| ‘The Sound of Music’ to bring back warm memories |
| DATA： 2008-07-03 |
 Michael Turay and Christine Paterson at the press conference last week in Shenzhen. Fan Guorui  |
| Michael Turay as Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp sings for children in “The Sound of Music.”File photo |
ANOTHER classic Broadway musical is coming to the local stage this month.
Produced by Troika Entertainment and Broadway Asia Entertainment, the family audience-wooing “The Sound of Music” promises to mesmerize locals with familiar songs like “Edelweiss,” “Do-Re-Mi,” and “The Lonely Goatherd” while telling a warm story about love and family.
On its Asia tour this year, the show will be staged in Japan and South Korea as well as in Shenzhen and other Chinese cities.
With baritone Michael Turay as Captain Georg Ritter von Trapp and Christine Paterson as Maria, the show also features seven lovely children from the United States and a 16-member mini orchestra headed by artistic director Nathan Thomas.
Not many shows are still performed and loved half a century after their debut, and that fact alone defines it as a “classic,” according to Thomas, a 48-year-old musician from California. He is not alone in saying that.
Late last year, the 1965 movie version of the musical, featuring Julie Andrews as Maria, was voted by movie fans as the greatest musical of all time. The 1998 Broadway revival of the show was nominated for a Tony Award for best revival of a musical.
“We took this show on a U.S. tour four years ago. But it doesn’t have to be the same every time we do it. The audiences are different and we want to respond to them,” Thomas told a news conference in Shenzhen last week.
“We follow the original version, but also draw from a box of acceptable variations. It’s a liberating experience for us every night,” he said.
The charms of the musical, apart from the melodious songs, lie in the nicely knit story.
“It’s about interpersonal relations. Even if you haven’t experienced the inner struggles of Maria, you can understand her and relate to her,” he said.
The show provides two hours of entertainment, as do blockbuster movies, but Thomas said the two were vastly different kinds of entertainment. “People get fully involved in that kind of movie as action happens every 30 seconds, but no one thinks of it the following week. They will forget it quickly enough,” he said. “With ‘The Sound of Music,’ the warmth of the story lingers on for 50 years.”
The director said he personally preferred classic shows, revealing his favorite to be “West Side Story.” “Musicals have been very different since 1968, and there have been a lot of what I call jukebox musicals, where people put together some nice songs together. But a good story is often missing.”
Paterson, a Colorado native with a degree in classic music, agreed that “The Sound Of Music” was an amazing story.
“Such a well written script is rarely seen today,” she said.
The shiny image created by Julie Andrews is daunting, but Paterson said attending a live show was completely different from watching a movie.
“Everyone can bring something different to it. The feeling of being part of it in the theater is absolutely wonderful. Besides, I’ve made a really wonderful connection with Michael (as Captain), and the children are simply lovely,” she said.
Turay, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said he had not seen the musical before joining the cast. “I’ve watched the movie twice. But later I studied the script and the true history of the von Trapp family and found how amazing the story is. ”
He most recently played Fred, Scrooge’s nephew, in “A Christmas Carol” with Personal Space Theatrics in New York City. In 2006-07, he toured the States with the national Broadway tour of “Wonderful Town” in the role of Officer Lonigan and the understudy to Bob Baker.