Though Lauren Roesner has performed at the Wagon Wheel Theatre for the past three summers, “The Sound of Music” is her first holiday production. She plays Maria in the well-known musical. In the film version, Maria was played by Julie Andrews. Country music artist Carrie Underwood stars as Maria in a live television adaptation of the show on NBC tonight. Roesner just graduated college in May. Originally from Chicago, Roesner went to school in Cincinnati. “I’m very happy to be back,” she stated in an interview Monday morning. Audiences may remember Roesner from such roles as Judy in “9 to 5,” Irene Molloy in “Hello, Dolly,” Mrs. Darling in “Peter Pan” and Velma Von Tussle in “Hairspray.” Maria may be one of Roesner’s more challenging roles to date. “It’s difficult to play this part and add your own spin on it because it’s so iconic. Everyone knows this movie. Everyone knows this show. Julie Andrews is like the most perfect person ever! So, it’s difficult to play this role that is so well known and add your own spin to it,” she said. But at the base of Maria, Roesner observed, is a very faithful woman who is devoted and truly wants to be a nun but is really bad at it. “She loves kids, and she loves life and she loves singing and she’s very optimistic and just kind of a joyful, happy person from the inside out and loves sharing that with the world. She kind of recognizes through the progression of this story that maybe the abbey isn’t the very best place for her, and her gifts that God has given her could better be used in this family in the world outside the walls of the abbey,” Roesner explained. “The Sound of Music” takes place in Austria during the early part of World War II and the rise of Nazism. It’s based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp. The war doesn’t initially affect Maria in the show, Roesner said. “I think that this show, when people think of ‘The Sound of Music,’ they don’t think about the Nazis invading Austria. That’s not the first thing that comes to their mind. The first thing that comes to your mind, when you think ‘The Sound of Music,’ is ‘the hills are alive’ and ‘Do-Ra-Me’ and all these fun songs kind of from Act I of the show,” Roesner said. “So I think that there’s this definitely switch in Maria. It kind of happens after the wedding. When she gets married she kind of realizes that this violatile world outside the abbey she is now a part of, she married a captain in the Navy, so it becomes very important to her to do what she has to do to protect her family and make sure that her husband is happy doing what he wants and needs to do.” The real “meat” of the story comes in Act II, she said, when events around Maria become very real and audiences are no longer thinking about the happy, peppy songs. Roesner said, “It becomes very real when the Nazis begin to invade Austria and this family does whatever they have to to make sure they sustain their moral values and do what they need to do to protect their family.” Music for “The Sound of Music” was written by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. The songs are “amazing,” according to Roesner. “I’ve known these songs since I was a little, little girl. And it’s great to be Maria. It’s amazing,” she said. Her favorite song to perform is “I Have Confidence,” which was not in the original musical. It was added to the movie, but Roesner said they’ve decided to keep it in the show. “It’s just this great moment when Maria kind of recognizes, ‘I can do this, I can do these things that scare me because I have confidence and I can get through this,” she said. Though her experience at the Wagon Wheel over the past three years has given Roesner confidence herself, she said the holiday show is much easier than the summer season. “This role is difficult, and the rehearsal process is still difficult because we move very quickly, but in the summer you’re rehearsing during the day and doing a different show at night and you have these crazy ridiculous schedules. The schedule is much less hectic for the Christmas show, which is nice to actually have time to memorize your part, so it’s nice,” she explained. “The Sound of Music” is at the Wagon Wheel starting Friday through Dec. 22. Tickets are on sale until Dec. 15, and can be purchased online at wagonwheeltheatre.com, by phone at 574-267-8041, toll free at 866-823-2618 or at the box office during business hours. A free video of the complete interview with Roesner is available on the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com
