Morris Community High School to present ‘The Sound of Music’ on Friday

The Morris Community High School production of “The Sound of Music” features not only high school students, but a few middle school and elementary school students filling out the roles of the younger characters.

The play, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday, April 26, with additional showings at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, brings a classic to the local stage. The students are well-prepared, as it’s a favorite from their childhood.

“I’ve always loved ‘The Sound of Music,’” said Faith Ragan, a senior performing the role of Maria. “It’s one of my comfort movies, and I’m super excited to play a great role in an iconic show.”

This is the final show of the high school career for the seniors, and they were largely kept in the dark on what show it would be until January when they started rehearsals.

Angela Georgaklis, who plays Liesl, said she got only a few hints leading into it and she was at first surprised to get the role of Leisl after auditions.

“I never pictured myself as a Liesl type character because she’d kind of naive and doesn’t really know what’s going on,” Georgaklis said. “I’ve always been kind of mature for my age, so I was nervous when I got this role. I didn’t know if I could really act like some rebellious teenager because that’s not really who I am. But now I’ve gotten really close to the character and I’ve found a lot of myself in her, and that’s been really fun, seeing that and then watching back at the movie.”

Director Andrea Gustafson said the play has a large cast of more than 50 people, from grade school to middle school to high school, so there are a lot of schedules to work out and many busy people involved.

She said they’re amazing kids who have been working really hard, and they’ve been having fun despite the long hours.

“It’s a show I haven’t directed before and I’ve always wanted to,” Gustafson said. “It’s such an important show, I feel, in so many ways, and it’s been on stage in Morris before in the early 2000s. It’s an honor to bring it back.”

Gustafson said it’s fun preparing the students for a movie they’ve all seen before, because the story is generally the same but the songs are often quite different, either coming at a different time or being sang by someone else entirely. For example, in the movie, Maria and the children sing “My Favorite Things” when they’re afraid of a storm outside, but in the show they sing “The Lonely Goat Herd,” which isn’t in the movie.

“The theatrical version has been around a while, and it’s certainly not a new one,” Gustafson said. “It’s a classic, and I think the themes and message are very relevant today: Maria is trying to figure out where she belongs and what she wants her life to look like, and that’s something kids everyone today, kids included, struggle with.”

She also mentioned Captain von Trapp, who is struggling with the loss of his wife and learning to love again. Gustafson said people often think of the happy moments from “The Sound of Music,” but there are really important dark moments that are purposeful to explore.