IN OUR WORLD of cynicism and hate, of virulent social media and rapidly shifting technology, you may find it hard to believe that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s great 1959 musical The Sound of Music is a total runaway success on a stage in Johannesburg in 2024. Well, you’d be wrong. The musical, staged with all the bells and whistles, brilliant tweaks to the original material and performers that will give you goose flesh, is currently on the boards at Teatro, Montecasino, and it brings every ounce of theatrical perfection that attests to its popularity over 60 years ago. What’s more, this version is fully local in design, performance and execution.

In short, going out on a limb so early in the year, this production has certainly raised the bar massively for stage work in South Africa. As a work, it brings together all the bits and pieces of romantic love and not fitting in, of war and terror, opportunism and the cutes, which makes it a show for everyone. And more: there are songs, from Do-Re-Mi to Edelweiss that have held the hearts and informed the earworms of everyone everywhere.

Put all of this together, in leder hosen and with some yodelling in the mountains, against freshly designed yet simple sets, inject a whirr of narrative energy which cuts down on the dated potential of the work and makes short shrift of precious and potentially boring scenes, toss in some fabulously coordinated and well-trained children, and you have nothing short of a moment when the world outside the theatre simply becomes irrelevant.

Whether you have grown up in a household that listened to the LP of the original track so often that it was worn smooth, or whether you’ve never experienced this musical at all, it’s a must-see. With the magnificently voiced Janelle Visagie reprising the role of the Mother Abbess again (she did so in the version of the work ten years ago), this production will bring on tears for you, from the very first abbey scenes.

But then, there is Brittany Smith, who takes hold of the character and energy of Maria and makes it her own. Beautifully. Coupled with the completely suave and cold (but thawable) Captain von Trapp (Craig Urbani), it’s a total fairy tale romance. Ashley Scott plays the oldest von Trapp child, Liesl, with a voice that reaches beautiful pitch and plays sublimely with Smith’s in a duet toward the end of the work.

It is not, however, for the vocal spectacle alone that you will be bowled over, in this work. A tale that acts as a cipher for the energies in the air in the just pre-Anschluss era Austria evolves around rumours of war. For this reason, it’s a disturbingly prescient piece to watch in the fraught times in which we live. The Sound of Music contains a moment of Nazi intervention, which is clearly scripted as such, but it is staged here in such a way that you need to consciously remember you’re sitting in a theatre, and not complicit in an almost hostage situation. It’s visceral, devastatingly subtle and deeply threatening, even if you are sitting in the theatre’s rafters at the back.

From the campness in rotund musical impresario and opportunist Uncle Max (William Berger) to the hard-edged values of Liesl’s love interest Rolf (Ché-Jean Jupp), the work will grab you by the heart and guts and won’t let go. It’s a show worth getting yourself in debt for; it’s difficult to imagine anything topping this sheer collaboration of skill and talent, creative wisdom and generosity.

• The Sound of Music is written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics), based on the book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Directed by Steven Stead, it features creative input by Kevin Kraak (musical director), Faheem Bardien (lighting), Mark Malherbe (sound), Duane Alexander (choreography), Maritha Visagie (costumes) and Denis Hutchinson (set). It is performed by William Berger, Nadia Beukes, Dean de Klerk, Ché-Jean Jupp, Alida Scheepers, Ashley Scott, Lusibalwethu Sesanti, Brittany Smith, Schoeman Smit, Danielle Speckman, Megan Spencer, Janelle Visagie and Craig Urbani. The child cast on which this review is premised comprises Liam-Michael Fourie, André Klopper, Isabeau Malan, Sesana Shirilele, Raquel Vaz Peixoto and Daniella Wridgway. The production is performed with a live orchestra of 12 performers, under the baton of Kevin Kraak, and is on stage at Teatro, Montecasino in Fourways, Johannesburg until 29 February 2024.