Central City Opera’s “Sound of Music” triumphs at The Ellie

DENVER —The musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein epitomize those stage works that are equally successful as grand opera or as amateur community theater. The songs are difficult enough to be appropriate for operatic voices, yet, with a few exceptions, they remain songs, not arias.

Locally, a fine community production of “The Sound of Music” recently closed at Jesters Theatre in Longmont. On Saturday, the same show, with the same message and the same music, was produced by Central City Opera as, for the second season, the company packed up its productions in the mountains for a musical theater epilogue in Denver. While last year’s “Show Boat” was excellent and even revelatory, “The Sound of Music” reached a higher plane.

One reason for that is the venue. The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, though still a large space, was a more comfortable home for the Central City performers than the cavernous Buell Theater, where “Show Boat” was staged. And Saturday night, the Ellie was filled to near capacity. The crowd was treated to a transcendent experience.

James Fouchard’s scenery is utterly gorgeous, with believable Alpine backgrounds, a stately von Trapp manor, a dignified abbey, a realistic mountain — climbed by the von Trapps at the end — and a marvelous proscenium arch. Ken Cazan, who directed this season’s “Dead Man Walking,” adapts his skills to the larger Ellie stage, always positioning the characters, particularly the von Trapp children, to their best advantage.

Craig Kier conducts a superb orchestra in the pit and maintains contact with the singers at all times. The presence of the full orchestra, even more than the singers, is the greatest benefit to an operatic production.

For those only familiar with the 1965 Julie Andrews film, the 1959 stage version offers some surprises. How many people know, for instance, that “My Favorite Things” was originally sung in the abbey with the Mother Abbess as audience, not in the bedroom to the frightened children? Or that Rolf originally did not, in fact, betray the von Trapps, but deliberately threw the Nazis off their scent?

Soprano Katherine Manley as Maria, the nun-turned-governess-turned-mother, carries much of the character evolution in a most convincing way. Manley enraptures the audience from the first strains of the title song, and remains enchanting to the end. Baritone Troy Cook is a sympathetic Captain von Trapp who downplays the character’s reputation as a harsh disciplinarian and emphasizes his affectionate warmth.

Soprano Julie Tabash is radiant as Liesl, the iconic eldest daughter. Her scenes with Manley are moving, and she has strong enough vocals to match the older actress. Tenor Ian O’Brien is a surprisingly sympathetic Rolf, whose pure vocal tone merges well with Tabash in the duet “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”

Mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer gives the baroness Elsa Schrader both depth and grandeur, and she shines in the ironic, somewhat disturbing song “No Way to Stop It,” another discovery for those only familiar with the film, from which it is absent.

Two actors who played serious roles in “Dead Man Walking” return. Baritone Robert Orth proves his versatility in moving from the tortured father of a murdered teenager to the broad tragicomedy of Max Detweiler. Orth’s characterization of the befuddled culture minister is pure perfection, and his interactions with the children are great highlights.

But the cast’s most outstanding performance comes from mezzo-soprano Maria Zifchak as the Mother Abbess. Zifchak was profoundly moving as Mrs. De Rocher in “Dead Man Walking.” Here, her grand and soaring “Climb Every Mountain” at the end of Act I is the absolute musical highlight of the evening. Zifchak is not the only musical treasure at the abbey, however. The harmonies in the chorus of nuns are sublime.

The six remaining von Trapp children are all members of the Colorado Children’s Chorale. All are delightful, and sing impressively, especially in the harmonized reprise of the title song and the complex re-interpretation of “Do-Re-Mi” at the climactic Salzburg Music Festival. Special mention should be given to Grace Pouliot’s portrayal of the precocious Brigitta.