Text author: Claudiu Groza
Taken from Tribuna-Magazine.com

The Oradea International Theatre Festival took place this year at the beginning of June, postponed from September, as was traditional, for technical reasons - the modernization of the stage equipment of the theatre's main hall. Organized by the "Regina Maria" Theatre, FITO reached its 7th edition, but the Short Theatre Festival - which is now the competitive section of the event - recorded its 25th edition.

FITO opened with a premiere of the host theater, the last of the current season: The Sound of Music, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and libretto by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.

The "Regina Maria" Theatre is probably the most experienced local producer of musicals, with Fiddler on the Roof (which is still being performed), Man of La Mancha and The Producers. Obviously, the local audience is always a fan of this type of show, and this was also proven with The Sound of Music, which was an ambitious bet, and a win, in my opinion.

The musical has a rather easy, typically Broadway-like plot. Based on a novel by Maria Augusta Trapp, it tells the story of the homonymous family, with a military father, widowed early, with 7 children of very different ages. The family's new governess, the postulant sister Maria, will instill a passion for music in the children and, in the end, will also win the heart of Captain Trapp. The historical background of the world war, with the Anschluss that makes the heroes flee Austria, is just a pale dramaturgical motif, the story itself being pastel and intimate. From a musical point of view, The Sound… is a challenge for drama actors, having a fairly complex score and including children from 4 to 16 years old.

Director Mihaela Bogdan – who has a rich experience of opera productions, with a perfect knowledge of genre convention – worked extremely carefully and in detail with the actors, offering them a comfort of stage dynamics that would help them in their musical evolution. The show is playful, with an accurate dynamic and based on the dramaturgical elements – a discreet direction complementary to the artistic needs. No less, the musical direction of Romeo Rîmbu (with the orchestra „Simfonietta Varadinum”) allowed a natural and organic flow of the performance. The conductor and the musicians were friendly and caring with the soloists, especially in the sequences with children, where the musical tempo had to be constantly controlled.

The difficult musical score was mastered correctly by all the performers. I will note the excellent development of Adela Lazăr in the role of Maria Rainer – Adela was the musical pivot of the show, with numerous solos and in quite a few moments with the little ones. They, by the way, were the delight of the performance, through their raw naturalness, the seriousness of the game and the assumption of the musical part (the cast is double, I saw Anabela Tonț, Anastasia Vicoveanu, Rebeca Rusu, Filip Ionescu, Gia Cordea and Filip Mut). Very in the spirit of the character (the eldest daughter) was the young actress Maria Teișanu.

The sequences with the nuns (Ioana Dragoș-Gajdo – with the same acting and musical verve as in other genre productions –, Zentania Lupșe, Anca Sigmirean, Carina Bunea, Denisa Vlad) proved to be delicious through the fine directorial-acting symbiosis and intrinsic humor. A subtle-suggestive performance, in smaller roles, was given by Mirela Niță-Lupu (Frau Schmidt, the housekeeper), Eugen Neag (Postman Gruber) and Emil Sauciuc (butler Franz). A good complementarity in interpretation (important for the dramaturgical stakes) was demonstrated by Sorin Ionescu (Captain von Trapp), Gabriela Codrea (Baroness Schraeder) and Alexandru Rusu (Max Detweiler). Răzvan Vicoveanu, Ionuț Șerban and George Voinese completed the artistic team.

The very simple and visually effective scenography imagined by Amalia Buie, with large painted canvases, discreet in tones, but with a noteworthy chromatic richness.

The sound of the music has certainly won over the Oradea audience, especially through the feeling of joy, celebration, and freshness it conveys. I believe it will have a great stage destiny.