La Sierra University to stage “The Sound of Music” in four shows

Yáñez, a 29-year-old Loma Linda resident who works the night shift as a registered nurse at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and Lim, a 35-year-old dentist with a busy practice in Yucaipa, make the 60-to-70-mile round trip two days a week for a total of about seven hours of rehearsal at the university in western Riverside. Individual practice takes up even more hours. 

The duo will put their efforts and talents on display for audiences later this month and the beginning of March in the role of the captain for double-cast performances of “The Sound of Music.” Shows will be held in Hole Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 29 and March 7 at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, March 1 and March 8 at 3 p.m.

Lim will turn 36 on Feb. 24 just before the La Sierra production run begins. Both actors have been involved for years in various types of musical and stage performances -- Yáñez as a baritone in past musical theater productions at Life House Theater in Redlands and Lim as a versatile tenor and bass vocalist currently in performance groups in the Inland Empire and Los Angeles. Both performed back in 2014 in a La Sierra University production of  “Fiddler on the Roof.” 

For Yáñez, musical performance is “my creative, my side passion,” he said. The La Sierra production represents an avocational growth opportunity. “It’s my first major lead role so it challenges me to study the character,” he said. He’s also gaining insights into the heart and mind of a character much older than his own age and with major life experiences under his belt including marriage and children. “There are so many boxes to open about [the captain].”

Lim, a graduate of Pacific Union College in Angwin, Calif., attended high school in Indiana where he was involved in many musical theater productions. “I find the Captain very stuck in his ways,” a man who suppresses feelings of missing his wife and who avoids involvement in music, all to appear strong, Lim said of the character he is portraying. “Eventually he softens up” and is truer to his nature. 

Lim sees parallels to his own life. “In the professional world you want to stay on top of things, to be strict, if you will,” he said. But balance is possible. “I thoroughly enjoy music. It’s a passion of mine, kind of like the Captain.”

The beloved musical by the famed duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II was first staged in 1959. In 1965 it launched as a feature film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews as Maria, a nun-turned-governess for a widowed Austrian naval captain, played by Christopher Plummer, and his seven children. The movie received five Oscars and many other awards. Directed by Raejin Lee, La Sierra’s director of vocal studies, the leading roles in La Sierra’s “Sound of Music” production, including those of the seven children, are double-cast to better accommodate the multiple performance dates. 

Most of the cast, crew and production team are comprised of La Sierra University students and staff, with a few community members who also auditioned for parts including Yáñez and Lim. Students benefit from working with singers and actors from the surrounding region who in turn have an opportunity to pursue their musical passions through La Sierra’s programs, Lee said. “It expands [the students’] experiences and teamwork skills, it helps them grow because they start collaborating with all types of people,” she said. 

Lee chooses either an opera or a musical for each year’s fully-staged production through the music department. She chose “The Sound of Music” for this year’s centerpiece as it is one of the most well-known and loved classics that can be enjoyed by all ages, she said. And, “personally, it’s my most favorite musical,” said Lee, adding that the show carries an educational component by teaching the notes of the western scale and relaying the powerful impact of music on people’s lives.

This season’s “Sound of Music” is the second such production for the La Sierra University’s music department. It was first staged in 2012 with music major and soprano Paulette Jumalon as one of two in the starring role of Maria. Jumalon, currently an adjunct music faculty member, is now serving as stage director for this year’s performances. Hannah Chang, a La Sierra sophomore music major is a former cast member with the 2014 “Fiddler on the Roof” production. This year she is one of two students playing the lead role of Maria for “Sound of Music.” The other dual Maria role is played by first year vocal Performance Certificate student Juliana Baioni.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. www.concordtheatricals.com