Over 40 community members bring the heartwarming story and the memorable songs of The Sound of Music to the Jan Brown Anderson stage of the Emma Kelly Theater in late October.
Based on the 1949 memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, by Maria von Trapp, the enchanting musical tells the story of a young Austrian woman who is trying to decide if she wants to become a nun in Salzburg, Austria in 1938.
Maria Rainer is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. She transforms the von Trapp family home from a place of rules and regulations to one filled with joy, laughter and music. After falling in love with the children, and eventually their father, she marries Captain Georg von Trapp. But, he is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy. He opposes the Nazi regime and the family comes up with a daring plan to flee Austria.
Ami Palmer has the lead role of Maria. The reigning Miss Savannah River who is working toward her master’s in vocal performance at Georgia Southern University will lead a fabulous cast in such wonderful tunes as “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favorite Things,” “The Sound of Music,” and many, many others.
Emanuel County Institute graduate Caleb Flanders, who is also Ami’s real-life boyfriend, will be performing in his very first event with the Averitt Center’s community theater. The Garden District maintenance technician plays the lead male role of Captain von Trapp. The von Trapp children are played by 16-year old junior homeschooler Tate Miller (Liesl), Statesboro High School junior Ryan Wolfe (Friedrich), Southeast Bulloch sophomore Molly Griswald (Louisa), eighth-grade homeschooler John Wesley Keene (Kurt), seventh-grade homeschooler Caroline Sawhill (Brigitta), Bulloch Academy third grader Ada Mock (Marta) and Metter Elementary second grader Elsa King (Gretl).
Ashley Horton is The Mother Abbess, J.J. Crawford is Max Detweiler, Brandon Adams is Rolf Gruber and Lisa Muldrew is Baroness Elsa Schraeder.
Other cast members are Christie McLendon (Sister Berthe), Megan O’Donnell (Sister Margaretta), Emily Bouman (Sister Sophia), Franz (Angus Walton), Frau Schmidt (Merry Gallagher), Sosi Sobaje (Ursula), John Parcels (Herr Zeller), Stan Haselton (Baron Elberfeld), Pam Baggett (Baroness Elberfield) and Hadley Campbell (Admiral von Schreiber).
Alan Tyson and Thom Mortimore are Nazi soldiers. Alison Darby, Sara Maria Maghiar, Victoria Glover, Addie Martindale, Cortney King, Cynthia Wates and Muldrew portray Nuns. Ally Keene, Claire Kennedy, Bouman, Maddie Herman and Kate Mock are Novices. Mock, Sobaje, Charlotte Bridges, Shanna Haselton and Rylee Martindale-Rushing are Postulants.
Tickets for the reserved-seat performance, which begins at 7:30 p.m. on October 21-23 and 3 p.m. on October 24, are $25 for adults ($23 for ACA members, active or retired members of the military, first responders and Statesboro/Bulloch County government employees) and $23 for students. They can be purchased in the Box Office at the Averitt Center Main Gallery (open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday), by calling 912-212-2787 or on-line at averittcenterforthearts.org/performances-events. The Sound of Music is sponsored by Statesboro Cardiology, Georgia Power, the Josh D. Tucker Law firm and Hoke Brunson.
