Cover Natalie Duncan (middle) as Maria and the children in ‘The Sound of Music’ (Photo: courtesy of Ying Zhou)
Natalie Duncan (middle) as Maria and the children in ‘The Sound of Music’ (Photo: courtesy of Ying Zhou)
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You must have seen Julie Andrews singing and dancing atop a Swiss mountain—or at least the scene in meme form; now Broadway Asia’s new production of the musical gives you a chance to relive those fond memories
While most are familiar with Julie Andrews bursting into song in Salzburg in the 1965 movie The Sound of Music, the 1959 Broadway musical of the same name, created by American composer Richard Rodgers and American lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, which won six Tony Awards, is less familiar.
This month, the musical will make its way to Hong Kong. Running from April 16 to June 9 at Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon, it will feature songs from the Broadway show and feature original choreography. This modern version is produced by a Broadway Asia team led by three-time Tony Award winning director Jack O’Brien.
The beloved story, inspired by the real-life events of the Von Trapp family singers, revolves around Maria, a nun, and the seven Von Trapp children to whom she’s a governess.
Read more: Is Hong Kong becoming the ‘Broadway of the East’?
From left: Natalie Duncan and Lauren Kidwell as Mother Abess (Photo: courtesy of Harmony Studio SG)
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New York-based musical actress Natalie Duncan, who plays Maria in the new version, grew up watching the movie and was thrilled to land the role. “Maria, at her core, is very close to me”, she says. “We’re both free-spirited, energetic and maybe a little goofy.”
Duncan originally submitted her application for the roles of Maria and Elsa, the lead character in Disney’s Frozen the Broadway Musical. But it was seeing this similarity with Maria that led to her, after waiting for six months, asking her agent to resubmit an application for the role of the young nun instead. She got an audition and was cast.
“I also have a lot of experience with kids [having worked as a nanny]. I love children and music. All these things are very near to me,” she says. “But one of the things about Maria that I really aspire to be more like is that she is a truth-teller. She can’t help but be her genuine self and say what she’s feeling.
“There’s something magical about live theatre,” she adds. “When you’re in a theatre, you can feel the audience’s reactions and their joy and happiness. It’s like you’re feeling all those emotions together.”
Above Natalie Duncan in the opening scene of ‘The Sound of Music’ (Photo: courtesy of Harmony Studio SG)
Natalie Duncan in the opening scene of ‘The Sound of Music’ (Photo: courtesy of Harmony Studio SG)
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Like Duncan, many people who grew up watching the movie version still feel inspired by it. “The Sound of Music is still relevant today as the day it was written. It’s a story about finding your place in life, family and true love, and being true to your vision of the world,” says Marc Routh, the president of Broadway Asia. “That never gets old.”
Besides The Sound of Music, Routh and his team have brought several other western productions to Asia over the years. “We love to introduce translations of successful works. We’ve had significant licences with many productions in Asia, [such as] Sheer Madness, Altar Boys and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change for example,” he says. His team has also experimented with new technology and added Asian elements to bring diversity to the stage. “We’ve done shows with kung fu elements, Peking opera and face changing [the Sichuan opera art of bian lian].”
He admits some cultural or historical elements might be hard to translate but adds that one needs to find the “common denominator which makes us laugh or moves us in a way that works in any region or language. It’s all part of the joy of cross-cultural entertainment.”
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
