Classic musical comes alive at CMS

PALMER — Colony Middle School’s latest production may not be the traditional version of “The Sound of Music,” but it is in tune with the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.

Music teacher and theater director Toby Lambert said the show Colony will be performing is one in the “Getting to Know…” series of Rodgers and Hammerstein plays adapted particularly for youth performances. This “Sound of Music,” then, has all the favorite songs — such as “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favorite Things” and “The Lonely Goatherd” — though not necessarily in the same scenes as the 1965 movie or the Broadway production.

“The essence of it is still there but it’s lost some of the ingredients,” Lambert said.

The biggest shortcoming of the youth version, he said, is the removal of the character Baroness Elsa Schräder, the fiancée of Captain Georg von Trapp. Unwilling to put on the show without such an important player, Lambert decided to add her back in, slipping in a few lines and a song where it fit best in the abridged version.

The student actors, many of whom had seen the movie by Robert Wise, agreed that Elsa should be a part of their presentation of the World War II story.

Though most seemed to have a limited understanding of the detailed history of the war and the real-life Von Trapp Family Singers, all were excited about their involvement in such a production (and eighth-grader Hayley Pritchett, at least, who plays Admiral Von Schreiber, knew she was supposed to “smile less,” because she plays a Nazi, she said).

Seventh-grader Kate Smith plays Maria, her first major role at Colony. Kate most recently performed in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” around this time last year at Colony, and has also participated in numerous summer plays at the youth camps Valley Performing Arts (VPA) hosts every year.

Smith said her parents, who both participated in theater at the University of North Dakota, signed her up for the camps when she was 7. She continues to add to her basic knowledge of theater through these camps. Projecting her voice is one thing she’s improved upon and is still working on, she said.

Though she had the experience, Smith said she wasn’t expecting to earn the leading role.

“It came as a surprise,” she said. “Everyone said go for it, but when I got the phone call that night, I was stunned.”

A little more than a week before opening night, Smith said working on the play had been “an interesting ride,” and she looks forward to more productions in high school.

Starring opposite Smith is eighth-grader Steven Sutcliffe as Captain von Trapp. Sutcliffe is one of just a handful of boys in the 30-person cast, and like Kate is enjoying his first leading role in the musical. Sutcliffe has been in numerous musicals at Colony Middle, including Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast,” in which he played Gaston.

He said he’s glad to be playing the main “good guy” for once, though playing different types of characters, he said, “is really difficult.”

Sixth-grader Charly Rentz, who plays “Mother Abbess” in “The Sound of Music,” said she enjoys that challenge.

“I like roles that are fun to play and experiment with,” she said. “I want a role that can teach me a new emotion.”

Though new to the school, Rentz is already a seasoned actress, having played the title character in “Pollyanna” at VPA in the spring of 2014, and landed the role of Cosette in “Les Miserables” at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage last fall.

Rentz said working with her peers is definitely different than acting with adults, but not for the reasons you might think.

“It’s kind of cool watching young kids play adults, to see what they do with it (the role),” she said.

Rentz is one of many students who have gotten involved in theater at Colony first through Finger Lake Elementary School, which often partners with the middle school on productions like these. Lambert said this growing partnership is what turns some students to Colony over Wasilla Middle, for example.

“More and more kids are coming into this school (because) theater is the thing they wanna do,” he said.

To purchase tickets for “The Sound of Music” at Colony Middle School, contact Lambert at 761-1517 or tobias.lambert@matsuk12.us.

Showtimes are Friday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 31 at 2 and 7 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 7 at 2 and 7 p.m. Dinner and “trick-or-treat” options available for an additional fee.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com