The West Pine Middle School Musical Team offers the community an eternal family classic when it presents “The Sound of Music” on March 8 and 9, 7:00 PM, at the Pinehurst Elementary School Auditorium.

The musical, a long-running, Tony Award-winning hit on Broadway and around the world, also was adapted into a movie starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer that was released in 1965 and won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Set in Austria in 1938, at a time when Nazi Germany was making inroads across Europe, it is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, who takes a job as a governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, a navy captain.

Capt. von Trapp is ordered to accept a commission in the German Navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. With music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, the musical is filled with songs that remain memorable more than half a century later, including “My Favorite Things,” “Do Re Mi,” “Sixteen Going On Seventeen,” and “Edelweiss,” as well as the title song.

West Pine Middle School’s production, featuring close to 70 students ranging from sixth through eighth grade, casts Hazel Thompson as Maria and Alexander Brady as Captain von Trapp.

Also in the cast are Karsen Corbett as the Mother Abbess and Sarah Archer, Ally Groner, and Leyhannah Timpac as Sisters Bertha, Margaretta and Sophia; Samuel Bland as Max Detweiler and Katelyn Dubose as Schraeder; and Sophie Blauch, Logan Ciokan, Helen Fitzpatrick, Eliza Hage, Allison Salazar, Porter Stout, Aubrey Welling as the von Trapp children.

Students have been in rehearsal since early January.

Directed by veteran educators with a long history of collaborating on productions, the show has at its helm Executive Director Torin Wright, West Pine Middle, and Artistic Director/Charge Scenic Designer, Susan B. Herrick, a professor at Fayetteville State University.

Paul Anderson II, a student teacher from University of North Carolina at Pembroke, is the choreographer. This production also features student directors Samuel Bland and Karsen Corbett; Student Choreographers are Ally Groner and Nicolyn Federice.

The set was constructed by craftsman Jim Morris, West Pine Middle School (retired), and has been painted by numerous students and parents. The Sound Engineer is David Godsey of Extra Mile Audio, from Fayetteville; Lighting Engineer is Charles Howell of Rock-It Productions; and costumes are by Showboat Costumes and Collectibles.

The project received support from the Arts Council of Moore County with funds from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Tickets are currently available online at discounted rates and will gradually increase in price as opening night draws closer. All patrons are encouraged to purchase online tickets early in order to secure lowest prices and availability at www.thesoundofmusicwpm.weebly.com.

For additional information, please call the school at (910) 673-1464.

Contributed

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