My overall impression
Like HAMLET without Hamlet (as Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern tell it) THE SOUND OF MUSIC without Maria and the children is a wacky vision indeed! Although Max and Elsa stood on the sidelines for Rodgers and Hammerstein, here they’re center stage in their own pre-WWII Austrian Alpine world. It’s a pretty funny one, thanks to slick, skillful staging by Mason Flink and especially to the VERY good performances of the small cast. Clayton Farris (who looks like Peter Sellers) is OUTSTANDING; Megan Rose Greene (who looks like Jane Alexander) is consistently clever; and Frank Smith (who looks like Charlie Brown playing Captain Von Trapp) never makes a wrong move and detonates every laugh that lands in his path. (I especially loved watching the reactions of Mr Farris to Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF, which seemed to pass unnoticed.)
Studded with conversational snippets from the real Oscar Hammerstein lyrics, it’s not quite as hilarious as it thinks it is, but it is a delightful hour worth your attention and deserving of the well-earned extension of its Fringe run.
