Beyond the hills
Play follows “Sound of Music” to darker ground.
Plays and musicals that bring a different perspective to a familiar story are nothing new.
“The Wizard of Oz” inspired “Wicked.” “Peter Pan” got a back story in “Peter and the Starcatcher.” Even William Shakespeare’s towering “Hamlet” was examined from a different perspective when Tom Stoppard brought secondary characters to the forefront in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.”
Playwright Andrew Bergh takes the audience behind the scenes of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s beloved “The Sound of Music” in “The Radicalization of Rolfe,” a play getting its world premiere at Island City Stage in Wilton Manors.
Presented in a showcase version at the 2016 New York International Fringe Festival, the play imagines how Rolfe Gruber (in “Sound of Music,” his first name was spelled “Rolf ”) evolved from the dreamy 17-going-on-18 first boyfriend of Liesl von Trapp into the hard-edged embodiment of the Hitler Youth.
Away from the von Trapp family’s villa in Salzburg, with the Anschluss (the 1938 annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany) fast approaching, the regional Nazi commander Herr Zeller (Michael Kehr) is making sure he has eyes on the comings and goings at the elegant home of Capt. Georg von Trapp.
The captain’s butler, Franz (Lawrence Buzzeo), is already spying for Zeller, who frequently rails at the servant for not providing useful intelligence and failing to persuade the housekeeper, Frau Schmidt (Carol Caselle), to inform. Zeller sees in Rolfe (Jordon Armstrong), a malleable telegram-delivery boy, an opportunity to infiltrate the household by having him woo and win the eldest von Trapp daughter.
What Zeller doesn’t know — not yet, anyway — is that Rolfe is already in a relationship. Drawn to University student Johan Schmidt (Sahid Pabon), who happens to be the nephew of the von Trapps’ housekeeper, Rolfe knows that his secret affair could quickly turn deadly, given that Johan is gay and a communist.
But try as he might to turn away from his obsessive passion, Rolfe just can’t help himself.
As with the musical that inspired it, “The Radicalization of Rolfe” places lighter moments within a growing sense of dread. References to lines and lyrics from “The Sound of Music” are threaded throughout, adding an extra layer for fans who know the story of how Maria, an aspiring nun turned governess, came to marry the wealthy widower and how the von Trapps escaped their homeland.
Island City artistic director Andy Rogow and actor Armstrong illuminate Rolfe’s dangerous journey in a compelling way. Ambitious, confused and fearful, Rolfe swears he won’t betray Johan, a young man far more comfortable in his own skin, or the other men labeled “deviants” by the Nazis. But when push comes to shove, when it’s a pink triangle and a concentration camp versus spilling names to the brutal Zeller, the survival instinct takes over.
Armstrong and Pabon work beautifully together, forging a credible and complicated relationship. Kehr, a Frankfurt-based actor making his American debut, plays Zeller as a classic double-edged Nazi, smilingly persuasive one moment, volcanic the next. Buzzeo’s Franz is clearly a survivor, a man willing to do what it takes to stay in Zeller’s good graces. Caselle, a Carbonell Award winner, exudes a subtle command and craftiness as Frau Schmidt.
Costume designer Peter A. Lovello, sound designer David Hart, and set and lighting designer Ardean Landhuis seem to have been a bit hamstrung by the budget or the piece itself. Although the stage is flanked by oversize posters suggesting the place and the political climate, the set itself is cartoonish and simplistic yet challenging for the performers.
“The Radicalization of Rolfe,” in which the title character’s brief forays into a cappella singing may remind you of the far more chilling “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” from “Cabaret,” is thematically an obvious choice for an LGBTQfocused company such as Island City. But though Rogow and his actors deliver a decent first production, Bergh doesn’t deliver much stylistically beyond the cross-referencing that made his script Fringe Fest-worthy. “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” this is not.
“The Radicalization of Rolfe” is running through April 29 at Island City Stage, 2304 N. Dixie Highway, in Wilton Manors. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $35. To order, call 954-519-2533 or go to IslandCityStage.org.