Welcome to the Meriden Youth Theatre at the YMCA’s 18th Main Stage Spring Production! Thank you for joining us as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of this classic production. Please note that video and audio recording, photography, and cell phone use is prohibited.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC: YOUTH EDITION
Music by RICHARD RODGERS Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II Book by HOWARD LINDSAY and RUSSEL CROUSE Suggested by "The Trapp Family Singers" by Maria Augusta Trapp Adaptation by TOM BRIGGS and TIMOTHY ALLEN McDONALD
Thank you Gold Sponsors!
Thank you Silver Sponsors!
Thank you to our Family Sponsors!
Join MYT for summer camp: MTC '26
Meet the cast!
Spring Show History
- 2026: Sound of Music: Youth Edition
- 2025: Seussical JR
- 2024: Mary Poppins JR
- 2023: Guys and Dolls JR
- 2022: Fiddler on the Roof JR
- 2020: The Music Man JR
- 2019: Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat
- 2018: The Lion King JR
- 2017: Annie JR
- 2016: The King & I
- 2015: Godspell JR
- 2014: Guys and Dolls JR
- 2013: G2K Oklahoma!
- 2012: Beauty and the Beast JR
- 2011: Willy Wonka JR
- 2010: The Music Man JR
- 2009: Fiddler on the Roof JR
- 2008: Annie JR
MYT Staff
- Carolyn Daniels (director)
- Nich Palumbo (stage manager)
- Priscilla Baldwin (direction and choreography)
- Joe Oblon (technical and music direction)
- Maureen Ruhe (music direction)
- Lindsay Porter (GOATheard director)
- Jalina Secchiaroli (direction)
- Kiera Flynn (choreography)
- Roni Buhler (costumes)
Additional Credits
- Set built by Troy Starkey
- Technical run crew: Angelina Blair, Austin Ruhe Maureen Ruhe
- Backstage run crew: Nich Palumbo, Jalina Secchiaroli, Carolyn Daniels, Roni Buhler, Priscilla Baldwin, Kiera Flynn, Lindsay Porter, Robyn Demarco, and Shepard Fisher
- Light, projection, and sound design by Joe Oblon
Special Thanks To
- Parents for volunteering to run the lobby
- The DiFronzo and Phelan families for our Star Gram Boards!
- Troy Starkey for building our Abbey wall and stone arches!
- Tyler and Marek of Creative Audio Solutions LLC for their support on our new audio equipment
- Kendra Henderson, Luke Henderson, Brian Cyr, Mike Groves, Erin Lyons-Barton, Freddie Santiago, and Meriden Public Schools for welcoming us to Edison Middle School and supporting the Arts in Meriden
- The entire custodial staff at Edison Middle School
- The Meriden YMCA
Director's Note
Sixty years after its release, The Sound of Music continues to resonate far beyond the origins stage and screen performance. It has taught us that music always has a unique ability to bring people together, especially in moments of struggle. Music gives voice to what we cannot always say, and offers hope when it’s hardest to find. The Sound of Music embodies that spirit—the story showing us how love, family, and song can endure even in the face of fear and division. The Sound of Music gives us the power of joy in uncertain times. And today, as MYT and its performers present our story, we celebrate not just a beloved musical and film, but the timeless truth at its heart: that music can connect us, lift us, and remind us of who we are—MYTogether. -Carolyn Daniels, director
Technical Spotlight
Almost 200 people worked together to stage this beautiful story. Everything about this production felt big: the number of set peices, the rows of costume racks, the size of the cast list, the score, and most importantly, the authentic weight behind this true story. The concept for the set centers around walls, windows, and doors. The various scenes in the play represent, walls and doors for each character. Walls are rules, control, shelter, protection, and confinement. Doors represent opportunity, freedom, and a threshold to cross lines. The Abbey wall shelters the nuns, and Maria seeks it as her refuge on three separate times in the story. Yet it is a holy place without boundaries. The Von Trapp house is a fortress at the start. The physical walls are imposing and the children are walled off (whistles and marching). Music has been withdrawn. Over the course of the story, Maria breaks these walls. The very steps the children sing "So Long, Farewell," we find in the same doorway Maria first enters and moments later will flee. The play also uses wide opens spaces such as the outdoor terrace to wrestle with freedoms and confinements, such as transitioning from childhood to adulthood (16 going on 17), or the captain weighing his desicion to accept his post in the military. As you enjoy the production, notice how the use of walls, windows, and doors help tell the story. To quote Maria in the film, "when the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." -Joe Oblon, technical director