Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Pitlochry Festival Theatre - Nov 2025
Photo credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
Pitlochry’s “Theatre in the Hills” is alive with The Sound of Music as Elizabeth Newman’s glorious production makes its triumphant return for a second season this winter. We saw the original production last year and loved it, so we had to return to Pitlochry to see how the 2025 revival compares.
As we found last year, this production is comfortingly familiar to fans of the 1965 movie, while still retaining its own identity and unique take on the work. Ruari Murchison’s clever set evokes Maria’s beloved mountain and becomes the von Trapp family home, surrounded by a shadowy background where the characters can almost disappear into their places in the orchestra.
As is typical of Pitlochry musicals, this is an actor-musician production, with the entire adult cast (and one of the children) accompanying themselves on instruments throughout, either in the background as part of the orchestra or as their own character within a scene. This is wonderfully effective, with Maria (Kirsty Findlay) accompanying herself and the children in ‘Do-Re-Mi’ on guitar and Rolf (Lawrence Smith) dazzling Liesl and the audience with a classy trumpet solo in ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’. The musical talents of this company cannot be understated, and having them playing the score live, with several of the performers playing multiple instruments throughout the show, brings such vibrancy and life to Richard Rodgers’ music.
The company as a whole are excellent. The von Trapp children (excluding Liesl) are played by two casts of local children, and the cast we saw were six talented, engaging performers who instantly charmed the audience. There is real darkness and terror at the heart of The Sound of Music as the Anschluss approaches and the Third Reich closes in on Austria, so the light relief provided by Oliver Nazareth Aston’s Max Detweiler is more than welcome. He shares two lesser-known songs with Elsa (Miiya Alexander) which may be unfamiliar to audiences as they do not feature in the film, and his addressing the audience during the Kaltzburg Festival is a fun breaking of the fourth wall. Lauren MacDonald is a delightfully sweet Liesl, balancing her maturity in comparison to her siblings with the fact that she is still a child herself.
Returning from last year’s company are the three principal actors, and they are very welcome returns indeed. Kate Milner Evans’ Mother Abbess is kind and warm, with her operatic training shining through in her sparkling rendition of ‘Climb Every Mountain’, a true highlight of the piece. Ali Watt brings stoicism to Captain von Trapp, which slowly melts away as he softens to the whirlwind that is Maria. Their love story is beautiful to watch develop. Kirsty Findlay’s decidedly Scottish Maria is perfection – full of vibrant fun and whimsy, paired with strength and determination, all topped off with a wonderful singing voice which handles Maria’s many musical numbers which ease, Findlay is an absolute delight.
Just as it was last year, this production is a triumph for Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It’s a warm, nostalgic treat which will send you back out into the Scottish winter feeling uplifted and buoyed by the love of one extraordinary family.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Lorna Murray
The Sound of Music plays at Pitlochry Festival Theatre until 21 December, with further info here.