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Get ready to take a long trip down memory lane with an all-youth cast and orchestra who will be showcasing their musical adaptation of the iconic “The Sound of Music” at the Bankhead Theater starting this weekend.
Presented by the Christian Youth Theater Tri-Valley, the resident children’s theater company at the Livermore venue, the musical will feature 41 actors broken up into two casts who will perform unforgettable melodies from the well-known stage production and film such as “Do-Re-Mi”, “My Favorite Things” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”.
“We know it’s sort of a nostalgic trip down memory lane with this musical,” the musical’s director, Lana Ivashin-King, told the Weekly. “It’s a standalone, iconic story … I’m super thrilled to be able to do ‘The Sound of Music’ for this community.”
Just like the upcoming CYT Tri-Valley musical, the 1965 film was also based on the original musical from 1959 that told the story of the Von Trapp family singers, one of the world’s best-known concert groups before World War II, and an Austrian woman studying to become a nun.
The main protagonist, who was famously played by actress Julie Andrews in the movie adaptation, is sent to the family home to teach and look after seven children whose mother passed away and ends up bringing in new love of life and music into the home.
There will be two casts of kids ranging from ages 8 to 18 years old who will be performing the musical over the first two weekends of November. Most of the kids are from the Tri-Valley, Ivashin-King said.
Ivashin-King said that while she knows most people who will be attending the show will have grown up with those iconic songs and scenes, she is particularly excited for the younger audiences who might have never seen any adaptation of the musical.
The nurse by day and director by weekend said that this will be the fifth musical she has directed and ever since auditions ended in August, the kids have been working hard during their weekend-only rehearsals.
“The kids work very hard to put on a show in such a short time,” she said.
As someone who started with acting classes before taking on the director role in 2019, Ivashin-King said she has really enjoyed seeing the theater company grow, despite all of the hardships from the pandemic. She said before they would have shows with 20 actors and now some shows might have up to 80.
She also said it has been great to see how much families have been getting involved in helping with the show, especially during technical week, which was last week — that’s when the costumes, sets and lights come out and when the actors are finally able to combine all of their individual hard work into one show.
“It’s a pretty crazy week but totally exhilarating and fun and exciting to see the show really start to emerge during tech week,” Ivashin-King said.
“It’s very exciting for a director when the kids finally put their scripts down and we’re able to start working not just on making the show and learning the technical pieces,” she added. “When the show starts to come alive in them, when they can start with their eyes acting and feeling the character that they’re playing, that’s always my favorite.”
She also commended the young actors’ work ethic and said she is going to be really excited to see some of her own favorite scenes such as “Do-Re-Mi” number, the ensemble of nuns singing “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and the dramatic ending come to life.
“They’re wonderful actors,” Ivashin-King said. “We have some very strong actors in this company and I don’t think any of us get out of a rehearsal without tearing up every week just from the art that we see on stage.”
The production is set to debut on Friday (Nov. 1) at 7 p.m. at the Bankhead in downtown Livermore. There will also be showtimes that Saturday and Sunday. Similarly, the performers will return the following weekend starting on Nov. 8. Visit www.cyttrivalley.org to learn more.
