Fulton Theatre Production of The Sound of Music

Magical, magical, magical…. I had that feeling that I have not felt in many years….like the first time I saw Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Disney’s Cinderella. The sets, the costumes, the vocals that sent shivers down my spine….all of it magically transported me to the Von Trapp household during that time. And the magic did not stop there. Even as tried to sleep that night the music just played over and over again in my mind (cuckoo…cuckoo). I was truly blessed this holiday season to see one of the most memorable performances of my life time.

I have seen the movie of The Sound of Music several times with Julie Andrews but last Thursday night I felt as though I was seeing it for the first time. All the right ingredients to the perfect soufflé of the live stage performance of the Sound of Music was there…..the perfect sets, the great period costumes, perfectly timed orchestra, dead-on acting, a truly chemical romance brewing, and last but not least….the angelic vocals lifting you over the mountain’s clouds in Austria.

Move over Julie Andrews and Peggy Woods, The Fulton Theatre cast of Catherine Walker, April Woodall, and the ensemble delivered some stiff competition. I hate to compare the Fulton’s performance to the movie again and again but the acting in at the Fulton gave the live stage performance the added edge to make it magical and more compelling than the movie. Actors like Elisa Van Duyne who played the role of Baroness Elsa Schraeder gave me a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the times and subtle occurrences and inner actions of the Baroness and the Captain than the movie. Maria, portrayed by Lancaster native Catherine Walker was fuller of infectious life than Julie Andrews. And her vocals competed with Julie Andrews but acting delivery put her one notch above Julie Andrews. Walker and Van Duyne were by no means the only ones who delivered better acting performances at certain key moments than the 1965 movie.

Young and old a like will be absorbed by this performance; my mother in her mid-seventies was afraid that she appeared like an idiot grinning from ear to ear for 2 hours and 35 minutes. Instead of sitting there and critiquing each element as I usually do, I allowed myself to lifted to the Austrian highlands and let my soul sing along with the magical evening at the Fulton.

I will truly remember this holiday performance for many years to come.

Review of the Fulton Theatre Deathtrap Production

I had been warned to not become familiar with the past production of Deathtrap because it spoils all the fun of the production, so my expectations for this production were null. I expected one of the traditional thrillers that the Fulton Theatre is notorious for around Halloween, or an Agatha Christie/Hitchcock type of production. Instead, I was surprisingly delighted with a comedy-thriller, having a perfect balance of comedic timing with thrilling suspense.

Ira Levin’s Deathtrap was written in 1972 as a traditional thriller with 2 acts, one set, and 5 characters. Do not let the word “traditional” make you think the plot is boring or stale,  AND do not let the fact that there are only 5 characters to one set make you think that the play is too simplistic. There is a lot to be said of the fine tuning of the 5 characters to the one set. The plot kept me guessing, and just when you think you know what is going to happen next with a predictable plot line, Deathtrap throws you back into guessing what could happen next, which is a character of any good thriller. The characters played well into this suspense, by using clichés for their comedic timing, then throwing in the fear factor by doing something completely unlike the character you just got to know. Just like my favorite Helga ten Dorp, the psychic famous for pointing out murderers to the European police had all the predictable and cliché like lines that you would expect for a hokey European psychic. Helga’s look and mannerisms were so funny and cliché but then despite all her future predictions that became true she turns and does that even she would not predict.

My favorite part of the production was the set design. Deathtrap takes place in the study of Sidney Bruhl, the principle character, and is a handsomely converted stable grafted onto an authentic colonial house. I would love to live in this house and I can see why Sidney Bruhl desperately did not want to give up his house or lifestyle that comes with it. The Fulton set designers could not have made this set any more perfect, in fact I want that study for my own, but obviously I would need my computer that I am attached to since the production takes place in 1982.  The Deathtrap film took place in 1982 so the Fulton decided to keep with the 1982 theme with the style of hair, wardrobes, and props. So the set had a regular writing desk and land phone. Sidney Bruhl is a “has-been” thriller play writer, so he had quite the collection of antique murder weapons covering the wall. This impressive collection of weapons from a medieval time period to a Jack-the-Ripper era made both the set and Sidney Bruhl more interesting.

I do not wish to give away any “spoilers”, so I can not go into any detail of some of the events, but I must give my regards to The Thunderstorm. I love to sit under my covered porch and feel an oncoming thunderstorm with the lightning, the wind rattling the trees and bushes, the hair on my arms standing on end, the possible danger involved if I don’t move to a safer place, all the while I don’t dare move a muscle for fear I will miss the drama and excitement of the darker and unpredictable source. The Thunderstorm in Deathtrap was so realistic that it brought me back to this place. The sensation of the storm and the timing was perfect.

The director Charles Abbott was wonderful playing the character Patsy in Spamalot. I wish he would have had made a cameo in this production as a nuisance of a neighbor, pestering the Bruhls’ for something stupid like a cup of tea at precisely the wrong time. The audience seemed to laugh at inappropriate times and kill the budding intensity of a coming thrilling series of events in the first act on opening night.  And something seemed to interfere with Gayton Scott’s portrayal of Myra Bruhl’s fragility. Again I am not sure if the audience laughing at the comedy portions of Deathtrap ran too long into the tension/thriller portions of the production and marred the delivery of the Myra’s traits and predicament.

I do recommend this play to get in you in the mood for “ghostly” time of year. I do not recommend getting too much background info on Deathtrap and its plot before attending the show though. Please enjoy the wonderful fall.   

Spamalot by Fulton Theatre Review by Peg

I tried several times to buy tickets for Spamalot while it was showing on Broadway while in NYC but it was always sold out. So I was really looking forward to seeing the show in my own home town. I was not disappointed-I was thoroughly entertained by the Fulton production. I was delighted by the numerous cute costume changes, the perfect timing of the dialogue with the sound effects, and the inventive way of signifying world travel while staying in the Monty Python theme.


The casting of the show was perfect. It was uncanny how King Arthur’s side kick looked exactly like Monty Python stage character from decades ago. Several of actors showed remarkable versatility by playing one character like one of the King Arthur’s knights then after a quick costume change appear preciously in form as another character. In the quest for the grail King Arthur and his men become so side-tracked that they forget the quest and the purpose of the quest. These side-tracks were so entertaining that as a member of the audience I forgot completely about the quest for the Holy Grail as well. I just loved the wonderful costume changes of the ensemble during these side-tracks and as well as the other aesthetics of the side-track scenes. The overacting (isn’t this a line from the show), murdering of vocals, and the obnoxious characters doing obnoxious jesters absolutely enhanced the delivery of the show. In fact, the actors had great fun intentionally overacting, over vocalizing songs, or being totally obnoxious that the actors were very inspired to their very best in this production. The perfect timing of every element of show from the special sound effects, the orchestra, vocals, dialogue, and dead pan jokes enhanced the delivery of the production. The only thing that I would like to see is a more elaborate stage but this does not make sense to put more money into the set when it only runs for several weeks.

I read many reviews that said this is a roll in your seat comedy. I did not roll in my seat because I did not want to miss anything. The cast did not pause very long for the howling audience simply because they did not want to lose momentum. Poor King Arthur had to deal to so many nincompoops along the way that I felt as though he should burst into song his own rendition of The Wizard of OZ song “If THEY only had a brain”. The show is remarkably funny but I did not want to miss stimulus to my other senses. Spamalot was such a high quality presentation that I did not want to be laughing my head off so hard that I missed a single thing.

Since only five regional theatres have the rights to produce Spamalot and the Fulton has done such a good job producing this show, I feel that you are nuts not to take advantage of seeing this show locally (not to mention you will not be exposed to bed bugs here). Previous exposure to vintage Monty Python, Benny Hill, or British humor recommended but not required to have a deeper appreciation of the show. I would get tickets soon if you do not have tickets already since I think there will be a lot of sold out nights due to the quality of the this production.