When I heard Stanwell Park Arts Theatre (SPAT) was putting on The Sound of Music I thought it would be fun for my daughter Winnie, 9, and me to be involved. Neither of us had acted and I thought a little production together would be great.
Little did I know there was nothing “little” about it. This was a big production for SPAT and ambitious, made bigger by the decision to have two casts of younger children, so they could rest between performances. Not to mention rehearsals and productions during Covid.
Friends Tamlyn, Ashley and Erin first took The Sound of Music idea to the SPAT committee, and, in the words of director Rod Lander, “the committee was crazy enough to agree”.
I soon found myself questioning my own sanity.
I would play The Baroness, while Winnie was cast as one of the two Martas. We had auditioned in November, but the musical wasn’t until April. In between were months of rehearsals, including long car rides where my husband would have to suffer hours of Winnie and I singing and practising lines.
As Nathalie Fritzen, who played Frau Schmidt, told me: “It was impressive to see how, through Rod’s guidance, the kids were straight away improving.”
It wasn’t just the children.
Rehearsals were every Tuesday and Sunday, and week nights could be tough for those working in the city, racing back to juggle family and rehearsals. Tiring too for the younger cast with school the next day. The youngest, eight-year-old Ella Szoboszlay, had turned up with dad Attila, neither had been in a production before either. Attila ended up playing Franz and was also one of the main stage crew.
“I thought if I am going to be at the rehearsals, I may as well help out. It was a great chance to perform with my daughter,” he told me. Attila’s enthusiasm was contagious. He also convinced his neighbour, Chris Jones, to get involved.
It soon became obvious the production relied on everybody. Not just the cast, but the extraordinary musicians – Catherine, Wolfgang and Rhiannon – and the SPAT singers, who made the perfect nun choir. From David Mitsak, who would feed and entertain us, to stage manager Isabella Franklin, who helped with cues, costumes and everything else. Parents of The Sound of Music cast too.
A few weeks out from opening, a nervous Rod told us we should be nervous too. Some of us didn’t know our lines. It kicked everyone into gear. Opening night came, and what a buzz. One couple with no connections to Stanny had travelled from Sydney for the production, just because they loved The Sound of Music. Their review: “Fantastic.”
Remarkably, we had pulled it off. A few nights out from opening we were asked to put on two extra shows, somehow we quickly co-ordinated the diaries of 53 cast and crew.
The shows sold out overnight, and SPAT history was made – it was the first time SPAT had sold out an eight-show run.
I recently asked Winnie if she had enjoyed it.
She “loved it”, it was a chance to make new friends. Weeks later she is still singing Maria, she and my six-year-old seemed to have learnt the lyrics to every song. While our car rides are a little less animated now, each song calls up a nice memory.
Asked if he’d be involved in another production, Attila told me “absolutely” then paused and said: “Maybe in a few years.”
It may take that long for some of us to recover.
