ON a balmy Saturday night in 1967, a six-year-old boy and his brother and sisters were dragged along by their parents to the Moree open-air picture theatre to watch The Sound of Music, the Rodgers and Hammerstein big-end-of-town production that was taking the cinematic world by storm.
The family ate next door at the Sun Sun Chinese restaurant – sweet-and-sour pork and fried rice for everyone – before going to the flicks.
The father bought tickets with a new, crispy two-dollar note and usherette, Mrs Clarke, tore the tickets in half and issued stubs to everyone.
“Don’t lose that, or you won’t get back in at intermission,” she winked at the six-year-old boy.
The family found a good spot near the front and eased into deck chair-style canvas seating to watch the show under the stars.
The open-air theatre continued to fill as movie shorts flickered on the big screen.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was showing the following weekend and the six-year-old boy’s mother shook her head firmly before he could open his mouth.
When the feature movie credits started rolling, the audience watched in awe at the opening scene.
The screen was filled with a panoramic view of the Swiss Alps as the camera panned across deep gorges and rocky slopes to a luscious green hillside in Austria.
And there she was.
Julie Andrews filled the screen with the sound of music that unforgettable Saturday night at the Moree open-air picture theatre.
The six-year-old boy and his family watched, spellbound by the music and storyline about a young novitiate named Maria who was too spirited for convent life in 1930s Austria.
Maria was subsequently sent by her abbess to serve as a governess to seven children of a widowed naval officer, Captain Georg von Trapp, played perfectly by Christopher Plummer.
The movie, winner of five Academy Awards, enchanted the world in the late 1960s, especially a six-year-old boy in Moree, and still does to this day.
By the 1970s, the boy – now in his teens – had watched The Sound of Music a second and third time at the Moree closed-in picture theatre, a few doors up from the open-air theatre.
There were also countless reruns on television.
After all, the movie was a Saturday afternoon staple every few months on the NEN-9 network – in glorious black and white until early 1975 – and the young boy was there for all of them.
Fast-forward the calendar nearly 60 years, and that six-year-old boy – now giving 65 a nudge – sat with his wife, Cindy, in the Uniting Church Hall in Moree on Saturday afternoon to watch The Sound of Music all over again.
Only this time, it was better than the big-screen Moree premiere all those years ago at the open-air picture theatre or the old reruns on television. Much better.
The Moree Arts Community Theatre production of The Sound of Music, under the expert guidance of well-known musical director Stevie Drenkhahn, needs to be seen by everyone.
These aren’t well-meaning amateurs fumbling their way through song-and-dance routines in front an understanding audience.
These are fervent performers who have put their collective hearts and souls into perfectly delivering MACT’s most impressive production so far.
MACT is a vibrant, Moree-based group of artists and artisans passionate about bringing high-quality, community-driven performances to the region – and boy, have they delivered with The Sound of Music.
The timeless masterpiece was brought to life by a cast of Moree thespians ranging in all ages.
The seven rambunctious von Trapp children – Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl – are portrayed perfectly by Josie, Cedar and Petra Mitchell, Imogen, Esther, Lillian and Florence Cobb as well as Lucy Morrison, Millie Mitchell and Atticus Wright.
These young stars take turns playing the children at alternate shows.
Maria is played by Talitha Mitchell, whose understudy Tori Lockrey covered the role perfectly at Saturday’s matinee presentation.
David Powell shines as Captain Georg von Trapp, with his love interest, Baroness Elsa Schraeder, played faultlessly on Saturday by Deeni Mitchell.
Andy Mitchell plays the lovable music agent Max Detweiler and audience members can be forgiven for thinking a reincarnated Richard Haydn had walked into the room.
Haydn played Detweiler in the original movie, and the likeness is uncanny.
The Moree musical sees some familiar faces back under the spotlight, including Will Penfold, Jayne McDouall, Bernadette Quirk, Andrew O’Neile, Helena Doran and Tim Barklay, who also co-directs with Stevie Drenkhahn.
Barklay plays with precision Admiral von Schreiber, a key German military figure hellbent on recruiting Captain von Trapp as the threat of Nazism and World War 2 edges perilously closer.
The cast includes Mandy Mitchell, who shone as the Mother Abbess, Eden Mitchell, Jemima Burke, Max Mitchell, Lyn Lockrey, Cody Mitchell, Jeremy Martignago, Millie Mitchell, Caroline Hocking, Zach Mitchell, Reuben Strahan and Caleb Mitchell.
Many cast members also played key roles backstage, with sound and lighting covered by James Barron, Andrew King and Michael and Sophia Phipps.
The wardrobe department itself is a big-scale production, with Mandy Mitchell, Taylor Powell, Lucy Burke, Amanda Morrison and Emily, Jessica and Lillian Cobb somehow making sure there were more than 100 outfits ready and waiting for quick costume changes.
Sets and backdrops by Julia Minors and Nicole Fitzgerald seamlessly take the audience back to the mid-1930s, with choreography adroitly mastered by Jessica Maharaj and Chelsie Assef.
Even Moree District Band gets in on the act, opening selected performances with powerful theme music renditions.
For those that haven’t seen MACT’s incredible production of The Sound of Music, grab a ticket before it’s too late. It is a seriously amazing production, not to be missed, presented by a cast of absolute stars.
There are only two 6pm performances remaining – Friday, August 1 and Saturday, August 2 – with tickets selling quickly.
Go to www.123tix.com.au or drop into Sylvia’s Fabrics on Heber Street to grab one the old-fashioned way – Sylvia might even tear the stub in half for you.
