May 16, 2006 – For the second year in a row the Venzen/Green Classical Theatre will bring Broadway to the Reichhold stage.
Starting at 8 p.m Saturday May 27 and Sunday May 28 the Reichhold Center for the Arts will be alive with "The Sound of Music."
The classic Rogers and Hammerstein musical will feature local stars Drew Bowers, as Captian Von Trapp, Loran Freeman-Dennis as governess Maria, and Joan Bennett-Williams as Mother Abbess.
The book, set in Austria in 1938 follows the travails of the Von Trapp family as they are forced to flee their native land in the wake of the German occupation.
This is the second Broadway musical brought to the Reichhold through the collaboration of University of the Virgin Islands Prof. Austin A. Venzen and former UVI Prof. Elvira Green. Venzen is UVI's Concert Band director. Green, a former voice instructor at UVI, now teaches at the University of North Carolina Central in Durham.
"But she comes down every year to help put on the productions," Venzen said Tuesday night. Last year the duo produced "The King and I."
Other local talent who will be on stage for the first-ever performance of "The Sound of Music" on St. Thomas are: Rhanda Arron,Paulina Creque,Detra Davis, Kamryn Frett,Kyla Halliday, Malik Hunt, Brittney Jones, Shawn Perez, Daphne Wallace and Utha O. Williams.
Tickets are $40 for covered seats, $25 for lower uncovered, and $15 for upper uncovered and are available on St. Thomas at the Reichhold Box Office, UVI Bookstore, Modern Music in Havensight, Nora's Beauty Palace and V.I. Bridal & Tuxedo. On St. John tickets are on sale at Connections in Cruz Bay.
The production was made possible by a generous contribution from the V.I. Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.