Portrait of an Artist: Lauren Kidwell

Actress Lauren Kidwell plays Mother Abbess in the national tour of “The Sound of Music,” coming to the Boch Center Wang Theater from May 1 to 13. Kidwell was trained in Boston and has previously been seen in "Ragtime" and as a soloist with the Boston Gay Men's Chorus. The Harvard Crimson sat down to talk with her about theater, “The Sound of Music,” and what makes this show special. The only thing we didn't ask? How do you solve a problem like Maria?

The Harvard Crimson: Did you watch “The Sound of Music” as a child?

Lauren Kidwell: Yes! 100 percent. I actually have three sisters and my dad, we all sing and so we were often compared to the von Trapp family.

THC: If you're the von Trapps, which von Trapp are you?

LK: That's a good question. It's a toss-up between Louisa and Brigitta, because I feel like I'm the nerdy one. I'll be like, "This is like this," and I'm always questioning, but Louisa's also kind of mischievous, so I have a little air of that too.

THC: Did you have a favorite song that you liked to act out or sing along to?

LK: It's funny that I'm actually playing Mother Abbess and singing “Climb Ev'ry Mountain” as my job now, because I grew up singing that song all the time. Like all of the wise older woman characters in every Rodgers and Hammerstein like "You'll Never Walk Alone" from “Carousel” and "Something Wonderful" from “The King and I.” I grew up singing all of those songs way younger than I should have been, but that's definitely one of those songs that I always sang, and of course “Do-Re-Mi,” and “My Favorite Things” that has now become a Christmas song, so “The Sound of Music” has always been a part of my life.

THC: Speaking of singing older, how do you get into the headspace of Mother Abbess, who's older than you?

LK: Well, that's something very new and specific that they changed about our production of “The Sound of Music” that they wanted the Mother Abbess character to be younger and not just kind of like sitting on her desk, older and doling out wisdom to Maria…[T]here's this journey that Mother Abbess goes through just as much as there is for Maria that if they made her younger that perhaps maybe she went through the same thing as Maria, you know? It was very typical of women in that time to get married and that was the only thing that they did and so perhaps she went through the exact same thing. Maybe she chose the church instead of marriage. So when Maria presents this situation to her, she actually has something to offer. And in the same sense that she's younger than her and Maria are more similar than they are different. There's actually a line in the show (it's a great moment in “My Favorite Things” which is actually sung between the Mother Abbess and Maria which is different from the movie) where we get to see the Mother Abbess kind of let loose and get in touch with her roots. Maria asks, "Where did you learn that song?" and [Mother Abbess] says, "I grew up on the mountains myself." So they have so much in common. I think that that's really great about what they've done with this production [when they] made her younger so that she can go on this journey and reaffirm her vows of faith.

THC: That's a very cool twist. Are there any other changes that you think make this production special or different?

LK: Oh yeah! I think most people are most familiar with the movie, so we are using the original production of “The Sound of Music,” so a lot of the song placement is different— “My Favorite Things” is different, “The Lonely Goatherd” is not with puppets or anything like that, so those are things that if you only know the movie will be different seeing the show for the first time on stage. But also, this particular production really wanted to focus—everyone knows that “The Sound of Music” is about family, and it's about the love story, and music. All of those are great themes and definitely present in ours, but they wanted to focus on the historical context and the humanity of the show: The von Trapps were real people. Austria 1938 with Germany knocking on their door was a real thing. And they wanted to infuse this production with a sense of urgency and energy and this lurking danger in the background that was very real for people in this time period…[This] keeps it moving and makes it incredibly powerful when the Nazis finally do make their presence known in the musical at the end.

THC: Do you think that there's something about “The Sound of Music” that makes it either timeless or timely for the current moment?

LK: Yes! Absolutely timeless. And it's because no matter what, there's always going to be some power that's doing wrong. That's been the history of humankind since we can remember. And, you know, when “The Sound of Music” was written it was so close to WWII and now we've had some time, but even now there's a huge political climate in this country and all over the world. What is powerful about “The Sound of Music” is, yes, in this story specifically it was Nazi Germany that was in power, but no matter what you want to replace...it's more important to tell the story of the people who say something about [this powerful regime], who do something about it, who react. That's what this story's about.

THC: You're coming back to Boston, which is where you went to school. Is there something in particular that makes theater in Boston special, compared to Los Angeles or New York City?

LK: I fell in love with Boston the moment I got here: It was the first time I moved away from home. I had been in Southern California my whole life, and it's so exciting to be able to be in a city where I trained to be an actor and now I'm coming back as a professional actor, coming here through a tour. That's a surreal experience for me. I mean, Boston theater is really great, because it's such its own community. So much about LA and New York is that there are tours and there are people who are not necessarily New York-based or Southern California-based, they kind of travel through there. But Boston, the theater scene in Boston, the local theaters her—it's such a tight-knit group and there are so many people who've made their careers here.

THC: You are famously excellent at auditions. Do you have any advice for students when auditioning?

LK: Yeah. My biggest thing that I tell people is to love it. And to choose material for auditions that you love. Not just material that you sound good doing, or that somebody gave you. If you go into an audition and you love who you are and you love your material, that reads volumes over the talent that you have. If you're talented, you're talented, and people are going to recognize that immediately as soon as you open your mouth. But what rings true is confidence and loving who you are and understanding who you are—that's as much a part of being an actor and being a performer. It's understanding yourself as much as it is understanding the material.

THC: Last thoughts on what you would say to someone considering coming to the show?

LK: I would say that if you're on the fence about coming to see “The Sound of Music” because you don't know anything about it, come see it because you're gonna love it no matter what. If you're on the fence because you do know “The Sound of Music” from the live recording, the musical, or the movie, I would say this production offers something completely fresh and completely new and if you think you know it, come see our show and we'll show you how you'll be surprised.