The Sound Of Sweetness Star Marie Osmond Understands The Gentle, Innocent Appeal Of ‘The Sound Of Music’
The show wasn’t a day old when the profession of “Sound of Music”-basher was born.
The venerable New York critic Walter Kerr wrote the following about “The Sound of Music” the day after it opened on Nov. 16,
“There are seven tots necessary to the narrative, and I am not against tots. But must they bounce into bed so often, and so alarmingly? Must they wear so many different picture-book skirts, and fluff them so mightily, and smile so relentlessly, and give such precocious advice to their elders? The cascade of sugar is not confined to the youngsters.”
From this opening salvo, the act of trashing “Sound of Music” has become a tradition, especially after the movie version was unleashed upon the nation’s jaded movie reviewers.
They said it was syrupy. They said it was sappy. They said it was corny.
To which I reply: Yeah. So what? You got a problem with that, punk?
Excuse me, but I’m losing patience with “Sound of Music”-bashers. There are far worse things than sweetness. A little sugar isn’t so bad when packaged in such classic Rodgers and Hammerstein melodies as “My Favorite Things” and “Do Re Mi.”
Sweetness is a particularly significant issue in this touring version, which stars one of the few women in show-biz today who can be described as genuinely sweet: Marie Osmond.
Osmond, reached by phone at a tour stop in California, understands perfectly well that sweetness and innocence are the show’s true appeal, not its drawback.
“It really has been wonderful to see families coming out to this show,” said Osmond. “It’s a wonderful way for children to be introduced to the theater. They could go see something like ‘Phantom of the Opera’ but it would probably scare them to death.”
The people from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization also knew their audience when they cast Osmond as Maria. They called her a “logical casting choice,” even though she had no acting experience.
“I had never done anything on the stage, acting or singing,” said Osmond. “I wanted a good challenge, and I got one.”
The first thing she did was to revamp her singing voice, which she had developed with Branson, not Broadway, in mind. Osmond, 35, has been almost continuously on the country charts since 1982.
“I wanted to make her Maria, not Marie, and give her her own musical voice,” she said. “Country is such a raw sound. It’s really funny, I have a new (country) single coming out, and when I played it some of the children in the show said, ‘That’s great. Who is it?’ and I said, ‘That’s me. That’s the way I really sound.”’
So far, the critics have been surprisingly positive about her work as Maria.
The Hollywood Reporter called her “spunky and spirited.” The Los Angeles Times called her “mature, restrained, and unaffected.” The Philadelphia Inquirer called her a “gentle, pleasing presence.”
On the other hand, The Toronto Star called her “no better than adequate.” That review also accused the show of being “slushy-mushy” and “terminally cute,” thus showing that “Sound of Music”-bashing lives on.
Today, after more than 400 performances and a year on the road, nobody can accuse Osmond of lacking stage experience. She has only missed five shows over that 400-plus run.
The show is booked through April. After that, Osmond hopes that the show tours Japan. She says she’s not even remotely tired of it.
“I was concerned at first about doing it night after night and keeping it fresh, because I’d never done that before,” said Osmond. “But it’s really the audience who keeps you fresh.”
Osmond has found it easier to take the touring grind, because she brings her whole family - second husband Brian Blosil and four kids - on the road with her. In fact, her oldest child, Stephen, 11, plays Curt in the show.
And here’s another family connection in this tour: The production is directed by James Hammerstein, the son of Oscar Hammerstein II. The younger Hammerstein has extensive directing credits, including a nine-year stint at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Festival.
Many people know “The Sound of Music” by heart, but audiences might notice a few differences in this version. James Hammerstein reinstated some dialogue that he discovered in his father’s papers. It was taken out of the original version for reasons of length.
He also gives the song “Ordinary Couple” largely back to Capt. Von Trapp, for whom it was originally written. It was given to Mary Martin in the original Broadway version as a star turn. That song, as well as “How Can Love Survive” and “No Way to Stop It” were not used in the film version at all.
Of course, this show still won’t be to everyone’s tastes. “Sound of Music” haters are legion. (“The Sound of Muzak,” sneered the Toronto Star.)
But remember, it remains one of the most popular musicals of all time. And even though Walter Kerr trashed it the morning after it opened in 1959, all of the other reviews were glowing.
“The loveliest musical imaginable,” wrote another New York critic that morning.
And that’s a verdict that has lived on through the decades, also.
MEMO: See also sidebars which appeared with this story under headlines “Preview” and “Bring those dolls”