Von Trapp

In Baltimore County City man, 24, fatally shot outside bar in Woodlawn WOODLAWN -- A 24-year-old city man was fatally shot early yesterday outside a Woodlawn bar after arguing with another man, county police reported. The victim, Kenyon Whitaker of the 5400 block of Nelson Ave., was shot multiple times in the stomach about 1:45 a.m. in the parking lot of the Windsor Inn in the 7200 block of Windsor Mill Road, said police Sgt. Edward Forbes. He died in surgery at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Never mind that she and her family have traveled the world singing and been the subject of one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Agathe von Trapp spent much of her life as a virtual recluse. She was 43 before she stopped relying on someone older and wiser and went to the grocery store and the bank herself. For nearly 40 more years after that, she interacted with few people outside a private kindergarten classroom in Glyndon. But eventually, her desire for the world to know the truth behind The Sound of Music took over.

Two regional concert associations in the county bring a variety of performing arts to their neighborhoods - each offering five-concert series subscriptions for the price of a single ticket to one concert almost anywhere else. In addition to offering individual subscriptions at $40, the Anne Arundel Community Concert Association and the South County Concert Association each offer full-time student subscriptions for $10, along with $50 single-parent family subscriptions, and $90 for two-parent families covering all dependent children through college age. As a bonus to new subscribers, the Anne Arundel Community Concert Association invites those purchasing subscriptions to attend at no charge this season's final concert on May 5, when the Tamburitzens of Duquesne University offer their unique blend of Eastern European song and dance.

Children's Theatre of Annapolis presented a lovely and most welcome Christmas present Saturday night with a poised and mature performance of Rogers and Hammerstein's classic musical, The Sound of Music. Of course, the familiar story of Maria, the singing governess who finds love with an Austrian naval officer and his children on the eve of Hitler's annexation of Austria, touches only obliquely (if at all) on themes of the Christmas season. But raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, and beautifully sung Broadway shows are indeed a few of my favorite things, so I accept the gift with gratitude.

THERE'S SOMETHING to satisfy a variety of musical tastes this holiday season. There's a Christmas musical at Severna Park Baptist Church and a jazz concert at Severna Park High School. And there's a production of The Sound of Music that would make a perfect early holiday gift for your family. The Rogers and Hammerstein classic is the Children's Theater of Annapolis' next production - and a showcase for a band of talented area teen-agers. Kerry Deitrick, 16, fresh from playing a Navy nurse in the Second Stage production of South Pacific, trades an island setting and a stage full of flirtatious sailors for a mountaintop and a family of motherless children when she dons the habit of Sister-in-training Maria.

Filled with such "favorite things" as "girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes," Second Star's production of The Sound of Music ranks near the top of a season of terrific musicals. And this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic remains as current as Sunday's Emmy Awards, where Barbra Streisand lifted spirits singing "You'll Never Walk Alone," against the backdrop of a World Trade Center montage. The 1959 Broadway musical tells the story of Maria, a free-spirited nun living in 1938 Salzburg, who leaves the abbey to care for widower Georg von Trapp's seven children.

The folks at 2nd Star Productions are in the final week of rehearsal of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, opening Nov. 2 at Bowie Playhouse in White Marsh Park in Bowie. Taking time out from a recent rehearsal, Second Star director Jane Wingard said she is thrilled with the cast. "The level of excellence is so high that everyone in the show is my favorite," she said. "In view of the events of Sept. 11, this show, with its emphasis on personal courage and cherishing freedom, is especially appropriate."

Eighteen months after Richard Chamberlain "Edelweiss'ed" his way across the Lyric Opera House stage, "The Sound of Music" is back in town, but this time the most dramatic element of the production is happening offstage. Now it's "The Brady Bunch's" Barry Williams who gets top billing as Captain von Trapp, and Williams' decision to tear up his union card to headline a non-union show has drawn pickets from Actors' Equity on opening nights across the country. At the Lyric, the opening-night protest was low-key, even affable, with the pickets singing parodies of the show's songs and of "The Brady Bunch" theme song.

It's shocking but true: Greg Brady is in trouble. This latest controversy doesn't even compare to what happened when he lit up his first on-air cigarette - or when he tried calling his bemused parents "Carol" and "Mike." No, the maelstrom now swirling around Greg rivals the angst that gripped the country when the oldest Brady boy - aka actor Barry Williams - revealed in a tell-all book that he'd made out with on-screen sister Marcia. This time, the brouhaha is following him to Baltimore.

LOVE AND COURAGE triumph in the musical"The Sound of Music," which will be performed at 7: 30 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. and 7: 30 p.m. Saturday at North Carroll High School. "The Sound of Music," by Rodgers and Hammerstein, portrays the von Trapp family. In the familiar story, Maria, a young nun, becomes governess to the seven children of a widowed naval captain. She teaches the children to sing, falls in love with and marries the captain, and then the family flees when the Nazis invade Austria.