After a successful run in last year's Music Circus production of South Pacific, Susan Egan returns this week to star in The Sound of Music as Maria, along with another Music Circus favorite Richard Muenz as Captain Georg von Trapp.

Egan has risen to star status with her many credits which include a recently completed stint as Belle in Beauty and the Beast - a role she created and performed on Broadway for two and a half years.

Whether it is this recent role that has elevated her in the eyes of the Sacramento audience, or just pure talent - both acting and singing - on stage, Egan had a captive audience from start to finish in Monday's opener of The Sound of Music. Backed by the music and lyrics of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Egan was superb in her role of Maria, a young nun-in-training, who doesn't seem to fit into the way of life at the Nonnberg Abbey.

Mother Abbess (Teri Ralston) sends her away from the Abbey on a summer assignment to care for the seven children of Captain Georg von Trapp (Muenz), hoping she will find her way in life - either back to the Abbey or to something else.

Maria and Georg fall in love, but both are afraid to admit their feeling for each other as The Sound of Music turns into a delightful love story with their happiness endangered by the Nazi takeover of von Trapp's native Austria.

With memorable songs including "The Sound of Music," "My Favorite Things," "Do Re Mi," "I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and "Climb Every Mountain," the audience fell in love right along with Maria and Georg.

Egan brought such enthusiasm to the role of Maria she quickly won the hearts of Monday night's audience and with an encore kiss between her and Muenz at the end of the show brought the capacity crowd to their feet in a well deserved ovation. Egan returned the emotional outpouring from the crowd in kind and circled the stage - arms outstretched - as if she wished she could hug each and every person in attendance.

The seven young actors playing von Trapp's children - Mindy Stover, David Weidoff, Courtney Glass, Luke Hawkins, Laura Hall, Ali Digrazia and Lauren Parker competed for time with Egan as crowd favorites and also brought the audience to their feet as the cast came on stage for their final bows.

Although the summer heat made Monday's premiere uncomfortable for the audience, the crowd really didn't seem to mind as they were quickly lost in the enchanting story of The Sound of Music.

Based on a true story and the autobiography of Maria Augusta Trapp, The Sound of Music is truly one of the best productions to take the stage under the tent in recent memory. Reviewed by Joe Blenkle