Hillsdale College alumni, staff, faculty members, and their families were among those who took the stage earlier this month in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” performed at the Sauk Theatre in Jonesville. 

Sauk Executive Director Trinity Bird has directed the musical for the Sauk three times now alongside musical director Kristi Gautsche. He said this time around he tried to emphasize theme of political tensions in the story.

According to Bird, this production was effective thanks to an exceptional cast, which included over 25 actors making their Sauk debut.

“Every character is strong from the lead to the guys who don’t say a word,” Bird said. “I think that’s important. Everybody’s really just coming in and giving it 100 percent.”

More than 15 members of the college community were involved in the production. 

“We get a lot of college employees and alumni, a lot of people who might have just graduated and haven’t left Hillsdale yet,” Bird said. 

Though the production was originally scheduled for the Sauk’s 2020 season, the show was postponed several times with auditions taking place in August of this year. After just a few weeks of rehearsal, the show opened on Oct. 12 to a full house and ran through Oct. 22.  

Musicals at the Sauk typically draw actors from the college community, but Bird said this show in particular drew an unusual number of families.

“It’s really fun for me to watch them watch each other,” Bird said. “I can’t remember a show in my 25 years here that has had this many family groups.”

Benjamin Springer, son of Hillsdale College Creative Director Bryan Springer ’94, played the role of Friedrich von Trapp alongside his sister Berdi, who played Liesel von Trapp. 

Springer said he had fun with his role and performing with his sister, but sibling dynamics didn’t cease on stage.

“She’s usually always on me to be doing everything I need to be doing,” Springer said. 

Alumna Kris Johnson ’08, wife of Adjunct Instructor of Music Aaron Johnson, played a nun in the ensemble while her 7-year-old daughter Olive made her debut as Gretl von Trapp.  

“I know what she’s like at home and her personality, so it’s interesting to see a different Olive personality when she gets here,” Johnson said, “She’s a much more poised and polished little person than at home.”

For some, like lead Gianna Green ’17, the musical was a taste of what family life with children is like. Green said working with the children reminded her to look at theater with a fresh perspective. 

“It’s just been so nice to get to know them and to enjoy watching them do theater, sometimes for the first time, and seeing how they bring their joy and childlike innocence and wonder into a show,” she said.

Jessica Franklin, admissions interviewer and wife of Associate Professor of English Kelly Franklin, said the rehearsal commitment was difficult because it took her away from her family at times, but it was made worthwhile by the performance itself.

“Up until this point for me it’s largely been a lot of work but finally being able to perform and give this gift to the audience really has been an exciting experience,” she said. “The opening night when I first walked out on stage with my fellow sisters and we’re getting ready to sing one of my favorite pieces, I actually started tearing up. I was just moved that I got to be a part of creating this beauty and giving it to the community here.”

According to Bird, the themes of religion and family in the musical are timeless. 

“The Mother Abbess says when Maria is conflicted about whether she wants to be a nun and she’s falling in love with the Captain, ‘The love of a man and a woman is holy too,’” Bird said. “I think we’ve all had those moments in our lives where we’ve questioned if we’re doing the right thing. And not only are we doing the right thing, but how will it affect those around us?”

According to Bird, the musical is politically relevant to audiences today. At one of the performances, Bird said, an audience member told him the show made him think of his relatives in Israel who were having to hide from attacks. 

“‘This feels all too timely’ is what he said to me,” Bird said. “I thought, what an interesting time to do a show about families and having to leave your home because of the political unrest, while that’s literally happening right now in Israel.” 

But this is the role of theater, Bird said, to move people.

“If we have people in the audience who are relating to it in a new way, I think we’re doing our job,” Bird said. 

Hillsdale local Jennifer Wagner, who played Mother Abbess, said the show is particularly effective because it moves people through music. Though the message of the play is dark at times, the musical keeps a light tone for the majority of the script.

“What’s interesting is that they deliver their message through a lot of fantastic, upbeat, wonderful music,” Wagner said. “It seems to me that that reaches people deeper, that they’re more open to a new message, if they can just sit and enjoy themselves instead of being confronted with somebody who’s argumentative.”

Director of Program Review and Accreditation Samuel Negus, who played Baron Elberfeld, agreed that the show’s lasting relevance lies in the combination of entertaining music and a script that wrestles with important questions.

“The pacing and construction of the story and the catchiness of the score are the work of two masters,” Negus said. “This was, I believe, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s last show together: they were at the culminating peak of their considerable powers. I don’t think musical theater is exactly high art. The genre is just fun and entertaining, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be excellent.”

According to Franklin, the union of heavy themes and joyful music makes “The Sound of Music” an excellent piece of art that she was grateful to help perform. 

“In a way, ‘The Sound of Music’ is about the convergence of the grave and serious and the fun and joyful,” Franklin said. “Maria, through her love and the beauty of music, helps to restore joy to and reunite a grieving family; and the von Trapps’ singing is like a parting gift of beauty to a nation suffering the tragic loss of their identity and freedom. It’s an apropos theme for the rising violence across the globe right now: we need to keep creating good and beautiful things in the face of great evil and ugliness. I’m with Dostoevsky: ‘Beauty will save the world.’”