It’s a tribute to the show in a way. When he’s out and about in Chichester, passers-by will often salute Edward Harrison, our Captain von Trapp in Chichester’s Festival Theatre’s summer musical The Sound of Music.
“When I leave the theatre every night or when I'm just wandering about in Chichester I do get that salute! The lovely thing is that it's so clearly a show that has touched people. You speak to people and they are just shaking with happiness. It's so powerful and it's so uplifting.
“When I leave the theatre every night or when I'm just wandering about in Chichester I do get that salute! The lovely thing is that it's so clearly a show that has touched people. You speak to people and they are just shaking with happiness. It's so powerful and it's so uplifting.
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FunTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor of Sussex Newspapers, and it's
00:05 fantastic to be speaking to Captain Von Trapp, no less, from Chichester's Sound of Music.
00:10 And you were saying, Edward Hewitt, I should say, you were saying that people are saluting
00:15 you outside the coffee shops in Chichester. How wonderful. How do you respond?
00:19 Well, I have to salute back, I suppose. And then this bemused fellow passes by who have
00:25 yet to see the show, wonder what's happening. But yeah.
00:30 Do you march down North Street?
00:31 I don't take it that far, Phil. Yeah, no, no. I should have a parade of people behind
00:37 me.
00:38 What a wonderful part, and what a fantastic response you've had. How aware are you of
00:43 all of that response? People have just absolutely loved the show, haven't they?
00:47 It's overwhelming, yeah. People come up to you after the show visibly sort of moved or
00:53 sort of almost shaking with happiness. I mean, the show is so devastating and hopeful in
00:59 its finale, and seems to really connect with audiences, and always has done since the great
01:05 film. And so, yeah, it's a privilege and a challenge, and so satisfying to do night after
01:12 night. It's a real thing when you look forward to coming into work every day.
01:15 In some ways, it's quite exhausting for the audience, because it's such a long journey
01:20 to watch, going from A to this very, very distant B at the end. How on earth do you
01:26 steel yourself to go through that night after night? I don't know that's what actors do,
01:30 but even so, it's monumental, isn't it?
01:33 Yes. Yeah, as I say, it's certainly a challenge, and you have to, and with Captain Von Trapp,
01:39 it's a particularly sort of intricate journey, and there are sort of posts along the way
01:43 you want to head to. And it's so sort of nuanced and intricate that I think I'll be playing
01:49 with the dials of who he is right through to the 3rd of September. And that's why I
01:54 love theatre, you know, you come back the next night, and maybe it's slightly different.
01:59 It's a real pleasure to do. I mean, like many actors, I hope to do a range of work, but
02:03 I've worked predominantly in straight classical theatre. So to get the opportunity to do a
02:07 big old musical with such an intricate emotional journey is a real treat and a privilege. I'm
02:13 so happy to be here.
02:14 What are the key notes that you have to strike to be an authentic Captain Von Trapp?
02:20 It's the big arc of his journey, you know, we meet him, a very cold, stiff, depressed
02:26 man, you know, he's grieving for the loss of his wife. He shut the door on his seven
02:32 beautiful children, and spends a lot of time in Vienna away from the family home. He's
02:37 shielding himself from that pain. And then Maria comes into their lives, and he slowly
02:44 begins to thaw, you know, there are various other subplots. He's got a romantic involvement
02:48 with the Baroness Elsa Schrader as well. He's trying to replace a sort of mother-like figure
02:54 to try and recreate times that once were. And then of course, he's very headstrong and
03:01 politically willed and wants to stand by his principles. And ultimately, that's what attracts
03:05 Maria to him and what he is attracted to Maria by because she's very headstrong and principled
03:11 as well.
03:12 They are similar, and actually what their similarities make them buttheads initially,
03:19 and then obviously romance blossoms into the show. Of course, they, as many people know,
03:26 the resolution, the sort of wedding happens sooner than you'd expect in these big musicals.
03:31 It's usually the finale. But we have to sort of get there and then ride the political wave
03:36 of how this family are going to survive, or stay or escape, right through to the end of
03:42 the show, which ends up being moving and devastating and hopeful all at the same time.
03:47 Goodness, I thought it was just so fabulous, those final few moments when you ascend, won't
03:53 say how or where, but it's just a wonderful moment, isn't it?
03:57 Yeah, it's powerful. It genuinely gets me every night. You know, some shows you do,
04:02 you have to sort of generate feelings in different ways. You know, some actors have got methods
04:07 of remembering personal emotional memories to set them off. But yes, without going into
04:15 too much detail, it just happens every night.
04:18 It's just a perfect moment, isn't it? And yours is an absolutely brilliant performance,
04:22 if I'm allowed to say so. But to an extent, you're able to be brilliant because Gina is
04:27 just so fantastic as Maria, isn't she?
04:30 She's a star. I mean, she really is born to play this role, I think. For me, she ticks
04:36 every single box. She's witty and fun and passionate and headstrong. She sings like
04:43 a dream. She's funny. She's the definitive Maria, I think.
04:49 Fantastic, brilliant. Well, congratulations on a truly wonderful performance. Really lovely
04:54 to speak to you, Captain Fontrapp. Thank you very much.
04:59 - Thanks a lot, bye bye.
05:01 - Okay, bye bye.