YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO SEE A BETTER
PRODUCTION OF THIS EVERGREEN MUSICAL.
JUST BRING SOME CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM.

How do you solve a problem like the schmaltz in The Sound of Music? Or even, how do you review a populist juggernaut like The Sound of Music? It’s been sixty-five years since its first appearance on Broadway and sixty years since the musical adaptation (1965) which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and shattered box-office records. Adjusted for inflation, the movie is the third-biggest hit of all time in the USA, after Gone with The Wind (1939) and Star Wars (1977)–it’s number five, worldwide. And astoundingly, the show’s popularity has only increased with time. There have been numerous productions and revivals, and so many tours that there is disagreement as to the exact number; there was even a tour of an all-marionette production in the early 2000s!

Kevin Earley and Cayleigh Capaldi with the von Trapp Children:
Ariana Ferch, Eli Vander Griend, Ava Davis, Benjamin Stasiek,
Haddie Mac, Ruby Caramore, Luciana VanDette

All this to say that in the high-risk world of musical theater, TSOM is about as safe a bet as you can make. There’s no incentive to shake this up. This new production, a national tour directed by three-time Tony-winning legend Jack O’Brien and very expensively mounted at the Nederlander Theatre, takes no risks. It merely does (almost) everything with an incredibly high level of skill and polish. As a production, this is near perfect.

Christiane Noll and Cayleigh Capaldi

Most of us know the story: In 1937, a young postulant (the phase prior to becoming a novice) named Maria is running amok (“The Sound of Music”) in the Nonberg Abbey, driving the senior nuns to distraction (“Maria”). Concerned that Maria might not be suited to the monastic life, the Mother Abbess (a superb Christiane Noll) sends her out to act as a governess to the seven unruly children of a stern widower, Captain Georg von Trapp (Kevin Earley, in the best performance of the production).

While at the mansion, Maria teaches the children to sing (“Do Re Mi”), comforts them when they are frightened (“The Lonely Goatherd”) and falls in love. All of this while Germany, under Adolf Hitler, prepares to annex Austria, which understandably casts a shadow over all the sitcom-ish hijinks.

Kevin Earley and Cayleigh Capaldi

Scenic designer Douglas W. Schmidt’s sets are gorgeous, especially the rendering of the abbey. The outdoor scenes are a bit too Thomas-Kinkade-y for my taste but still pretty and lighting designer Natasha Katz contributes to some inspired tableaus with her compositions. Again, the abbey scenes are the best rendered with Schmidt and Katz utilizing the Nederlander’s cavernous stage to create images that somehow manage to be both awesome and intimate at the same time, peaking in the first act closer (“Climb Every Mountain”).

Cayleigh Capaldi

Among the adult actors, my only quibble is with Cayleigh Capaldi’s Maria in the first act where her overdone exuberance and perkiness grates. No complaints about her astonishing singing though, and she does take down the preciousness by several notches in the second act, much to my relief. The other adult roles are cast with ringers: Earley is brilliantly controlled in both affect and singing; Nicholas Rodriguez as Max, and Kate Loprest as Elsa Schraeder, give witty, tuneful performances that cut a welcome swath through the schmaltz and a sharp, knowing turn from Ariana Ferch as Liesl was a welcome surprise, given what a thin part it is.

I was relieved that the production used the Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse’s book and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s songs from the original stage show (with the exception of “Something Good” which Rodgers wrote for the movie, and is now performed in all productions). While both play and movie drown in syrup, the former is much darker and more political than the latter. That said, I’d forgotten how many reprises of “My Favorite Things” were in the musical. “How Can Love Survive?” may be intended as snark—it was a trifle of a song in the original—but in 2025 millionaires singing about the burdens of unimaginable wealth, comes across as especially tone-deaf. Much better is “No Way to Stop It” which addresses the incompatibilities between von Trapp and Schraeder; it’s  a surprisingly complex and realistic relationship in the context of the show.

And sixty-five years after it was first heard, “Your life, little girl, is an empty page, that men will want to write on” from “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” remains one of the ickiest lyrics ever sung in a family-friendly musical. That the singer, Rolf (Ian Coursey) is portrayed with quite a bit of sexual swagger—an odd choice—makes it even worse.

Ian Coursey and Ariana Ferch

The Sound of Music’s biggest issue has always been its overwhelming, almost sickening sentimentality, both in Richard Rodgers’ score and especially, Oscar Hammerstein II’s lyrics, which frequently aspire to profundity but achieve only a poor facsimile (Sondheim famously mocked the lyric, “…like a lark who is learning to pray”, and he was right to do so). There are moments of grace: the simplicity of “Climb Every Mountain,” cheesy as it is, still cuts through my defenses with its soaring finale. The dropping of the red curtains with the swastika behind the children at the concert will always be a startling, stark reminder that these were real people facing imprisonment and possibly death. And then seven obnoxiously “cute” children sing “So Long, Farewell” with phrasings and gestures that make Shirley Temple look restrained.

Cayleigh Capaldi and Christiane Noll

This is about as good a production of this musical as can be expected. Direction, scenic design, musicians, lighting design, acting, singing—everything is more or less firing on all cylinders, and what that unfortunately means is that if a production of this high quality cannot redeem the flaws in the book and music, short of a complete overhaul, nothing can. And given the level of adoration for the show, it really doesn’t matter. This is about as close to a critic/criticism-proof show as has ever existed.

If you’re a fan of the musical/movie, rush to the Nederlander. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll applaud. You’ll read a notebook over a critic’s shoulder during intermission and take him to task for writing even one negative comment about Maria. If you’re one of the few curmudgeons (like me) who is not a fan of the show or the movie, this production won’t change your mind. And if you’ve never seen it before, go watch. Love it or hate it, it’s a cultural touchstone; you need to experience it.

photos by Jeremy Daniel

The Sound of Music
national tour
thru Nov. 2, 2025, at Nederlander Theatre, 24 West Randolph St. in Chicago
for tickets, visit Broadway in Chicago
tour continues; for dates and cities, visit Sound of Music

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago