If you ask Brenda Mueller, there’s nothing mushy and overly sentimental about the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music.”

Oh, yes, there’s the loving governess, the cute and plucky children, the moments of love and yearning.

But when it comes right down to it, “The Sound of Music” is a contrast of light and dark themes, of right and wrong, of love and hatred, and freedom and captivity.

“It’s really about freedom and finding the life you’re meant to have,” said Mueller, who is directing Lyric Light Opera’s production of one of the most popular musicals of all time Nov. 7-15 at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon.

“It has a huge message that continues to be relevant today.”

Based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, the story follows the family — the widowed Captain Georg von Trapp and his seven children — and their governess, Maria, a nun, in pre-World War II Austria.

Maria eventually falls in love with the initially cold and stern Captain and his adorable children. They marry, and begin a new life happily until the Captain refuses to serve in the German Navy under Hitler’s command.

Knowing their days are numbered, the von Trapps head for the hills — literally — to escape the Nazis.

The story has everything — loyalty, faith, romance, suspense, an award-winning musical score, hope and love that always draws large audiences.

Lyric Light’s fall production of “The Sound of Music” includes everything the performing arts company has become known for since it was founded in 2006 — lavish sets, costumes, elaborate and complex dance numbers, and top-notch singers and actors from across the Puget Sound region.

And it’s being produced with a definite “holiday” theme, Mueller said. The backdrop for the large ball scene is full of holiday colors and spectacle, while the Austrian Alps are blanketed in snow.

Mueller said she’s sticking to the traditional script and storyline, but has made a few revisions she hopes will help flesh out the characters.

That’s especially true for the nuns, Mueller said. Instead of singing the famous “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” in the sterile church, the nuns sing in the kitchen. And the nuns are more involved with Maria’s wedding than in the original presentation, Mueller added.

“I wanted them to be more personalized, so the audience can relate to them more,” Mueller said.

She’s encouraged the cast to delve into their characters to convey their motivations and complex natures better for the audience.

Finding Maria was easy for Cayman Ilika of Seattle, who plays the energetic and kind woman who begins the musical as a sheltered girl and ends a wiser, more-responsible married woman. This is the second time she’s portrayed Maria onstage.

“I tried to stay true to who Maria is — over-the-top, excitable, and someone who loves passionately,” Ilika said. “She’s a lot like me, I guess.”

The same is true for Natalie Howell of Camano Island, who plays the Captain’s enthusiastic teenage daughter Liesl. Howell’s character sings one of the most popular songs of the show, “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”

“I feel I have a connection with her,” Howell said. “I’m the oldest of a large family, and I understand that nurturing, mothering thing that she shows to her brothers and sisters.”

However, Howell said she’s trying to play Liesl more as a troubled teenager, and not so much like a coy stereotype of a teen girl of that era.

“I’m playing her a little less saccharine,” Howell said. “I’m not so much acting with her as living her.”

Digging the depths of the characters has been more of a challenge for others in the cast.

Emily Purcell of Seattle plays the Rev. Mother of the abbey where Maria is a postulate. The Rev. Mother is a fine line between stern authority and warm mothering. It’s not an easy line to walk, Purcell said.

“When we started to practice the lines, I was trying to come off really severe or serious,” Purcell said. “I had to really think about her character — she wasn’t always this way. She still has a sense of humor.”

And that’s the whole point of the play, Purcell said.

“It’s not a silly story, or the stereotyped musical,” Purcell said. “It has so much more depth.”

Want to go?

WHAT: Lyric Light Opera’s production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical “The Sound of Music.”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 7, 13 and 14; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, Nov. 8, 14 and 15.

WHERE: McIntyre Hall, 2501 E. College Way, Mount Vernon.

COST: $15-$38.

TICKETS, INFORMATION: 360-416-7727, ext. 2; 866-624-6897, ext. 2; http://www.mcintyrehall.org or http://www.lyriclightopera.org

Beverly Crichfield can be reached at 360-416-2135 or .