The Sound of Music (Behind the Curtain)
Written by Swathi Ram, Edited by Olivia Lu
“Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theater will make you good,” Terrence Mann, an American Broadway actor once said. Over the past few decades, our lust for fame and fortune as a society has overshadowed our desire for good. The beauty of the world behind the curtain remains, but so few are willing to take the chance and see it, making theater a difficult thing to do. A member of the theater community has the dedication of an athlete, the energy of a kindergarten teacher, and the bravery of a Gryffindor. But in the end, it is all worth it.
This year, Sunset High School put on The Sound of Music, a lively musical that takes place during World War II and is based on a true story. In the chronicle, Maria Rainer, a flamboyant young woman studying to become a nun, is ordered to serve as a governess to the seven mischievous children of Captain Von Trapp, a former navy officer, lonely widower, and proud Austrian who has banned music in his household. Over the course of the tale, Maria brings laughter, song, and love back to the great estate, despite the initial disapproval of the captain, and the omnipresent shadow of the Nazis, who have begun to take over Austria.
This heart-wrenching story progresses for around three hours long, which flies by for the audience. But for those of us in the cast, those three hours meant three months of rehearsals, Monday through Friday. Even when school was off, rehearsals were on. Furthermore, several Saturdays were occupied with ‘work parties’, gatherings during which several set pieces were constructed. Although several complaints rang through the air on those sleepy days when the theater kids had to drag themselves to the empty school, now, when all is said and done, every single one of us looks back on those days with fondness.
At first, the rehearsals were from 2:45 to 5:30. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays consisted of staging for the cast with Mr. Farmer. During one session, we would stage one scene, and every few days, we would review the entire show. Tuesdays and Thursdays were reserved for voice practice with Mr. Rust or choreography with Ms. H for the cast, while the crew built sets in the auditorium, and dug up old props and costumes (sometimes even finding that they had to create new ones from scratch, and doing so). However, two hours and forty-five minutes quickly became too few, and rehearsals were extended to 6:00, and soon after to 6:30. The final two weeks before the performance were the most exhilarating, and the most exhausting. Tech week, the second-to-last week of practice was when microphones, lighting, and sound effects were incorporated into the show. Hats off to the amazing crew members working in the sound booth, and those up in the catwalk tinkering with lights for their great work, and the speed at which they were able to solve all the little problems that sprung up throughout the process. Within three days, we had run through the whole show, breaking the Sunset record for “fastest tech week”.
Those last two days, along with the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the consecutive week, became our dress rehearsals. Each day, we would run through almost the entire show. The rehearsals were long, and Costco ramen bowls and gas station candy got us through much of it. However, the family we depicted on stage was becoming a reality off the stage and out of the auditorium as well.
That Thursday was opening night. Everyone was all jitters, but somehow being nervous brings a group closer together — which at that point, I didn’t know was possible. One of the best parts of show nights was the “energy circles” that took place beforehand. All the cast and crew members would gather in a circle, repeat silly rhymes and songs, and write one another compliments on colorful sticky notes. In the words of one of the parents, it was “a theater cult”, but it got rid of our fear and left us all in excited anticipation for the show.
This production had six showings that took place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for two sequential weeks. All six airings were nearly flawless, and more importantly, everyone involved had a blast and the audience watched with rapt attention. The first showing had no line blunders, or technical errors, and in theory, was perfect, but it only got better from there. As we went on performing, our confidence grew, and as a result, we were able to enjoy our time on the stage, and focus on connecting with the audience and each other instead of our nerves.
This was the first production I had ever been involved in. I played Gretl Von Trapp, the youngest of the seven Von Trapp children. The Sound of Music is my favorite movie of all time, and I joined Sunset Theater for the sake of the movie alone, but now I find myself unable to leave because of the community. Every moment on that stage was precious, but the moments I know I will remember forever are the little ones that were invisible to the audience. The moments when we all gathered in the choir room and drew silly faces on the whiteboard. The moments when we sat in the cramped, makeshift changing room hiding from audience members, and just talked. The moments when we all started dancing behind the curtain to the songs from on stage. The moments when we met up before the final performance and recreated the little picnic in The Sound of Music on Sunset’s baseball field. And afterward, we all cried and hugged because this beautiful thing that we had been working on for so long was over. Maybe you can never go back to a moment in time, but I know I will always remember those moments, and I cannot express how grateful I am to have experienced them with the most extraordinary people.
