'Sound' solution for musical
This actress is a natural as Maria: She was a nanny herself
"The Sound of Music" is one of the quintessential musical theater titles, the kind of show that either makes theater lovers rush to get tickets or roll their eyes with exasperation.
In ''The Sound of Music'' at Theatre Memphis, Maria (Emily Chateau) is surrounded by the von Trapp children portrayed by (clockwise from right) Paige Robbins Hollenbeck, Henry Widdop, Lauren Dunavant, Charlotte Nichols, Catherine Boggan, Sam Shankman and Mikayla House.
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Surprisingly, however, when Theatre Memphis opens its 90th season this weekend with a new staging, it's not back because of popular demand.
The theater hasn't performed "The Sound of Music" since 1991, when it received its Theatre Memphis debut.
Now that the show has returned, how's this for popularity: Season tickets subscriptions are up 40 percent from this time last season, and new subscribers are up 100 percent.
"We have two very family-friendly shows book-ending the season," said executive producer Debbie Litch. "'Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' is the last show of the year. I think the season tickets are especially appealing to big families."
Though Litch promises a traditional staging of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, one aspect in the casting is particularly noteworthy.
Starring in the role of Maria -- the nun-turned-nanny to the widowed Austrian naval captain Georg von Trapp -- is Emily Chateau, who moved to Memphis in June 2008 while employed as an actual nanny.
Raised in Detroit, Chateau was living in Kalamazoo when she was hired by a television journalist and his wife to be nanny to their first child.
When the couple came to Memphis, she followed. Chateau, 24, already had a lengthy theatrical résumé, and had even played Maria once before in a high school production of "The Sound of Music."
"I had done a lot of musical theater and Shakespeare," Chateau said. "Some directors see me as an ingénue, and others see me as the best friend type. I'm short and have big curly hair."
Chateau didn't waste any time getting acquainted with Memphis theater upon her arrival. In fact, she was cast in a musical her first day in town.
"I packed up my minivan and drove straight to Memphis. It was a 12-hour drive," she said. "I got to town, unpacked some clothes out of the garbage bag and was auditioning for 'Sweeney Todd.'"
Since landing an ensemble role in that first production last season, Chateau has been cast in a number of small but memorable parts. She picked up an Ostrander Award nomination for best supporting actress in Theatre Memphis' "Boston Marriage," playing a maid to a pair of venomous older women.
Chateau's job as a nanny ended a week ago once the couple decided to put their two children into daycare. Because of her experience with children as both a nanny and teaching children's theater, Theatre Memphis hired her as the coordinator for its Showagon children's theater troupe, which performs in schools.
Chateau was raised with music in her life. Her father is a church music minister and her mother is a classical pianist. Her grandfather performed in vaudeville, and her stepfather is a trumpet player.
A long history around both children and music, she says, informs her interpretation of Maria.
"She has a childlike spirit and an open heart," Chateau said. "But she also has strength. I hope her joy comes across in how I play the role."
Guest director Christina J. Moore, who runs Austin Script Works in Texas, says that Chateau didn't actually audition for the part. She was called in to read with Barclay Roberts, who is playing Von Trapp.
"I was like 'Why didn't you audition for the show?' and she said she had been too busy with other productions," Moore said. "But they had such chemistry together. Maria is a challenging character in a way. She has to have a certain naiveté and also be willful. You've got to find someone with charisma and spark."
Moore said that every director casting the singing nun asks the question, a famous line in the musical, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"
The answer, she said, was to hire a nanny.
"The Sound of Music"
The show runs through Sept. 13 at Theatre Memphis, 630 Perkins Ext. Shows are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $28 adults, $15 students and $10 children. Call 682-8323.
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