We sat down with Janet Miller, who plays Baroness Elberfeld and one of the nuns in SBMT’s production of The Sound of Music. In this interview, she tells us how the stage musical differs from the Julie Andrews movie, how history repeating itself brings renewed relevance to the story, and what brought her back to the stage for the first time since before the pandemic.

Watch the four minute video, or read the transcript below.

My name is Janet Miller and I’m a nun and I am the Baroness Elberfeld in this production.

Is this show any different than the movie version?

When the audiences come to see this show and if they’ve already seen the movie with Julie Andrews, they will be quite surprised by the placement of several of the musical numbers. And I think they’ll be surprised that the Baroness Elsa also sings.

How is this show still relevant today?

I think this show is still relevant today even though it was 60 years ago that the show was on Broadway in that—I thought about this the other day— it would appear that history seems to repeat itself, and in the political climate that we are now in, it seems as though there’s a few parallels to what was going on at the time during this show.

Where have we seen you before at SBMT?

I have been involved with South Bay Musical Theater since 2008 when it was still known as the Saratoga Drama Group. You may have seen me in the 13 shows that I have been in, and I hope that you saw The Bridges of Madison County years ago in 2017, which I was so proud to have produced.

What was it about this show that got you back on stage?

I was drawn to audition for this particular show because of the music and—for me personally—it had been quite a while since I had auditioned for a show due to the COVID lockdown and not being in a theatre production for over five years.

How are you approaching your characters?

I’m approaching this character—or both of my characters—with some very fine direction from our director Walter Mayes. And I’m finding that our vocal director, Rachel Michelberg, has done a fabulous job having us learn the vocals in such a way that the audience is going to be astounded.

Do you have a favorite song in the show?

My favorite song in this show is “Climb Every Mountain.” It’s such an inspirational song and the way it works into the show is quite inspirational.

How are rehearsals going?

The rehearsals for this show have been very, very fun. I’ve met many new people and in fact this particular production has brought out a large number of actors and actresses who have never done a show with this group before, and that’s an exciting thing to see for this organization.

Tell us about having so many children in the show.

There are many children in this production, and what is different for me is that this is the first show I’ve ever done that has children in it. But the children have been very well behaved, I guess I would say, and they really have tried doing what they’ve been asked to do. The show is double cast and so we have double the kids. It’s been fun for me to watch the kids as they develop their characters, and I think the audience is going to be delighted by the children they see.

Are there any standouts in the talent?

The level of talent in this show is extraordinary, and I wouldn’t want to pick out any one person because I would probably need to just be listing off the cast list. I think again the audience is going to be very pleased with the quality of talent that they’re going to see here.

When does the show open?

The show opens on Saturday, September the 27th, and it runs through Saturday, October the 18th, and tickets can be obtained by going to SouthBayMT.com.

Why should people come?

People should come to see this show because of the music, of the story, a wonderful time to just sit and enjoy theatre, live theatre. Come see this show. Please come see the show. You will not be disappointed.

(Logo and bloopers)