By ALEX OWENS<\/p>\n
The hills around Helix High School should be alive with the sound of music come Oct. 11.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the Highland Players are presenting the classic musical \u201cSound of Music\u201d for seven performances.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first time in a while that the Helix Drama Department has presented a classic musical, but director Paul Reams is singing the praises of the stage version, which is different than the film version (because it\u2019s hard to set up the Austrian alps on most theater stages).<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the film is able to do things like having the Von Trapps sing each line of \u2018Do Re Mi\u2019 at a different location,\u201d he laughed. \u201cThat\u2019s not at all what this looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original stage play isn\u2019t as iconic as the movie, so Reams was happily surprised when he reread it before choosing it for the new season.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople forget how well written the book is,\u201d Reams said. \u201cThere\u2019s a great moment where Max Detwiller and Baroness Elsa Schr\u00e4der are trying to convince Captain Von Trapp to do the politically expedient choice which is easier at the time. But, ultimately, he decides to run off to the mountains and lose everything in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cast is very diverse \u2014 definitely more diverse than 1930s-era Austria \u2014 and Reams was concerned that might not be totally realistic. Ultimately, he decided to go with the best actors for each part regardless of background.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not be totally realistic, but that\u2019s how most modern versions are doing it these days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
One role was easier to cast than the others, that of 5-year-old Gretel. Though elementary school students don\u2019t attend Helix, Reams was able to find the perfect actor right in his own house: his own daughter Lucy.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s in the third grade and she comes over after school for the rehearsals. It\u2019s a real joy and she loves the students,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really beautiful being able to integrate work and family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because the main selling point of \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d are songs like the title tune, \u201cMy Favorite Things,\u201d and \u201cClimb Every Mountain,\u201d Reams figures audience members can\u2019t help but join in with the cast member.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope people do hum along, but there is this dark tale about people making hard choices and experiencing a real sense of loss because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d will run Oct. 11-19. Evening performances start at 7, with a 6 p.m. performance on Thursday, Oct. 17. There will be 2 p.m. matinees on Oct. 12 and 19. Tickets are $10 for non-students, $8 for students with ASB cards, available at bit.ly\/2kMoIIw<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Alex Owens is a La Mesa-based freelance journalist.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By ALEX OWENS The hills around Helix High School should be alive with the sound of music come Oct. 11. That\u2019s because the Highland Players are presenting the classic musical \u201cSound of Music\u201d for seven performances. It\u2019s the first time in a while that the Helix Drama Department has presented a classic musical, but director […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":764,"featured_media":226589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"Helix does \u2018Sound of Music\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}