Theater Review : Brea’s Alive With ‘Sound of Music’

BREA — A young woman on a beeline to sisterhood finds herself nanny to seven children, the offspring of a rich, humorless naval captain and his late wife. In short order, the gent and the postulant fall in love, marry and schlep the entire household across the Alps to freedom, a song in their hearts and a whole lot of Nazis on their heels.

An unlikely scenario? You bet, but in the case of Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The 1959 musical (the last to be penned by the team before Oscar Hammerstein II’s death) is based on the real-life experiences of Maria von Trapp as described in her autobiographical book, “The Trapp Family Singers.”

Stagelight Family Productions offers a “Sound of Music” at Brea’s Curtis Theatre that neatly captures the script’s charm and humor but skips blithely over the tale’s more serious messages. Directed by William Lett and featuring 200 members of Brea’s Youth Theatre (divided into two casts that alternate performances), the production continues through Sunday.

Although most of the supporting roles are double-cast, teen-agers Marina Jurica and Christopher Blake play Maria and Capt. von Trapp at all performances.

The two pack a wallop as singers, which makes it easier to overlook their shortcomings as actors. Emotional transitions are lightning quick: Maria travels from plucky to downcast to blissful at warp speed. The Captain’s evolution from stiff-necked disciplinarian to bear-hugging dad is equally quick, but the pair sound so darned good doing it that you can forgive them.

Actually, at Sunday evening’s show, it was some of the von Trapp kids who more deeply defined their characters. As the eldest daughter, Leisel, Beth Passarella captured the awkwardness and grace of a girl on the brink of womanhood. Lauren Mooney gave a breezy confidence to Brigitta, the outspoken, second-eldest girl.

As Max Detweiller, Von Trapp’s free-spirited and freeloading counterpart, Frank Rich wanders all over western Europe with his accent, but his exuberance and comic timing added sparkle to every scene he was in. Erin Birenbaum’s Elsa Schraeder, the wealthy matron engaged to the captain before Maria turns his head, was suitably smarmy.

Jill Grande-Goodsell Villanueva’s Mother Abbess is stolid but nicely warmed by the affection she shows for her charges, including her problem child, Maria.

One complaint: As a singer, Grande-Goodsell Villanueva (who also serves as the show’s musical director) is an awesome force, and Lett doesn’t seem to rein her in vocally at all. Willing suspension of disbelief aside, when she wraps her pipes around “Climb Every Mountain,” it’s hard not to picture Kate Smith in a habit.

The director has shoehorned the maximum number of ensemble actors into the musical numbers, a common approach in shows with young casts. Dressed in a variety of faintly Bavarian costumes, little kids literally come out of the woodwork during “Do Re Mi” and “The Lonely Goatherd” (watch for the lop-eared kid at the end; she’ll melt your heart). Older children and teens swell the all-nun chorus, with particularly good results in the wedding scene.

* “Sound of Music,” Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea. Saturday-Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. (714) 990-7722. $7.50-$9.50. Running time: Two hours, 20 minutes. Maria: Marina Jurica

Captain von Trapp: Christopher Blake

Leisel: Beth Passarella/Kari Ann Walter

Freidrich: Scott Passarella/Bryce Chaddick

Louisa: Kirsten Jorgensen/Sari Poll

Kurt: Bud Kraus/Dominick Rich

Brigitta: Lauren Mooney/Candice Wilson

Marta: Katie Hough/Sara Wilson

Gretl: Brittany Hammond/Jessica Wilson

Elsa: Schraeder Erin Birenbaum

Max Detweiller: Frank Rich

Mother Abbess: Jill Grande-Goodsell Villanueva

Presented by Stagelight Family Productions and the City of Brea. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Produced by Janice Kraus. Directed and choreographed by William F. Lett. Musical direction by Jill Grande-Goodsell Villanueva. Sets: Clowes and Associates. Lighting: Bob Mumm. Sound: Nelsonics.