The Making of a Musical

IT’S the calm before the storm at Dublin’s Grand Canal Theatre.

Just a few hours before the first performance of The Sound of Music, the cast is filing in for a rehearsal, the final sound and lighting checks are being made, and fruit platters are being delivered under cellophane.

I’d expected stress, panic and shouty people: this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic requires more than 100 cast and crew backstage. From rotating the Von Trapp villa to styling the nuns’ wigs, how is it coming together so seamlessly?