Review: The Sound Of Music, at the Birmingham Hippodrome
The Sound Of Music is the ultimate comfort food theatre.
It’s a sneaky bar of chocolate nibbled under the covers while your partner is safely snoring. A cheese cake lurking in the back of the fridge, ready to release its cheesy goodness once that pesky divorce is finalised.
During the Cold War, the BBC planned to broadcast The Sound Of Music on radio if there was a nuclear strike, to make people feel more relaxed while their eyeballs turned to goo. That’s how cosy it is.
Only it’s not.
A new production, playing at the Hippodrome, reminds me how well Rodgers & Hammerstein blended punchy points and pretty tunes.
Ostensibly a bouncy musical, it’s really a hard hitting drama about the Nazi occupation of Austria, and the importance of standing by your convictions.
A love story as well, of course, with romance blossoming between Maria, a tomboy novice nun, and her uptight Austrian suitor, Captain Von Trapp.
Connie Fisher, who first won the lead role in the TV show, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? is born to the part.
Her voice is fresh as bottled water and she comes across as chirpy, cheerful and lacking in feminine guile. Exactly what’s required. Michael Praed fills the polished boots of Captain Von Trapp to perfection, with clicking heels and clipped diction.
Russian spies are back in the news, which means mushroom clouds may return to the agenda. But no worries. The Sound Of Music is in town.
Nazis, nuns and nifty tunes – what more could you possibly want to ease your way into a nuclear winter?
Until August 21
