The hills are alive at Totem Pole Playhouse

Nestled in the Michaux Forest of south-central Pennsylvania’s Caledonia State Park, Totem Pole Playhouse has been presenting live theater for more than 70 years.

Summer theater offerings have varied from “Sweeny Todd” in the summer of 1952 to “Hello, Dolly!” in 1971 to “The Fantasticks” in 1995 to the current offering, “The Sound of Music.”

Each year as summer approaches and the schedule is released, we typically make plans to see a show or two.

The tradition goes back to my childhood, when we attended one of the family shows. There’s something magical about going to a theater in the woods and seeing high-quality productions.

As an adult, I remember seeing “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and other shows with acclaimed actors and actresses.

When I learned a few weeks ago that Totem Pole would be presenting “The Sound of Music” this summer and that a co-worker's daughter had been cast as one of the von Trapp children, I immediately started checking our calendar. Would we be able to fit it in?

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After discussing schedules with several family members, we decided to attend the preview night last Friday.

I thought it might be an abbreviated show because the tickets for that evening were $15 less than the other showings, but the entire show was presented. (We learned that even though tickets are normally $50, on preview nights, they are $35.)

I’m so glad we went. The show was enjoyable, with creative use of sets and staging. The vocal talent was a delight, especially Natalie Szczerba, who plays Maria, and Elisabeth Turchi, as Reverend Mother. Those are the two hardest roles, I think, because of the talent displayed in the film version. Who wants to be compared to Julie Andrews?

The children were lovely in their various roles and did a nice job portraying the attributes of their characters. We marveled that the children remembered their words, notes and where they were supposed to be on stage, as we do every time we watch this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.

I must confess that ”The Sound of Music” is my favorite musical. I have seen the movie at least a dozen times and have seen a variety of stage productions.

It’s always interesting to see how various theaters present the show. In this production, free-standing arches for the individual actresses portraying the nuns are used to set the stage for the opening scene in the abbey. The mobile arches are used at various times throughout the show. It’s a clever and effective technique.

At one point, the audience was encouraged to sing along with the von Trapp family. No hesitation from our camp for that invitation.

“The Sound of Music” runs through July 3. Other shows being presented at Totem Pole Playhouse this summer include “Beehive,” “Footloose” and “Love, Sex, and the IRS.”

For more information, go to totempoleplayhouse.org.

Lisa Tedrick Prejean writes a weekly column for The Herald-Mail. Email her at lprejean@localiq.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Totem Pole's 'Sound of Music' a great night out for family