How do you not like a problem like Maria? Ever since and yearly TV broadcasts made her part of our family, Maria’s journey has provided a welcome respite. Sometimes it’s even a revelation.
Take the moment in the when Maria, portrayed with open-hearted charm by Rebekah Ortiz, returns to the Von Trapp home.
The young, eager governess had fled back to the convent and the wisdom of Mother Abbess (Samantha Jo Staggs) having been spooked by her feelings for and the pointed, competitive tone of the cosmopolitan Elsa Schrader (Lacey Connell). She rushes toward the children she was so smitten with. Forget moonbeam — a sharp burst of sun light is more like it.
Ortiz makes sweetly clear what an advocate for her young wards Maria has become. The Von Trapp children — Liesl, Louisa, Fredrich, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, Gretl — live in a household battened down by their father’s grief and naval codes.
Keegan Flaugh brings a fetching singing voice to Von Trapp. Although his acting at times may be even more stiff than his ramrod character.
Town Hall board member Robert Wells does the directing honors, keeping the familiar story of unexpected love and true patriotism in the run-up to WWII moving. The only misstep (though it got laughs) was in casting a man (a game Kris Graves) as the Von Trapp household’s hefty housekeeper, Frau Schmidt. In this instance, a guy in a frock is just too easy and empty a giggle.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
“THE SOUND OF MUSIC.” A Town Hall Arts Center production. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Directed by Robert Wells. Featuring Rebekah Ortiz, Keegan Flaugh, Samantha Jo Skaggs, Ryan Howard and Lacey Connell Through Dec. 30 at the Town Hall Arts Center, 2450 W. Main St., Littleton. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, $22-$42, via or 303-794-2787 ext. 5.
