The Sound of Music

My good friend Kristel and I had tickets to see the musical The Sound of Music at the Stadsschouwburg in Antwerp yesterday afternoon.  The magic started on the train ride - big fat snowflakes started to fall from the sky and the closer we got to Antwerp the fatter and thicker the snow became, which made for a beautiful sight as we walked out of the station and made our way through the busy shopping streets towards the theater for the afternoon performance.

I have always loved several of the songs from The Sound of Music. However, I was a bit apprehensive about hearing them in Dutch instead of English, afraid it would spoil my enjoyment somehow.  But as the show started with the nuns wondering what they were going to do with Maria, I quickly got used to the translated lyrics as the familiar melodies swept the story along.

One of the main reasons we bought tickets was the fact that Kristel is a huge fan of radio and television personality Kurt Rogiers, who played Captain Von Trapp, and did a fine job in the role.  Although he is not a professional singer, he has clearly worked hard on his technique. His fragile rendition of "Edelweiss" at the end of the show added an extra emotional layer to that moment in the story that would have been absent had every note been perfect.  The rest of the cast was excellent, and I especially enjoyed the dancing performed by the characters Liesl (played by Lotte Stevens) and Rolf (played by Martijn Vogel) during their duet in the garden - a mash up of Viennese waltzing, ballet, and jazz dance that had me thinking of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.  Charlotte Campion, despite her tiny stature, was an enthusiastic and believable Maria, and Maaike Widdershoven, as the head nun, sang an amazing version of "Climb Every Mountain".

All in all, it was a fine production, and a wonderful way to spend a snowy winter afternoon.