The production closes in Los Angeles Oct. 31 and will then tour North America for multiple seasons, playing multi-week and week-long engagements.
The cast is headed by Kerstin Anderson as Maria Rainer. A student at Pace University, Anderson won the role from hundreds who auditioned. This marks her first national tour.
"I've always believed Maria was a 'star-making' part, rather than the leading role we remember from the movies; so I went looking for someone with star-making magic," said director O鈥橞rien in an earlier statement. "And in through the audition door one day walked Kerstin Anderson, still studying at Pace University in New York. She opened her mouth, she sang and the tears welled up in my eyes. If ever there were an enchanting young woman standing on the brink of discovery 鈥� this was it! And now, the discovery is about to be all of ours!"
Anderson is joined by as Captain Georg von Trapp and as The Mother Abbess with as Max Detweiler, Teri Hansen as Elsa Schraeder, Dan Tracy as Rolf and Paige Silvester as Liesl. The von Trapp children are played by Erich Schuett (Friedrich), Maria Knasel (Louisa), Quinn Erickson (Kurt), Svea Johnson (Brigitta), Mackenzie Currie (Marta) and Audrey Bennett (Gretl).
The ensemble includes Carey Rebecca Brown, Ronald L. Brown, C谩itl铆n Burke, , Kyla Carter, Austin Colby, Daniella Dalli, Elisabeth Evans, Donna Garner, Meghan Hales, Jenavene Hester, Adam Hill, Jeremy Michael Lanuti, Darren Matthias, Kelly McCormick, Julia Osborne, Andrea Ross, Brent Schindele, Jim Schubin and Aviva Winick.
The production is choreographed by (Fun Home, The Bridges of Madison County and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) with music supervision by Andy Einhorn (Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers & Hammerstein鈥檚 Cinderella, Brief Encounter, The Light in the Piazza). The design and production team comprises , set design (Tony Award nominee: 42nd Street, Into the Woods); , costume design (2014 recipient of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), , lighting design (five-time Tony Award winner: An American in Paris, Once, Aida, The Coast of Utopia, The Glass Menagerie) and Ken Travis, sound design (Aladdin, Newsies, Memphis). Casting is by Telsey + Company/Rachel Hoffman, CSA.
The Sound of Music has music by , lyrics by , book by and , and is suggested by "The Trapp Family Singers" by .
Director O'Brien previously stated, "The Sound of Music has been in our ears for decades, as it deserves to be. But it might be time to look once more, and more closely, at this remarkable work which, I feel, begins to reveal itself as deeper, richer, and more powerful than ever. It鈥檚 no longer 鈥榶our mother鈥檚鈥� familiar Sound of Music. We are tearing off the varnish of the past from one of the great glories of our theatergoing experience and making it fresh! This is an opportunity we鈥檝e all longed to create!鈥�
O'Brien's Broadway credits include Hairspray, The Coast of Utopia, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and this season's It's Only a Play.
Ted Chapin, president and executive director of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, added, "The Sound of Music continues to be the world鈥檚 most beloved musical. When a major national tour was suggested, I not only agreed, but was willing to roll up my sleeves and do whatever I could to fashion a new stage production that would re-engage today鈥檚 theatergoing public. The show was originally created for Broadway, and seeing it on stage only reinforces the power of the story and the score. And with Jack O鈥橞rien at the directorial helm 鈥� well, we simply couldn鈥檛 do better. Landing somewhere between The Coast of Utopia and Hairspray (shows for which Jack won the Tony), his production will be smart, focused, and surprising. I can鈥檛 wait."
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