The hills, sadly, didn’t come to life at The Sound of Music, which is currently showing at the Liverpool Empire.

While watching the show, I was wondering if the sound crew had in fact left their remote control at home as the sound needed turning up desperately.

The supposedly dazzling Connie Fisher (ITV’s How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria) was a huge let down after my hopes were so greatly built up with past rave reviews.
There was a lack of stage presence throughout the show and it felt like the entire cast was holding back to accommodate Connie’s flat performance as Maria.

All except for Jennifer Owen that is, who played a fantastic Mother Abbess.
Owen stole the show from under Fisher’s feet and thank goodness she did, because the audience had to get goose pimples from at least one singer.

Her performance of Climb Ev’ry Mountain was superb, and in its own right a show stopper, but it sadly wasn’t enough to carry the entire show to a rave review.

My accomplice to the performance said he felt (I quote) ‘Cheated by Connie’ as he is convinced she wasn’t singing at the end of the show, but miming while someone belted the words out for her backstage.

Since curtain down I’ve heard that our lovely Miss Fisher has recently suffered a flu virus, which could explain the lack of umph’ in her performance.

The Von Trapp children were a hit with the audience, they were cute, charming and very fetching – but when  the company rely on the adorable factor to make the audience chuckle every now and then it’s not a great sign.

The Sound of Music is an extraordinary film, so should be portrayed as such on stage – sadly this performance didn’t do one of the all time greats justice. It felt flat, lacked charisma and I felt like I was waiting for a climax that didn’t come all the way through.

One the other hand – Connie’s recent ill spout may subside throughout the run of the performance and it could improve over the next few weeks – either that or Connie’s understudy Philippa Buxton may step in and save the day.

Review by Rebecca Keegan

PERFORMANCE DETAILS
The Sound of Music runs at the Liverpool Empire until October 30.
Ticketmaster - 0844 847 2525
http:// www.liverpoolempire.org.uk