![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Mark-Bradley-Miller.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nJewish actor says musical makes audiences think, leave with message of hope<\/p>\n
When Mark Bradley Miller was 6 years old, he sat down with his family during the holidays to watch \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d on television. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mark Bradley Miller<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember seeing Maria stand on the top of the hills singing at the beginning of the movie, but then it got to the nuns \u2013 and as a young kid I was bored and went into the other room,\u201d Miller told the JHV.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat down at the piano and started playing \u2018The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music\u2019 and my mother came in and was like, \u2018He\u2019s a musical prodigy, we have to get him lessons.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Little did a young Miller know that decades later he would be on stage eight times a week, performing all around the country in \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d 65th anniversary national tour.<\/p>\n
Miller, who plays several roles, including Baron Elberfeld and the priest, joins a talented cast that will be in Houston Sept. 29 through Oct. 4 as part of Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center series.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so blessed every night on stage,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIt is the best group of people I have ever worked with. We all get along well together, and it\u2019s a nice family atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller, who was raised in an interfaith Jewish-Catholic family in Rochester, N.Y., credits \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d cast and creative team for bringing the story back to life.<\/p>\n
Cayleigh Capaldi stars as Maria Rainer. Tony Award winner Lisa Howard plays Mother Abbess, and Kevin Earley plays Captain Georg von Trapp. Other lead roles include Nicholas Rodriguez as Max Detweiler, Kate Loprest as Elsa Schraeder and Ariana Ferch as Liesl von Trapp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very lucky with the people we get to tell this story,\u201d Miller said. \u201cCayleigh as our Maria is truly a gift. Everyone expects Julie Andrews \u2013 and no one can touch her \u2013 but Cayleigh has completely made the role her own. And over the past year, she has continued to grow with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O\u2019Brien, the musical classic transports theatergoers to the hills of Austria, captivating audiences with its universal themes of love, resilience and the power of music. \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d features music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.<\/p>\n
The spirited story of Maria and the von Trapp family features a Tony, Grammy and Academy Award-winning Best Score, including \u201cMy Favorite Things,\u201d \u201cDo-Re-Mi,\u201d \u201cClimb Ev\u2019ry Mountain,\u201d \u201cEdelweiss\u201d and \u201cThe Sound of Music.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Miller, who regularly stands in for three different principal actors, the message of the show is still very relevant today.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows the songs, but when you hear them in the context and on the stage, it can be eye-opening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know what happened in World War II, but this was 1938 at the very beginning. They knew stuff was going on, but none of the really bad stuff had happened yet. Having the audience see it from that hopeful aspect of \u2018we can
get out of here,\u2019 but at the same time knowing what is coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cJack O\u2019Brien had a completely different take about the political aspect, which is so much more important, especially in the environment we are living in right now. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not all candy-coated. It\u2019s not just about singing \u2018Do-Re-Mi\u2019 and cute Maria running around. It\u2019s a little more hard-hitting about the political aspects and what these people chose to do and defy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller said it is interesting to see how the audience reacts to certain aspects of the show, like when the Nazis are presented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are times when there are audible gasps when the \u2018Heil\u2019 salutes happen,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the current political climate, if it opens one set of eyes that were closed, that is meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller has been on stage with dozens of productions, including \u201cMamma Mia!\u201d
\u201cMy Fair Lady,\u201d \u201cSouth Pacific\u201d and \u201cBeauty and the Beast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before going on the Broadway stage, Miller also used his voice in synagogue, singing regularly as part of a quartet at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh while studying at Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n
Miller also has a passion for interior design and sees himself settling down, working in the interior design world after his stage career ends.<\/p>\n
For now, he will continue the \u201cSound of Music\u201d tour through its conclusion in summer 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever say never, but this could be my last acting job,\u201d he said. \u201cYou never know what could come next, but I am enjoying getting to travel around and tour the country performing a beautiful show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller said audiences are walking away with plenty of different emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is the joy of the romance and family atmosphere, but also the eye-opening aspect of what happened,\u201d he said. \u201cThe show is making people think, but you are left with a feeling of hope and a nice uplifting message at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d will be on stage at The Hobby Center from Sept. 29 to Oct. 4 with show times Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 and 7 p.m. Tickets are available at thehobbycenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jewish actor says musical makes audiences think, leave with message of hope When Mark Bradley Miller was 6…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,116482,31274,116481,116480,116479,12008,27],"class_list":["post-447120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-synagogues","tag-jewish","tag-jewish-herald-voice","tag-jewish-news","tag-jhv","tag-newspaper","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}