Lexington Theatre Company bringing beloved classic ‘Sound of Music’ to Opera House

Sitting in on a rehearsal for the Lexington Theatre Company’s production of “The Sound of Music” brought up a flood of memories for Theatre Company board member Melody Friday. There was the North Carolina theater where she first saw the movie; she can remember where she was sitting and what it looked like. There’s the soundtrack album she had and played and played — Julie Andrews’ pink dress and striped suitcase on the album cover engraved in her memories.

“It’s something about ‘The Sound of Music,’ when you hear those chords come on at the very beginning, I can tell you what they’re doing,” says Friday, for whom a love for the show is a shared, family experience. “Each song, I know exactly what they’re doing. I know what they have on. It’s so wonderful.”

Friday’s perspective is far from isolated says the show’s director, Lyndy Franklin Smith, who co-founded the Theatre Company with her husband, fellow Broadway veteran Jeromy Smith.

“Anytime we’re out in the community, and we’re talking about, ‘Oh, we’re doing ‘The Sound of Music,’ the reaction is visceral,” Franklin Smith says. “It’s an instant sense memory to whatever part of their childhood they saw it, or their family relationship, or a tradition.”

Like many, Franklin Smith’s family tradition was watching “The Sound of Music” when it came on TV during the holidays. Hayley Podschun’s familiarity may have started before she was born as her mother had a music box that played the show’s tender ballad, “Edelweiss.” Maybe that predestined a musical theater career in which her first audition was “The Sound of Music” and she made her Broadway debut as standby for Louisa and Brigitta, two of the seven von Trapp children.

“To graduate to Maria is like — I still can’t believe it’s happening,” says Podschun, who has nine Broadway and national tour shows to her credit, as well as significant film, television, and regional theater credits. “If I think about it, I might be inconsolable. I’m still trying to keep it cool, because if I let it break, I don’t know if I can come back from it.”

The presence of seven children who play significant roles in the story provides a great opening for viewers to latch onto the story at an early age and make it part of their lives.

“The nostalgia of the piece gets you back in the door. But the depth of the piece and the quality of the piece is what has sustained it,” says Jeremy Landon Hays, who plays Captain von Trapp. “For something to be generational, you have to be able to find something in it for you at every stage in your life. As children, it’s music, it’s being with your family, and it’s children on screen. Coming back to this now after so long, as a parent, it’s just an entirely different experience for me. Without stuff like that, the show’s not a legend.”

Hays notes the backdrop of grief in the story, being set against war and the rise of the Third Reich, and the threat that posed to the von Trapp family itself.

“Rodgers and Hammerstein are very, very good at addressing complicated topics in very uncomplicated ways,” Hays says. “And they changed society through their musicals.”

Like others in the production and who will fill seats at the Lexington Opera House for the show’s six performances Thursday through Sunday, Joy Lynn Jacobs could sing the whole show by heart when she was a little girl. That’s what she told her first voice teacher.

“It has always just been there,” says Jacobs, who plays Mother Abbess in this production. “But being Black, it never occurred to me that I was going to be in the show.”

That is, until 2013 when Broadway legend Audra McDonald played Mother Abbess in NBC’s live production of “The Sound of Music.”

“Sure enough, all the Black sopranos I know with any depth to their voice were getting asked to audition for Mother Abbess,” Jacobs says of the character who sings the showstopper, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” “I thought it’s really sad that it took that long, but at least it finally happened. And the last couple of casts that have had me as Mother Abbess have also had the children be multicolored, because there’s no reason why they couldn’t” — and that includes the Lexington Theatre Company’s production.

“It’s a big deal,” Jacobs and Friday, who is Black, say almost in unison.

“For my community,” Friday says, “I would love to be able to get kids to come and see and think, well, maybe one day they could see themselves doing that or going to a show, like how life changing that can be.”

“The Sound of Music” is a show that has already changed so many lives, and it shows no signs of stopping.

The Lexington Theatre Company’s production of “The Sound of Music” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. July 13 and 14, 1 and 7:30 p.m. July 15 and 1 and 6:30 p.m. July 16 at the Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short St. Call 859-233-3535 or visit lexingtonoperahouse.com for tickets. The Theatre Company’s next production is “Memphis,” Aug. 3-6.

Lexington Arts Awards include Theatre Company founders

In the midst of the Lexington Theatre Company’s summer season, company founders Lyndy Franklin Smith and Jeromy Smith will need to take a few hours to accept the Arts Educator Award in the Lexington Arts Awards. The Theatre Company is among five honorees at the third annual awards designed to honor people who have made a significant impact and contribution to Lexington’s arts scene. The awards are presented by Arts Connect, an organization dedicated to supporting the arts and creative endeavors through a variety of offerings. The winners of this year’s awards, nominated by the community and selected by a committee, are:

▪ Arts Educator — Lexington Theatre Company. The professional theater company is being recognized for its educational endeavors, which have been present since its inception in 2015, including apprenticeships and internships in main stage productions, its artist development program, Story Cycle Program, and residencies and workshops.

▪ Visual Arts — Steve Armstrong. The Lexington-based artist is well-known for his kinetic art work he refers to as automata, intricately planned wooden carvings that the viewer can usually set in motion with a crank or similar device. The colorful and complex pieces tell stories from the humorous to the profound and often personal.

▪ Literary Arts — Silas House. The Arts Connect honor is the latest in a steady stream of awards for House, whose latest novel was last year’s “Lark Ascending.” House is well-known for his work often drawn from his Appalachian roots and contemporary justice issues. His recent honors include the Duggins Prize, the highest honor in the country for a writer in the LGBTQ community.

▪ Performance Arts — Green Room Exchange. Lexington musician Lee Carroll and his wife Connie Milligan created Green Room Exchange as a program to bring artists and musicians from other countries to The Bluegrass to work and perform with local artists creating sold-out performances and enduring cross-cultural friendships.

▪ Arts Benefactor — Heather Lyons. Lyons has enjoyed a multifaceted career in the arts from independent film producer and director to her current role as director of arts and cultural affairs in the Lexington Mayor’s Office. Her work has included director of the individual artist program for the Kentucky Arts Council and directing the Living Arts & Science Center through a period of extensive growth and outreach.

The honorees will be recognized at a luncheon July 27 at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Center. Visit artsconnectlex.org for more information and reservations.

Seven Plays, 70 minutes

At the end of the month, theater fans will want to catch Studio Players’ annual 10-Minute Play Festival featuring seven scripts selected from more than 300 entries. Selected scripts come from as far away as New Zealand and as close as Kentucky and touch on subjects including parent-teacher conferences, superheroes, an argument with St. Peter at the gate, and ghost stories. Visit studioplayers.org/playfestival for tickets and more information about the festival July 27 to 30.