though she is not a teenager. She is just wonderful with the kids. She does such a good job of showing them how to be in a professional rehearsal but also having fun with them. She brought a camera so they could take pictures together. I fall in love with them more and more every day. They’re just adorable.
Rogan: Even in the script, the captain relies on Liesl as his right hand man and his lieutenant within the family dynamic and she gets this crazy burden thrust upon her to take over this matriarch role, to fill in as the parent as the captain is going through this grief and loss. When you have a good actor as Liesl with that off-stage dynamic it can make or break the production.
Hu: Why do you think a show that takes place in 1938 still speaks to people today?
Andersen: This is a classic story that still speaks to people and still has such weight for all of the messages that come through like love and family, politics and love for your country and all of those things. I think we’re trying to bring that to our current time. We’re hoping to bring this 1930s life into the present and speak to people as we are today. One of the most beautiful things about “The Sound of Music” is that it has stood the test of time and everyone still loves it. Someone always has a connection to Captain von Trapp or to Maria or to the children and it’s just wonderful.
