Based on a true story about the von Trapp Family Singers, “The Sound of Music” takes place in Austria during 1938. The main storyline follows Maria, a governess who is assigned to look after the von Trapp family children with their widowed father. Upon arriving at the large villa, Maria quickly realizes the von Trapp kids are not experiencing true childhood — they do not sing, dance or play. Although Maria at first faces backlash from both the children and the father, the more Maria spends time with the von Trapps, the more they begin to see each other as a family.

Setting Up

Junior Hyunsuh Lee, a leader of the set crew, has been a member of Theatre West since his freshman year. Although an important aspect of set-building is being open to new plans, Lee explains that the crew has a good foundation for what they want the set to look like for “The Sound of Music.”

“We know we want to make an abbey scene where the nuns are. Then we have the gazebo — it’s going to be a mini one that we can move on set,” Lee said. “The main set piece is the mansion. We want to show the inside and the outside of the house; think about it like half of a dollhouse.”

Unlike the winter musical, which was a dance-heavy production, the set crew will have more to build and move on and off the stage during scene changes. Lee looks forward to this increase in responsibility. 

“I am most excited for the fact that we’re actually going to have stuff to move on and off stage,” Lee said. “During ‘Chicago,’ it was not very set-heavy; we didn’t have to move anything at all.”

Featuring an expansive villa and a fairy-tale-esque gazebo where an iconic dance sequence takes place, there is a lot that makes the set for The Sound of Music unlike that of any other show.

“It’s very grandiose. The von Trapp family is affluent and wealthy, so we get to make it all very pretty,” Lee said. “[That’s] what makes it special.”

Most of all, Lee looks forward to spending time with other set members throughout the course of the production.

“It’s so fun to be around [the other set members]. It’s the environment of building something with other people and working together on this project, then having this super cool final product. [We] all work really hard,” Lee said.

Cultivating Costumes

Rory Rogers ’25 is the head of the costumes crew for Theatre West. Because the production of “The Sound of Music” was originally supposed to take place in 2020 but got shut down due to the pandemic, several crews, including costumes, already have a head start.

“We had a plan already because some music was canceled before due to COVID, but we’re having to make some changes based on casting, which is totally normal,” Rogers said. “We have a lot of outfits that are made that we will be adjusting.”

There are several well-known outfits that come to mind when someone mentions “The Sound of Music,” such as the von Trapp children’s clothes made out of old curtains. Other outfits, such as the dresses Maria wears in the abbey and the von Trapp house, are being put together by the costumes crew.

“Our leads are going to be Maria and the kids. All the kids will have their little matching [outfits] so they look like [they did] in the movie,” Rogers said. “For ensemble, I think we’re going to do military uniforms and other period-accurate clothing.”

While the exact number of quick changes for “The Sound of Music” is still to be determined, Rogers expects that there will be fewer than past musicals, meaning less stress for the costume crew members.

“[During] the first week of rehearsals, the costume head, which is me, is sitting in the audience trying to track down everyone’s changes,” Rogers said. “It’ll hopefully be a little bit less than ‘Chicago,’ because ‘Chicago’ [had] a lot [of] quick changes.”

From organizing the costumes loft to sewing projects together, the members of the costumes crew spend a lot of time with one another while working on productions. Similarly to Lee and the set crew, Rogers is grateful for the community the members of the costumes crew have created.

“It’s a really good community. There’s a lot of little old lady sewing circles where we just talk and enjoy each other’s company. It is not a crew where we’re there every single night, so it lets me still have time to do homework and be a person outside of theater. But it also is a big enough commitment where you’re not showing up one week,” Rogers said. “It’s been a really fun and interesting journey, and I would not change it for the world.”

Perfecting the Props

From joining Theatre West her sophomore year to becoming a head of props her senior year, Eva Esch ’25 has taken part in countless productions. This year, the props crew has taken a step further by helping the set crew to build and create pieces.

“We have a lot of props for the show, and we are [also] working on creating the mountains for the scenes,” Esch said. “The original plan for this year was that we would combine [set and props crews], and we did that for ‘Chicago,’ but for this show, we’re splitting off a little bit more. We haven’t had to do much set building besides picking up odd jobs and constructing the mountains.”

The process of gathering props starts from the very first crew meeting. After reading through the script, the members of the props crew create a list of required items based on the actor that needs to use them. Then, the members of the props crew look for items in the props loft, a large storage area above the set shop.

“[Right now,] we have a lot of the hand-held props, like the whistle the father uses with the kids [and] all the stuff for the nuns, like the prayer books and buckets for them to do cleaning with,” Esch said.

From being a member of the props crew to stepping into a leadership role this year, Esch has stuck with props due to the creative opportunities it offers.

“My favorite part[s] of it are the creative aspects. There’s so much problem-solving involved with it, and also the artistic aspect, where there’s a lot of painting and sculpting,” Esch said.

Although Esch has worked on several productions with Theatre West, “The Sound of Music” is even more special due to the nostalgic ties she associates with it.

“[‘The Sound of Music’] is one of those shows that’s close to home for a lot of people; it’s a classic. I’m excited for that because I remember when I was younger, I went to see ‘The Sound of Music’ with my family, and that was nice. I’m glad to be working on it,” Esch said.