Theater Review

Last Friday, we took a much-needed day off and drove to Leavenworth to see “The Sound of Music” being performed this summer on one of that fair town’s three theater venues.

Prompting us to go see this particular production was the fact that it was the final performance for one of the two groups of child actors involved that included Kameron and Jared Goetz, the sons of Kevin and Jennifer Goetz of Coulee City. Their great-grandfather is Al Goetz of Odessa, currently a resident of Quail Court Assisted Living, and their grandparents are Les and Carolyn Goetz of Marlin.

The two boys were in one group of young actors double-cast for the roles of the Von Trapp children, with Kameron playing older son Friedrich and Jared playing younger son Kurt. Both appeared to be enjoying themselves enormously, and they did a wonderful acting job.

The open-air stage for this musical was built on a mountainside at the Ski Hill Amphitheater in the Wenatchee National Forest. From the parking area, a bus takes elderly and handicapped visitors to the base of the site, and everyone else walks. There is an uphill climb, as well as stairs to navigate, before reaching the seating area.

The acoustics, lighting and staging were great. Each actor with a speaking or singing part wore a small wireless microphone. The actors also doubled as ushers, escorting the audience members to their seats and engaging them in conversation, adding a nice touch. Several of the “extras,” those in the nun’s chorus and some young men who later appeared as Nazi soldiers doubled as the stage hands.

The stage elements were modular – large square boxes on wheels to which any manner of external decoration could be added. Inside the boxes were more options for additional scenes. There was no curtain, so the lights went down and rearrangement of the stage was visible to the audience. We don’t know how common this type of staging might be (we really don’t get out much), but we found it quite brilliant. One of the other venues is also outdoors, but the third is in town at the Festhalle, where many Leavenworth events take place.

The singing was overall quite good, with some spectacular voices mixed in with others that weren’t quite always exactly on pitch. The lead roles very well cast, with Jeness Klein-Schrenzel playing Maria, a would-be nun sent from the convent to be the governess to Captain Georg Von Trapp’s seven children. Unfortunately, Klein-Schrenzel was fighting a very bad cold, which could be heard in her voice. She was a trouper, though, and made it through the entire show. We would love to hear her sing again when her voice is unaffected by illness. As an actress, she fit the part perfectly.

Our only other criticism was that the sound people sometimes were a little slow to switch on microphones when certain actors were speaking. We were seated close to the stage, so we could still hear them, but we are sure that people in the back row would have had more trouble.

A small live orchestra provided the music and did a very fine job. If we could have afforded Leavenworth’s overnight tourist rates, instead of having to drive home in the middle of the night (the performance ended shortly before 11 p.m.), it would have been the perfect weekend outing.

More pictures can be viewed at http://www.odessarecord.com.