OU professors travel to Bulgaria to help bring 'The Sound of Music' to the stage

Oakland University Professors Jeremy Barnett and Whitney Locher recently traveled to the Republic of Bulgaria — a country located on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe — to help bring Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” to the stage at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet.

“I designed the costumes for ‘Shrek the Musical’ for the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in February of 2020 and was hired by the director, West Hyler, who is American, and he wanted an all-American design team to bring a true American style musical to Bulgaria,” said Locher, an assistant professor of costume design at Oakland University. “Our show was so successful that the Opera wanted us to come back when they announced that they would be producing ‘The Sound of Music.’”

When Locher heard that the scenic designer from the “Shrek” team was not returning for “The Sound of Music,” she invited Barnett — an associate professor of theatre at OU — to join her in Bulgaria to work on the production as scenic designer.

Barnett and Locher in Bulgaria

“We were contracted pretty late in the game, so there wasn’t much time to design and build the sets and costumes,” Locher said. “The language barrier was also challenging, especially when it came to terminology about fabric and sewing techniques. Our time to have all of the design elements and actors on stage together before opening was also incredibly short for a show of this size and scale.”

Despite these challenges, Barnett and Locher said they enjoyed working with cast and crew at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet to bring “The Sound of Music” to the stage.

“They’re extremely skilled artists — you have to be if you’re building large shows in a very short amount of time,” Barnett said. “They say that there is a magic about live theatre, there’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. Somehow it all miraculously comes together, but it’s not magic and it’s not a miracle; it’s a lot of hard work for long hours. Fortunately, as I said, we were working with skilled and dedicated artists.”

Being able to explore the city of Sofia — the capital of Bulgaria — was also a highlight of the trip.

“The city center of Sofia is a layer cake of history going back to before the Roman Empire,” Barnett said. “Walking through the modern city one sees evidence of communist rule, the short-lived Bulgarian Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire, etc. — all the way back to the Roman Empire.

“The ruins of the ancient city walls can be seen in one of the subway stations,” he added. “Whole Roman streets have been excavated and form an open-air Archeological Park of Ancient Serdica. The remains of the Roman Amphitheatre can be seen on the ground floor of one of the city hotels. Churches built in the 4^th century AD are still in use and share the streets with modern hotels and apartment buildings. It’s a really exciting and beautiful cross-section of history and culture.”

“The Sound of Music” runs through April 14 at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet.