Arts in Focus: The Sound of Music cast is reviving the original musical for Hong Kong audiences

Natalie Duncan:

It’s actually our first time in Hong Kong! Since we’ve been in Hong Kong we’ve been rehearsing, so we haven’t had as much time as I’d like to go out and explore, but I’m excited to have some time here to be able to do so. One of the foods I’m most excited to try that I’ve heard is amazing here is dim sum, so that’s my number one on my list.

Corey Greenan:

We haven’t had a whole lot of time yet to really enjoy and explore, but we had a few days to take it easy when we first got here, and I took a wonderful little cruise at the harbour, saw the sights around sunset – it’s a beautiful city. And I would agree, I gotta sit down and really give a home to some dim sum, I’m very much looking forward to that. It’s my first time here as well, so everything is new and very exciting. 

Corey:

Not only is the music so timeless and a part of so many people’s lives from a young age, I think the themes of the show – such as family, faith, country, and love – are so universal that they’re never going to go out of style. This [musical] handles all of them so well and so beautifully across the board, through varying different perspectives, that I think it really speaks to people and really touches them. 

Natalie:

Absolutely. I knew in the United States that it was a very nostalgic piece of theatre. For lots of kids growing up, they grew up either watching the movie or seeing the show, learning the songs, but what I didn’t realise is that it’s also true over here. People have told me that they learn English [with] Do-Re-Mi! So that’s been incredibly special, to get to see that connection.

Natalie:

I certainly love all the songs with the kids – there’s just so much energy and joy that they bring to me, every night on stage. But another one that I always very much look forward to is the end of act one, Climb Ev’ry Mountain, which the fabulous Lauren Kidwell who plays the Mother Abbess sings. Not only is she an incredible singer but she is an amazing actor and she just moves me to tears every single night. I’m so excited for you all to get to experience that with us. 

Corey:

At the beginning of the show, Natalie as Maria gets to sing the titular song, Sound of Music, and she does such a wonderful job of it, but there’s a reprise of the song later in the show that the kids start singing for the Captain, inspired by Maria, that is really the moment [when] the walls that he’s built around him start crumbling. For me, that’s such an enjoyable moment to play because the kids are just there being so innocent and beautiful, showing him that they’re still there, if he’ll only make the effort to show how much he still cares for them. It kind of crushes me every night, and it’s such a wonderful moment that we get to share.

Corey:

The Captain is not the most cuddly character at the beginning, but it’s because he’s just hurting, you know? He lost his wife [and] the mother of his children – and he’s got seven of them, that’s a large burden for anyone to bear. He’s grieving, and that has made him cut himself off. He thinks he’s fulfilling his duty as a father just by providing for them, and again, in that moment in Sound of Music (Reprise), those kids deserve so much more – and so does he.

I think that’s what makes this so much fun to play; because he has such a transition, and it’s thanks to the wonderful spirit, attitude, and love of life that Maria brings to his home. So yeah, the Captain is fun. You want to root for him but he’s in a rough spot at first, and by the end he’s standing up to an imposing presence in order to save his family, he’s stepping up. He goes through quite a journey, and that’s what makes it such a joy to play every night. 

Natalie:

Maria is so spirited, she’s energetic, and my favourite thing about her is that she is a truth-teller. She can’t help but be true to herself and tell the truth, even if it’s hard to hear. That’s something that I really admire about her. She follows her heart and her truth, and ultimately that’s what brings her to her purpose.

Marc Routh:

Simone and I have been producing different versions of The Sound of Music now for over 20 years, and this particular production is very special because we bring together The Sound of Music and Jack O’Brien. Jack is one of our amazing Broadway directors, he’s a three-time Tony Award winner, and what he’s done is re-look at The Sound of Music in a very different way than the productions over the last 40-plus years, and he’s really dug deep into the story and the characters, and tried to really look at the reality of [their] situation. It’s a wonderful, beautiful production. 

Simone Genatt:

My whole career is wrapped up with The Sound of Music. It’s the first show that I produced on Broadway as a producer, and I definitely think that this production is the most gorgeous, sparkling of all of them. It has these contemporary aspects of colour – fuchsias and oranges – and really is a fresh look at the musical in a way that people have never seen before.

As Marc said, the tremendous opportunity to have an all-Broadway team bring this production to Hong Kong – it’s never been done before in any of the versions that have come through the market, so we’re very very proud of this show. It also looks absolutely gorgeous inside of the Xiqu Centre, it fits perfectly in this jewel-box theatre.

Marc:

The Sound of Music live on stage is a very different experience than the film. The film is, of course, iconic – everybody thinks about Julie Andrews when they think about The Sound of Music – but when you actually discover the stage show, you find out there’s some wonderful songs that are not in the film, and there’s also a kind of humanity. It’s actually quite a moving story, it’s a funny story, the children are charming, and a lot of that gets short shrift in the film, but the stage show is just special. With that live orchestra, it makes it a tremendously vibrant and exciting experience.

Simone:

I think most people don’t know that The Sound of Music originally is a live musical. The film came second, not first. For the original authors, the live show is what it’s all about. Marc and I, we’re live entertainment producers; we believe that there is no film or TV programme that you could watch that has the same impact on you as being close to an audience, together in a theatre, next to live actors and live musicians. It delivers something really special, especially in a theatre like Xiqu, which is a small, intimate house.

People need moments of togetherness now – so much of our time is spent inside of our phones and on our computers and away from other people, and this live entertainment experience with The Sound of Music is definitely more impactful than the film could ever be. We’re thankful for Julie Andrews, we love her for everything that she did for this [story], but definitely it is a special experience to see the live show.

Marc:

The Sound of Music in this version is in fact the original version. It’s the original script, it’s the original songs. We have some wonderful songs that if you’re only familiar with the movie, you’ll come to discover when you see the stage show. In the movie, songs are sung in different places, and when you see them live on stage in the context of the story, they have a lot of meaning that they don’t have in the film. 

Simone:

This production is true to the original musical that was made on Broadway by the authors, and Marc and I have done versions of this show that do include songs from the movie, but I think that Jack O’Brien’s interpretation with the Broadway team really delivers a punch for the audience that is very satisfactory, entertaining, and emotionally terrific. 

Simone:

Marc and I have been partners for 30 years. We celebrated our 30-year business anniversary this year, and we really have had a tremendously fantastic experience doing this musical all over the world. We started this particular production just after the lockdown period and we had to answer a lot of very difficult logistical questions. 

One of the very funny things that we did was we purchased six shipping containers and named them after the von Trapp children – painted blue, each in the name of Gretl, Kurt, Brigitta, the whole entire crew – because we figured that there will come a time on this tour when we will need to find those shipping containers lost somewhere. When we were in India – this was the first musical to enter India, ever – they couldn’t figure out where the containers were. So they came to us and asked, ‘How are we going to identify your shipping containers?’, and I said, ‘Well, they’re painted blue, and they have the von Trapp children’s names all over them. If you can’t find them, you’re not looking, dear!’