The Century Club of Rochester will be the venue for the March 1-3, 2019 production of The Sound of Music. The classic story with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and based on the book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse tells the real life story of the Von Trapp Family Singers, one of the world’s best known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II. The play will be produced and directed by Judith Ranaletta with co-production by OFC Creations.
The play’s artistic and vocal director Judith Ranaletta has a nearly four decade history of accomplishments in the Performing Arts. Her unique approach to staging and directing The Sound of Music in Rochester is based on an experience she had with her husband, Judge John C. Ninfo, four years ago in Venice. “We attended a production of La Traviata by Verdi while visiting Venice. It was presented in an old castle. Only 70 tickets were sold for the performance. The audience were part of the opera, moving from room to room within the castle as the performance changed scenes. Staging like this is quite common in Europe and after that experience I wanted to bring the concept to Rochester. Rochester is way ahead culturally of other cities of the same size. I knew the arts community was ready for this type of theatre experience,” Ranaletta said.
The Century Club of Rochester mansion on East Avenue was the perfect place to host a production of The Sound of Music. The mansion was built by Albrecht Vogt in 1896. Vogt was a prominent force in many Rochester businesses. He retained Leon Stern as the architect to design this striking residence for his family. The Century Club of Rochester purchased the mansion in 1913. The Century Club of Rochester is Rochester’s oldest women’s social club that is still impactful today, most recently their focus is on community outreach with support for women and children’s rights and programs. In November of 2015 partners of the Strathallan Hotel purchased the Century Club of Rochester mansion as an addition to their portfolio of event spaces.
The showpiece of the mansion is the three story staircase which will play a prominent role in the production of The Sound of Music. Ranaletta’s version of the play will take place throughout the mansion. Upon entering, audience members will observe the actors as nuns and house staff going about their daily business and voices will be heard coming from the balcony. The first floor ballroom, sunporch and parlors all play important roles in the staging of the play. Audience members will be moving floor to floor, room to room along with the actors as they change scenes. The concept is for the audience to be interactive and audience participation is encouraged as the actors move about. The seating of audience members will also be unique. Ranaletta said, “To use The Century Club as your theatre is a dream come true.”
The actors in The Sound of Music come from all across the Rochester area. Over 50 kids auditioned at an open audition for the Von Trapp children’s parts. The Musical Director is Alison Cuchiarale and the Choreographer is Maureen Boorum, a former student of Ranaletta.
Ranaletta has worked for many theatre groups and observed that there are fewer and fewer dollars for arts entertainment. She has worked several times with Eric Vaughn Johnson who formed OFC Creations in 2005 and co-produces the event. She said, “Through OFC Creations Eric has brought, right from the beginning, programs that are innovative and inclusive for all. In agreeing to co-produce The Sound of Music he said he would take care of all the business aspects of the production for me and that this play fits into his mission for the arts in Rochester.” There were 80 tickets available for each of six performances, including the preview dress rehearsal on February 28th, all performances are sold out.
Judith Ranaletta is a seasoned performer, director and teacher. She has performed in and directed over 250 productions locally, and throughout the United States and Europe. She holds a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College with a minor in Acting, and continues to do extensive Post-Graduate work at the Eastman School of Music.
Ranaletta is the former Vocal Music and Drama Director at Greece Athena High School. She retired from Athena in 2011. Over her 29 years teaching at Athena she grew the program from 17 students when she started to 42 students by the end of her first year and within five years she was teaching over 300 students a day in the Music and Drama programs. “I started a Show Choir where we performed pop music. I did this as a way of attracting all types of students to the program by including popular music that they could relate to,” Ranaletta said.
During her teaching years at Athena Ranaletta took her students to show competitions where they took first place 29 years straight. Her students have appeared in 39 Broadway shows and continue to enjoy successful careers in the Performing Arts. She said, “My goal is to prepare my students for careers in the performing arts, and to remain honest and realistic with them about the competition within the field and the challenges of an artistic career.” She says working in the field before taking her teaching job helped her to be a better teacher because she, “Walked the walk as a performer.”
Ranaletta has received numerous awards during her career including twice being honored with the Presidential Arts Scholar Outstanding Teacher Award and in 2015 being nominated by over 700 of her former and current students for the first ever Educator in Theatre Tony Award. She is also the Founder and Director of the ROC City Singers and currently has her own Production Company and maintains a private voice and acting studio.
