The Hills are Alive With the Sounds of the Sound of Music
By Andrew Zwicker
For the past four months a cast of more than 30 talented Rosslanders have been rehearsing and working hard to bring our hills alive with the sound of music. At the end of February, you won’t have Fah (a long, long way to run) to see the latest and greatest performance by the Rossland Light Opera.
After performing for two evenings on February 27th and 28th and one matinee show on March 1st at the Charles Bailey Theatre, the group will bring their performance up to Rossland for two shows on March 6th and 7th at RSS.
For director Tanya La Fond, taking on the classic musical The Sound of Music was a goal she’ll soon be able to tick off her to-do list
“It was just a play I always wanted to direct. I offered to direct it. Then I had a musical director who was willing to music direct it and together we approached the group with it, and they decided to make it our next production,” said La Fond.
While the decision to do The Sound of Music was made a year earlier, rehearsals for the show started back in November and then really got going in December with the cast fully in place. Pulling together and directing a large cast was a challenge, but a fun one, according to La Fond.
“It’s a huge amount of work to get it all together, but everybody takes on their load. We’ve got at least 30 cast members, but that’s not including the orchestra as well. All together there are quite a lot of people involved. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that you need as well to pull it off.”
Starring in the show will be Nadine Tremblay as Maria, Aaron Cosbey as The Captain, Adam Sander as Max, and Jamie Santano as Eva.
Behind the scenes there has been a huge amount of work to prepare: Betty Seinen has been hard at work outfitting the cast in their costumes with the help of three others; Jo Fuoco has been working as the director of music with Adam Sander producing; and Lindsay Fraser has been doing the choreography. Nadine Tremblay has also been working as the vocal director along with Alisha List on piano.
One of the highlights for Lafond as director has been working with the large cast of children involved.
“It’s really neat having the children involved in this play. They sort of bring a whole fresh outlook and excitement and enthusiasm to the stage.”
Excited about performing the production in a few weeks time, Lafond noted that with ongoing rehearsals and preparations the cast and crew are just about ready to raise the curtain.
“It’s going to be great entertainment for all. We’ve got a great cast and you know everybody enjoys working together, so we are having a great time doing it and they’ll have a great time on stage and hopefully the audience will have a great time watching.”
Tickets for the event are on sale at Rossland Pro Hardware for $15, $12 for children as well as at the Charles Bailey theatre for $17.
Putting on such a popular musical is sure to draw a large crowd, so be sure to pick up your tickets early before the last of the tickets bids adieu, adieu to you and you and you.
