St. Luke’s church staging diversified ‘Sound of Music’

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church is bringing “The Sound of Music” to the stage this month, but, as lead pastor Jenn Stiles Williams puts it, “It’s not going to be your grandmother’s ‘Sound of Music.’” The production will feature a diversified cast with multiple races and ethnicities.

“We really wanted to reflect Central Florida and who we are in our community and St. Luke’s, and we wanted to make sure everyone could see themselves … in this cast and the way we’re telling the story,” Williams said. “Our summer musicals always speak into our core values and what’s going on around our culture and community.”

The story itself remains largely the same: Maria leaves the convent to serve as the governess of Capt. Georg von Trapp’s seven children, bringing music and joy to the household. But as the forces of Nazism take hold of Austria, Maria and the entire von Trapp family must make a moral decision.

“Because we’ve seen, especially with things that happened over the past year … the rise of hate crimes and division, we wanted to speak to that and do a show that feature people standing up and speaking up,” Williams said.

About 70 people from ages 8 to 80 make up the cast. All of the principal leads, except for Capt. von Trapp, have been double cast to allow for a larger tapestry for storytelling, Williams said.

The show includes professional actors, first-time performers and a full orchestra. Every person in the cast and on the backstage crew is a volunteer.

The set is all designed and hand-painted by Disney artist Dave Whitaker. Posters created by Whitaker will be for sale during the shows.

“We’ve done some incredibly creative stagecraft to make it come alive,” Williams said.

The Thursday, Aug. 8, show will be Central Florida Pledge night, and local actors and guests from the pledge initiative will be in attendance to talk about the importance of “The Sound of Music.” The purpose of CFP is to get citizens to sign a pledge to stand up against hate speech and other forms of harm. The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida, located in Maitland, will have a table set up as well, and a representative will share the work the center is doing.

THE CAPTAIN

“Capt. von Trapp … and his family make the decision to leave and not give in,” Williams said.

Adam Hose portrays the captain, and although this is his first time on the St. Luke’s stage, he has been a professional actor and member of Actor’s Equity since 2003.

He has performed all over the country in regional and off-Broadway productions and in several Netflix productions, and, locally, he performs as Marlin and Gill in Finding Nemo: The Big Blue and Beyond at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

When the church announced it was going to stage “The Sound of Music,” Hose admitted von Trapp wasn’t on his radar.

“I hadn’t yet come to grips with the fact that I’m actually old enough to play the captain,” he said. “Time really moves faster than your mind wants it to. But I was sitting in church the Sunday the show was announced, and as I left church that day, I couldn't really shake the feeling that I wanted to take a crack at Capt. von Trapp. It was constantly in the back of my mind, so after doing some research, I auditioned and feel very fortunate to have been cast.”

Hose said he approached the character from a fresh perspective.

“Because much of what our country has become — the division, the rhetoric, the othering of people, the stripping of citizens' basic rights, the dehumanization of specific cultures — is all too familiar,” he said. “His wife has passed away, and he has a responsibility to carry on, but the rate at which things are changing around him … is too much for him to take on. He is overwhelmed. It's only the appearance of Maria, this light in the darkness around him, that he finds something else to cling to. She reminds him that shutting the people out who most need him and most love him is just taking him further and further away from who he wants to be. Yes, it's protection mode for him, but at what risk?”

Hose said he is a big believer in justice and teaching fairness to his own young children is hard because of the frustrating injustices of life.

“It's hard to say to them that sometimes you just have to toughen up and accept that life isn't always fair, and I think that's where the captain and I are very similar,” Hose said. “He believes that standing up for what is right is obvious. And watching people around him succumb to what is wrong is painful.

“I see it in our society and can't understand why goodness and kindness and acceptance isn't just the obvious choice and why good, decent people seemingly so often choose evil or unkindness or division,” he said.

“It's what both the captain and I are trying to protect our families from, and it's a story that will surely resonate with today's audiences,” he said.

“I'm proud to know that my church makes it a priority to tell stories this important through theater,” Hose said.

Steve MacKinnon is the show’s senior artistic director, and Ke’Lee Pernell is co-director.

“The reason we have a theater ministry at St. Luke’s is we believe art has something to say that transports people and touches people and speaks to people,” Williams said. “It brings people together, and (we) want this to … be a safe space to use their gifts and tell stories that connect with the people around us. We believe we’re uniquely gifted in this area with so many incredibly talented people. … It’s a great way to truly be in the public square … and building bridges between the church and the people.”

CAST

Admiral Von Schreiber U/S - Ben Adams

Sister Margaretta - Stephanie Adams

Kurt - Mosi Arthur **

Louisa - Peyton Bach **

Mother Abbess - Patrece Bloomfield **

Sister Sophia - Faith Boles*

Friedrich - Finn Breault **

Liesl - Bailee Brinkman **

Gretl - Riliko Carolynn Cauley **

Herr Zeller - Stephen Cauley

Brigitta - Lilie Cruz **

Max - Joseph D’Ambrosi **

Liesl - Tess Fouchi **

Rolf Gruber/Party Dancer - Calistenes Fuguet Duran

Mother Abbess - Abigail Hagood **

Franz - Joseph Harrison

Marta - Emma Hatton

Captain Georg von Trapp - Adam Hose*

Gretl - Rachel Howard **

Admiral Von Schreiber/Party Dancer - Zeshan Khan

Elsa Schrader/Sister Sophia/Berthe/Margaretta U/S - Danielle Lang **

Sister Berthe - Amy Martin Cole

Max - Matthew MacDermid **

Maria - Lily Anastasia MacKenzie **

Baron Elberfeld - Robert Meyers

Frau Schmidt - Stephanie Morehead

Brigitta - Juliette Naranjo **

Maria - Esther Olivo **

Louisa - Kaelyn Owens **

Kurt - Omari Pernell **

Friedrich - Matthew Reinert **

Elsa Schrader - Lillie Eliza Thomas* **

Baroness Elberfeld - Karin Wendzel

Marta - Sadie Wilder **

ENSEMBLE

Molly Abbarno, Kay Albuquerque, Evan Allen, Amira Ameen, Ryan Arnold, Caroline Ballesteros, Carol Banga, Finn Breault**, Paige Christoffers, Katie Counts, Lyanis Miranda Cordeiro, Lisa Crump, Kaleigh Davis, Laura Davis, Emily Eagle, Hannah Eichholtz, Isabella Esposito, Rose Frazee, Amy Fritz, Noppajorn Hongsranont, Nicole Howard, Lydia Jarden, Lauren Jewell, Sam Kacergis, Hannah Kennedy, Jody Little, Kathryn McCulley, Jamie Miller, Caroline Murphy, Julie Ohrberg, Daliana Perry, Matthew Reinert**, Kyle Reynolds, Alayna Ruggerio, Allyson Ryan, Sherri Staudt, John Stiteler, Karin Wendzel, Linda Williams, Julie Young

* Appears by permission of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

** Select performances