Sound of Music at The Lowry, Manchester

We all know the charming story of The Sound of Music. It’s a classic. In fact, it’s so classic, that this year is the 50th Anniversary of the 1965 film release. To coincide with that, The Lowry, my favourite local theatre based in Media City, Salford, is showing it as their festive production this year. As one of my favourite special treats is to visit the theatre – there really is something so captivating about live performance which moves an audience so much – I leapt at the chance to see the musical live for the first time in my life. Here’s what I thought of The Sound of Music at The Lowry, Manchester.

I won’t go into the story, as we all know that as a sing-along-family-classic, but I will comment on the performance. As I had never seen the live musical of this before, I wasn’t sure how it would differ to the film. Turns out that I wasn’t disappointed at all – in fact I was absolutely thrilled at the musical adaption. The set was stunning – who would have thought a single stage could turn from a beautiful abbey to a millionaire’s mansion to a beautiful Austrian mountain range?! The changes were quick, seamless and the creative direction was stunning. In fact, everything was seamless – it was a breath-taking performance.

Lucy O’Byrne – you may recognise her from BBC One singing program, The Voice, where she worked with Will.I.Am – played the leading part of Maria beautifully. Her voice is, in fact, absolutely stunning and a powerful lead. She carried the story through wonderfully from start to finish, portraying Maria perfectly as a mischievous yet angelic Governess. She engaged wonderfully with the cast of seven children of the singing Von Trapp family and was enchanting as she taught them to sing.

The secondary lead of the show, Captain Trapp, played by Coronation Street start Gary O’Brian, was also a strong lead. His character was strict yet warm, and although his voice wasn’t as brilliant as Lucy’s, I really enjoyed the gently yet subtle on-stage relationship he had with her and the children. Seeing them together as a family was really heart-warming, and seeing them escape to Switzerland altogether at the end was a pretty emotional scene.

The nuns also take quite a leading role in the production, helping to move along the story and bring back bits of humour into the production. As well as being very moral (of course!) they are a little bit cheeky and each of the nuns had almost operatic singing voices. They were jolly and a great central point for the musical to tie back to. As I said before, I particularly loved the set of the abbey and really appreciated the artistic effort that must have gone into creating such a spectacular sight.

I was secretly proud that I recognised each and every song in the show. Most of the songs are beautifully uplifting, of which The Lowry audience happily sang along to; very unusual and not like any other musical I’ve ever been to. It gave a lovely bit of added interaction and I even felt myself humming along in some parts. I never thought I would know all the words, but I too sang along to classics such as Favourite Things and Doh a Deer – how could you not?! They’re too brilliant!

If you get chance to visit The Lowry this December, I would whole-heartedly recommend this performance. The Von Trapp family are truly enchanting and I left the musical feeling uplifted – still singing along to the songs now! The Lowry is showing The Sound of Music throughout December 2015 and until 2nd January 2016, with tickets ranging from £12 – £100. An unforgettable Christmas treat!