REVIEW: Strong, Confident Performances Lead Triumphant ‘Sound of Music’ at Moline’s Music Guild
Twenty-one years after it was last done at Quad City Music Guild (as well as 11 years after Circa ’21 and four years after Spotlight Theatre), the treasured warhorse, “The Sound of Music” makes a triumphant return to the Prospect Park stage in Moline.
Performed with immense pride, care, compassion and full-throated enthusiasm by a uniformly impressive cast, the new Dave Blakey-led production justly earned a standing ovation from the sold-out opening night audience Friday night, Nov. 14.
While tied to a specific time and place (the rise of Hitler’s Third Reich in 1938 Austria), the stunning, spectacular “Sound of Music” continues to carry profound lessons for us today – be kind, sensitive, honor the sacredness of love, be attentive, protect your country’s ideals, and stand up to evil, intolerance and authoritarianism at all costs.
One of the jaw-dropping glories of Music Guild is how much talent is typically assembled for each production, given that this is community theater performed by dedicated volunteers.
The painted Austrian backdrop — done by Bill Marsoun — in the “Sound of Music” set, designed by Kevin Pieper, and Sarah Lounsberry as Maria.
Experience certainly helps, and four of the most outstanding performances here are (fortunately) in lead roles, executed with strength, confidence, sincerity, expert timing and nuance — Sarah Lounsberry as the abbey postulate turned governess Maria; Nathan Bates as the Captain von Trapp; Erin Platt as the Mother Abbess, and Jen Sondgeroth as the rich, sardonic socialite Elsa Schraeder.
When you have that kind of all-star team, you just know they’re going to hit this out of the park and we’re going to win this game.
Lounsberry — one of the Music Guild veterans on whose shoulders the show primarily rests — is in her 36th show there (including cast and crew) as Maria, the joyful part immortalized on screen 60 years ago by Julie Andrews. The role originated with Mary Martin in 1959, in the beloved musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
Lounsberry made her Music Guild debut while at Rock Island High School in the 2004 production (then starring Jenny Winn, who’s now in the nun ensemble), and here makes an ideal young nun who bravely stands up to the ramrod-straight, strict captain, who initially calls his seven children to literally act in line with an annoying whistle.
The von Trapp family singers performing “Edelweiss” near the end of “The Sound of Music” at Music Guild, 1584 34th Ave., Moline.
While Lounsberry has natural chemistry with the wonderful cast of kids (who include her real-life son, Jack, 10, as Kurt), a sunny, beaming smile, and beautiful singing voice, she seems a bit too mature for Maria (Julie Andrews was 29 when she shot the iconic movie). But that wisdom works to her advantage in the maternal, giving role.
The last collaboration by the immortal R & H pair, “The Sound of Music” features a trove of cherished songs, including “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and the title number. The heartwarming show won the hearts of audiences worldwide, earning five Tony Awards and five Oscars.
The inspirational story, based on the memoir of Maria Augusta Trapp, follows an ebullient postulate who serves as governess to the seven children of the imperious Captain von Trapp, bringing music and joy to the household. But as the forces of Nazism take hold of Austria (the German Army took over the country, to a mixed public reception in spring 1938), Maria and the entire von Trapp family must make a moral, life-altering decision.
Sarah Lounsberry plays Maria with the von Trapp children in Music Guild’s new production of “The Sound of Music,” running Nov. 14-23, 2025.
Music Guild director Blakey had 68 kids audition for the seven parts, and you can see why these specific youngsters were cast – in addition to Jack, the roles are adorably filled by Edith Young as little Gretl, Gracie Cross as Marta, Mariana Karfis as Brigitta, Selah Etzel as Louisa, Eli Schroeder as Friedrich, and college student Marissa Pederson as the famously 16-year-old Liesl.
Pederson absolutely shines in Liesl’s lovely solo and duet with boyfriend Rolf (a solid Jordan Dodd, who later turns to the dark side) in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”
Bates is his characteristically dependable, dashing self as Georg von Trapp, who finds himself in the middle of a love triangle, with the snarky Elsa (Sondgeroth is consistently wonderful and a scene-stealer) and virtuous, plucky and kind Maria. Bates’s sympathetic portrayal is endearing as he understandably falls under Lounsberry’s bewitching spell, but he’s fairly humorless (albeit romantic in the Act II duet “Something Good”) and I missed the mischievous sparkle in the Captain’s eyes that Christopher Plummer brought to the classic film.
Nathan Bates is Captain von Trapp and Sarah Lounsberry is Maria in the classic musical “The Sound of Music” at Moline’s QC Music Guild.
Meanwhile, Kirsten Myers is delightful as the more playful Max, Elsa’s friend and minister of culture who’s putting together a festival, for which he wants the von Trapp family to sing.
One dissonant number in the show (no fault of the current performers) is Act II’s “No Way to Stop It” – rightly cut from the film – which is a jaunty, military-style song where Elsa and Max urge Georg to get along with the advancing Nazi machine, which aims to annex Austria (and does). I don’t understand why it’s such a cheery song (I guess hindsight is 20/20), and it would seem more appropriate to be angrier and resigned.
Acquiescing to dictatorial behavior by heads of government is an all-too relevant topic in today’s world.
Just about every other song in the musical is a well-loved highlight, given a fresh, invigorating interpretation – from Lounsberry’s opening “Sound of Music,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” (though she’s clearly not playing or pretending to play the guitar) and “The Lonely Goatherd” (a fun tour de force), to the kids’ cute “So Long, Farewell” and energetic “Do-Re-Mi” and Bates’s reverent “Edelweiss.”
Erin Platt is Mother Abbess and Sarah Lounsberry is Maria in the new production of “The Sound of Music.”
Erin Platt brings down the house twice, at the close of each act with her thunderous, earth-shaking “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” one of Hammerstein’s utopian pleas to follow your dreams. The family literally takes it to heart at the end as they have to head for the hills, escaping into Switzerland (I like the touch of climbing up to the right off stage, as if they’re ascending heavenward).
The Guild production is not only a dream to listen to (due in no small part to music director Mark Swessinger and his expert orchestra, plus several examples of heavenly harmonies and a cappella singing by the nun ensemble), but to behold, as the set and costumes are particularly awe-inspiring.
Kevin Pieper is tasteful designer of the elegant set and Sue Woodard is a wizard as costume designer, handling an untold multitude of perfectly appropriate outfits.
Marissa Pederson, left, Eli Schroeder, Selah Filzen Etzel, Jack Lounsberry, Mariana Karfis, Gracie Cross, Edith Young and Nathan Bates, in “The Sound of Music.”
The first act grand party scene is especially gorgeous, and I appreciated the coordination of Rolf’s green to complement the greenery in his outdoor scene with Liesl, and the beauty of the regal wedding between Maria and the Captain, where the girls are fittingly wearing white dresses with blue satin sashes (one of “My Favorite Things”).
It wouldn’t be Music Guild pulling out all the stops without veteran director, designer and artist Bill Marsoun’s sensational painted backdrops. He truly made the Austrian hills come alive, and the huge drop behind the windows in the main living room set is especially extraordinary and thrilling, revealing photographic realism.
“The Sound of Music” will be performed again this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 21-22) at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 23, at 2 p.m., which already is sold out.
Tickets are $20 for adults, and $15 for kids 12 and under, available at the box office at 309-762-6610 or by visiting qcmusicguild.com.
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