The Record
February 22, 1998
A Modern Problem Like Maria
By Jim Beckerman
These are a few of Rebecca Luker's favorite things:. Harps. Zithers. Authentic Austrian costumes, sets, and orchestral flavorings that make the new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music"unlike any that has come before.
"I think our team has looked at it with fresh eyes, which will surprise and delight the audience,"says Luker, the Tony-nominated star of Broadway's recent"Show Boat"revival. She plays Maria von Trapp, the role that Julie Andrews made famous in the 1965 blockbuster movie version, one of the best-loved films of all time.
In this revival, presented by Hallmark, Michael Siberry ("Nicholas Nickleby") plays Captain von Trapp; Patti Cohenour ("The Phantom of the Opera") and Jan Maxwell ("A Doll's House") also appear among the cast of 38.
Inevitably,"Sound of Music"audiences will bring certain movie-fed expectations to this revival.
Problem is, before there was a hit movie, there was a 1959 Broadway play, starring Mary Martin.
In reviving the piece, director Susan H. Schulman has to be true to both the familiar movie and the original Broadway show, from which it differed in some respects. All that while trying to put her own 1990s stamp on it.
"This is a pretty new interpretation, and it has an original look,"Luker says.
Everybody knows the reality-inspired story of Maria, the young governess who turned the wealthy Von Trapp family of Salzburg into a troupe of sprightly singers, and then masterminded their escape from Austria when the Nazis took power in 1938.
Everybody certainly knows the famous tunes:"The Sound of Music," "My Favorite Things,""Do Re Me,""Edelweiss,"and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."
What audiences might not know are two other tunes, cut from the movie, that add an undercurrent of cynicism to a show that is often knocked for being sticky-sweet.
"How Can Love Survive?" and"No Way to Stop It"(in which Captain von Trapp's worldly friends try to persuade him to collaborate with the Nazis) are both included in this revival."I think it's a needed
ingredient in the show that the movie doesn't have,"Luker says.
In other ways, the new"Sound of Music"makes peace with fans of the Hollywood version: It includes two tunes that were written specifically for the film,"I Have Confidence"and"Something Good." But though Luker has had her picture taken with Julie Andrews, there is no further connection between the old Maria and the new production. "We were pictured together, and it somehow got interpreted that she's the unofficial adviser," Luker says.
"The Sound of Music"comes on the heels of several other Broadway revivals, including Rodgers and Hammerstein's"Carousel" and"The King and I,"and the Hammerstein-Jerome Kern"Show Boat,"that suggest the
surprising durability of these sentimental old shows in an earthy age.
Luker herself, a Birmingham, Ala., native, is riding the crest of that wave: In addition to playing Magnolia Hawks in"Show Boat," she's also appeared in such revivals as"The Boys from Syracuse"and "Brigadoon,"and released albums of songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and others.
But Maria may be her most challenging role yet.
"Magnolia was a big role, but I don't think it's half as big as Maria,"she says."That was a cakewalk compared to this. I'm in about 12 out of 14 scenes, and when I'm not onstage I'm running from one side of the backstage to the other to make an entrance, and often you have to run under the stage and stop by your dressing room to change clothes."