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Health & Fitness

Castle Craig Players' 'The Sound of Music' - My Review

Due to the overwhelming demand for tickets to THE SOUND OF MUSIC, we have ADDED A PERFORMANCE - this Thursday, June 5 at 7:30pm! Tickets will go on sale at 10am tomorrow morning (Monday), on a first come, first serve basis.

UPDATE: Due to the overwhelming demand for tickets to THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Castle Craig Players have ADDED A PERFORMANCE - this Thursday, June 5 at 7:30pm!

Tickets will go on sale at 10am tomorrow morning (Monday), on a first come, first serve basis, and can be purchased by clicking here: http://bit.ly/1jeqFDl

Please note that tickets will be sold online only - no phone or email reservations. At this time, all other performances remain sold out.

The Castle Craig players work in a small storefront in downtown Meriden but that is quickly forgotten when patrons enter the space and are transported to Austria for their current production of The Sound of Music. I was immediately impressed with how Director/Set Designer Ian Galligan, had arranged the house and asked Jorge Melendez to paint mountains around the entire space. Large stained glass windows turned to garden trellises for the required scene changes and a runway added to the smallish stage would be well employed by the 30+ cast.

I was invited to the final dress rehearsal of the production and very much enjoyed this rendition of the cherished musical story of the Trapp Family Singers. Some wonderful Rogers & Hammerstein music, a touching story and in this case outstanding costumes added up to a great show for me, although I must admit that I always find the Nazi portions a bit hard to sit through. I loved "Do Re Mi" and the wedding scene.

Every member of this large cast was extremely well directed by Mr. Galligan and brought their best effort to this rehearsal. I will start with the marvelous women who play the nuns of the abbey; they sang together magnificently in harmony for the beautiful hymns in the score, expertly played on piano by the Music Director Andrew Gadwah. Because the space is so small, no one wore a microphone and projected nicely. Nuns with names were played by Donna Wolther, Diane Warner-Canova, and Mo Lederman, but eight other ladies also donned the habit to essentially act with only their faces. Their leader was Terri Davenport in the role of The Mother Abbess; this actress gave a fine performance.

Anne Collin played the role of Maria Rainer, the problem which must be solved. With a crystal clear voice, she was a loveable Maria. Patrick Spadaccino was a commanding Captain Von Trapp and gave a wonderful vocal performance. Wesley Tack was an appropriately comic "Uncle" Max Dettweiler and Michael Bonassar was a handsome Rolf Gruber.

Simone McMahon was a standout in the role of the wealthy Elsa Schraeder; she had a wonderful voice, a commanding presence on the stage, and wow, did she have the best wardrobe. I was always able to know what her character was thinking, and it often wasn't good.

And then there are the von Trapp children. Of course they are adorable, but they could all sing, dance, act and make the audience love them. The line up was made up of Meghan Rickard as the teenaged Leisel, Bryan Brazel as Friedrich, Tim Perry as Kurt, Kendrah Kochol as Louisa, Cameron Fay Nagy as Briggitta, Rose Nelson as Marta, and the super cute Ainsley Dahlstrom as little Gretl. Kudos to each and every one of them.

The costumes overall were very well done and the lighting was perfect for the space. The sound effects were always on cue and the first thunderclap made me jump.

The bad news is that all performances of the two week run of The Sound of Music are now sold out. If you'd like to be added to their cancellation list, please email boxoffice@castlecraig.org, and they'll contact you in the event that tickets become available.

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