{"id":19661,"date":"2018-01-24T17:47:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T22:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=19661"},"modified":"2018-01-24T17:47:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T22:47:44","slug":"youth-bring-new-life-to-the-hills-in-the-sound-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/youth-bring-new-life-to-the-hills-in-the-sound-of-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth bring new life to the hills in The Sound of Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir
\n<\/strong>
\nThe Sound of Music has been a holiday staple for over 50 years, but Aurora\u2019s Marquee Theatrical Productions has kept the festive cheer rolling right through the New Year.
\nThere are still a few chances to catch Marquee\u2019s young company, ages six through 13, bring a special youth version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical to life after its opening Friday evening.
\nThe Sound of Music brings together five casts of talented youngsters who have been rehearsing twice a week since September to mount the production, which closes January 31.
\nMost of your favourite songs are there, but the junior production is tailor-made to its actors, about 90 minutes in length from its original three hours, and making some of the heady topics tackled in between the rousing and toe-tapping songs easily digestible for young audiences.
\n\u201cThe delicate historical situations are handled very, very brilliantly,\u201d says Marquee\u2019s Sheryl Thomas, noting while tensions between Austria and Germany in the lead-up to the Second World War are handled without explicitly mentioning the Nazis. \u201cThe story is about family, it is about love, it is about keeping together and forgiveness, so many things people can relate to as humans, both young and old. That is probably why this touches so many people emotionally in so many places in so many ways. The music is fun, memorable and lovely and I think that is probably why the overall show is a hit.\u201d
\nThere is no doubt that the Sound of Music is a classic. Off-stage, its movie adaptation starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer has been seen by just about everyone and, if you\u2019re one of the few people who don\u2019t know the movie, it\u2019s more than likely you don\u2019t know at least one or two of its featured songs.
\nThe youngsters, says Ms. Thomas, were often in the latter category.
\n\u201cIt is interesting because a lot of these kids actually did not know the show before, but their parents did,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is introducing the story to them and watching them get excited about putting it on and practicing the dances as they sing these classic songs \u2013 even off to the side when they don\u2019t have to be practicing. It is always very, very fulfilling.
\n\u201cI think [once the show closes on January 31] that the kids will have left with such a sense of accomplishment because they are very involved in the show and we find creative ways to make sure the kids are involved even more than what the script suggests you do. It is a huge team and by the end of it they are just feeling so celebratory about what they have been able to do. Many of them were afraid at the very beginning or even a little nervous during dress rehearsals, overcoming these personal obstacles that we even have as adults. It usually leaves them wanting more \u2013 and this show is just simply fun.\u201d
\nOnce The Sound of Music has wrapped, Marquee is not resting on their laurels. These same character building programs will continue right through to the beginning of February with the second term of the intermediate program tackling The Lion King Jr \u2013 and there are only a few spaces left in the program.
\nIn addition to that, planning for their popular March Break programs are in full swing, focusing on \u201ca twisted fairytale\u201d featuring Jack & The Beanstalk.
\n\u201cPeople should give the March Break camp a try because it is only a five day commitment and then parents have a great chance to see whether or not it is something their kid is interested in because they get to taste the whole thing \u2013 the rehearsal process, and the performance,\u201d says Ms. Thomas. \u201cIt might not be a full scale show like our school year programs, but it will give them a taste [of the programs]. Generally speaking, people are sold on it once they give it a shot and it is a lower financial commitment, a lower time commitment, and they don\u2019t have to think about signing up for the entire school and find out it\u2019s not for their child.\u201d
\nFor more on Marquee Theatrical Productions\u2019 upcoming programs, including The Lion King Jr and the March Break fun, visit marqueetp.com.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sound of Music has been a holiday staple for over 50 years, but Aurora\u2019s Marquee Theatrical Productions has kept the festive cheer rolling right through the New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/2018-01-25-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-577","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 08:33:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}