Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Base Entertainment brings The Sound of Music again into the Marina Bay Sands Theatre, from November 7 to December 3 2017.
I reviewed The Sound of Music when it last played at the venue in 2014, and the plot remains exactly the same. Novice nun Maria (Carmen Pretorius) joins Captain Georg van Trapp’s (Nicholas Maude) home as a governess only to discover his seven children lack love and attention. With her passion for music and singing, Maria uses songs as tools to take care of the kids’ emotional wellbeing – and in the process, starts falling in love with the Captain.
Much like in the 2014 version, the songs are in a different sequence than in the movie of the same name, but still the theme and plot viewers know from the movie carries well through these musical adaptations.
The singing is very good, and of course the songs themselves are timeless. Pretorius, who played the oldest von Trapp child Liesl in the 2014 production, returns in the leading role of Maria, with a clear and sweet singing voice. Her vocals are very similar to those of Bethany Dickson who played Maria previously in Singapore.
The set is as exacting and exciting as it was previously, the costumes still a delight. And once again Mother Abbess is played by Janelle Visagie, so it’s no surprise that her operatic voice fills the huge theatre effortlessly as she hits the high notes with powerful gusto. Visagie who steals this show – again.
The Sound of Music with its songs and themes is a narrative that has stood the test of time. And for this critic, having watched the previous staging not all that long ago, and re-watching it today with the same emotions and wonderment as when I first watched the movie on tape as a child with my mother – I can safely declare that the hills will always be alive with the Sound of Music!
Do catch this marvelous musical before it leaves Singapore.
