The Willow Glen Resident | 0516

April 20, 2005 Willow Glen, California Since 1992

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Hills Are Alive: Willow Glen High School students perform 'The Sound of Music' with students from Hacienda, Booksin and Willow Glen Middle schools. The younger students, who play Von Trapp family siblings, rehearse with high school students Suzanne Jackson (far left), Kate Yoder (second from left) and Amir Poorkhlmami (far right).

The sound of music is alive in the halls of Willow Glen High

By Anne Gelhaus

For Camryn Heinkel, playing the youngest member of the Von Trapp family in Willow Glen High School's production of The Sound of Music is as easy as singing do-re-mi.

Camryn, a kindergartner at Hacienda Elementary School, is playing 5-year-old Gretl Von Trapp "even though I'm 6," she said. Her director, Willow Glen High School drama instructor Monica O'Toole, gave the young performer kudos at a recent rehearsal.

"She's known all her lines from the beginning," O'Toole said.

While Camryn has to act younger than her actual age, her sister Sherilyn, 15, is playing Elsa Schraeder, the Von Trapp children's would-be stepmother. When O'Toole put out the call for elementary and middle school students to portray the singing family, Sherilyn encouraged her sister to audition.

The show, which runs April 21-23, features students from Hacienda and Booksin Elementary schools and Willow Glen Middle and High schools.

"We chose this show because we knew we could involve other schools and create a bridge to the community," O'Toole said.

Other siblings are actually portraying siblings in the musical. In a bit of typecasting, 9-year-old Annie Guptill, a fourth-grader at Booksin, plays Brigitta Von Trapp, and her 12-year-old brother, Charlie, a seventh-grader at the middle school, plays Brigitta's older brother Friedrich.

While the Guptills exchange dialogue during the show, Annie said, "Charlie doesn't say as many lines as me."

The high school students in the cast don't begrudge the younger performers their moment in the spotlight. Suzanne Jackson, 18, who plays singing nun and governess Maria, said she enjoys working with the children in her character's care.

"You're what makes the show worthwhile," she told Camryn, giving the kindergartner a hug as they were both being fitted for costumes.

Amir Poorkhomami, 16, who plays patriarch Georg Von Trapp, said maintaining control of the Von Trapp brood offstage can be trying.

"It gets pretty hectic," he said. "The kids are running around, and the older kids are getting mad at them."

'The Sound of Music' will be performed April 21 at 7 p.m., April 22 at 8 p.m. and April 23 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Little Theater at Willow Glen High School, 2001 Cottle Ave. Tickets are priced from $8 to $20. For more information, call 408.535.6330, ext. 374.