Rare is the show that feels like a veritable bullseye into the heart, evoking strong emotions because of not only how heartfelt the subject matter is, but for how beautifully it’s performed.
5-Star Theatricals’ production of The Sound of Music, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s last musical hurrah, is lovely by virtue of its raw genuineness which connects so comprehensively that one may very well have to fight off tears. Of course, the specter of the horrifying Third Reich urgently reminds how, in contrast, there are those who unrelentingly symbolize the human race’s most benevolent, immaculately emphasized in a premise where children and adults co-exist in the idyllic hills of Salzburg, Austria.

Inspired by Maria Augusta von Trapp’s The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, there is a palpable authenticity to 5-Star’s version of The Sound of Music, no less resonant than the Julie Andrews-starring film, thanks to the underrated Richard Israel whose direction is validated by the virtually error-free onstage collaboration among his performers, some of whom are elementary school-aged. The cues of choreographer Christopher Albrecht and music director/conductor Anthony Lucca are, in addition, attended to so handily that it’s astonishing.
Notwithstanding the technical precision is how well Israel allows Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse’s book to build momentum as Maria Rainer, a young postulate of the Nonnberg Abbey, is exhorted by her Mother Abbess to leave and be a governess to the seven children of widower Captain von Trapp (of the Navy) so she can identify her destiny and perhaps return to a life of piety. The kids, who have rejected every governess hitherto, take a shine to the maternal Maria, though just as their father is set to marry businesswoman Elsa Schraeder. As song, merriment, and dance combat the despondency of the Captain and the harbinger of hate, the importance of human expression, family, and resilience bravely come forth.

Shannon O’Boyle doesn’t just portray Maria, she merges with every facet of the doting, humble, and selfless character. When the audience is introduced to O’Boyle with the title song as her Fräulein Maria reclines outside the abbey, it’s immediately apparent that her voice is as lush as the hills surrounding her.
When O’Boyle’s altruistic side comes out in the instructional “Do-Re-Mi,” as the child performers convey their enthusiasm by singing notes of the major scale in response to their heads being individually patted by O’Boyle’s Maria, one can’t help but smile from ear to ear. And, as Maria confides her fears to the bespectacled Mother Abbess — depicted with venerability and grace by Cathy Newman — O’Boyle’s layered acting and expressions aid in a naturalistic and bona fide tour de force that stands alone among its peers.

Newman grounds her Mother Abbess with a modesty, but also a sagacity, that commands not through coercion but sincerity. “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” takes on a greater import as Newman vocally ascends with a soulful earnestness. Moreover, Martha Thatcher’s Sister Margaretta, Mollie Navarro’s Sister Sophia, and Sadé Ayodele’s Sister Berthe especially shine like a beacon of divine light as their habited nuns accompany the Reverend Mother in the harmonizing and vibrato-powered “Maria,” who, as fortune would have it, turns out to be a “problem” that is “solved” on its own.
Jon Root of Broadway’s Avenue Q artfully fills out Captain von Trapp’s arc as a grieving, phlegmatic man devoid of fun. Flanked by his order-following butler Franz (Tudor Munteanu) and housekeeper Frau Schmidt (Dana Shaw), Georg, the Captain’s oft-referred to first name, is driven to militarize his own children. This extends to whistle-reinforced daily marches before Maria softens the Captain’s heart and he discovers his staunch convictions in the wake of political upheaval.

Root is excellent at slowly thawing his persona who comes to a life-altering realization when elegantly dancing with Maria. “Something Good,” too, alongside O’Boyle’s Maria, is delivered by Root with an innocence that his heart-rending, which is even surpassed by his rendition of “Edelweiss,” as he legitimately fingerpicks the notes on a strapped guitar, somberly signifying perhaps the last time the Family von Trapp sings collectively as doom looms.
Whereas the Captain is uncompromisingly opposed to the Nazi incursion, others around him might be inclined to be more expedient. Such questions about close family friend Max Detweiler, the Third Secretary of Education and Culture, whose idea it is to coach the von Trapp youngsters for a festival concert, are raised.

The same applies to the overly pragmatic Elsa Schraeder, who is also the potential wife-to-be of Georg. As Max and Elsa, respectively, Christopher Karbo and Eleen Hsu-Wentlandt nimbly display the gray traits, and sometimes, mortal corruptness of their characters — no instance more transparent than in “No Way to Stop It.”
The young are not immune to caving into the pressure of self-serving survival, either, which is why the Nazi party successfully recruited so many adolescents. Such a hazard lurks over the developing relationship of Rolf, rendered with suitable naïveté by Brody Tarrant Sitton, and Hannah Sedlacek’s ultra-endearing Liesl von Trapp. Pepperdine graduate Sedlacek gives a breakout performance as Liesl, waltzing with a mixture of teenage excitement and supreme confidence in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen;” and, if that wasn’t impressive enough, she vocalizes effervescently and with unimpeachable pitch.

The fact that the starring roles are realized with such attentive care lifts 5-Star’s The Sound of Music from good to one of the year’s most memorable. However, even if that wasn’t the case, the beyond-their-years demonstrations by the budding actors personifying the other six von Trapp children would thoroughly incentivize attendance at the Kavli Theatre. In “The Lonely Goatherd,” “So Long, Farewell,” and “My Favorite Things (Reprise),” along with an unflagging stage awareness when only reacting to others’ actions, each child prodigy wins over the attendees in their own way.
For example, seventh-grader Ivy Kaplowitz is highly amiable as the mischievous Louisa, voice actor Zander Chin stuns with his high notes as Friedrich, Mikki Schultz earns acclamation with the spirited delivery of her lines as Marta, Elías De Paula draws cheers with his courageous dancing efforts as Kurt, Día Day is as sharp and intuitive as her thoughtful Brigitta, and the incredibly gifted Ginny Cary (the youngest) is adorable beyond description as the yodeling and sore-finger-nursing Gretl.

Matching the cast’s faithfulness to the show is Kenneth Foy’s wonderful scenery — from the abbey’s walls, stained glass window, and graveyard, to Austria’s rolling hills and the von Trapp courtyard — which elevates the immersion of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic. Foy’s contributions are supplemented by Alex Choate’s props, Luis Martinez’s era-appropriate hair and makeup, Chris Steele & Gail Garon’s costume coordination, Jonathan A. Burke’s sound design, and Brandon Baruch’s strategic lighting, the sum of which complete the visual and aural package. Notably, Baruch’s lighting juxtaposition of a family heroically aglow by a spotlight against the red terror of the Nazi insignia behind them, in the penultimate scene, underscores the harsh duality of good and evil.
Surely, there is no production that doesn’t require painstaking dedication in order to resonate with its audience. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals, nonetheless, ask more from its casts and crews because, beyond any storytelling devices, the tenderness of humanity is evinced even within contexts that threaten to stifle it.

On the united merits of its touching and impeccably pure portrayals, 5-Star Theatricals’ The Sound of Music audaciously rises to the challenge of the task at hand and would admirably meet the towering expectations that the work’s celebrated composers would have had. It is as enchanting, enjoyable, and consequential as The Sound of Music can be.
5-Star Theatricals’ production of The Sound of Music runs through Sunday, July 28th. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit 5StarTheatricals.com.