The Sound of Music Cast Announced
The lavish London Palladium production of The Sound of Music comes to Australia later this year, opening at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney from December 13, 2015, with a season at Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre from March 11, 2016.
The cast will be led by Amy Lehpamer as Marina Rainer and Cameron Daddo, alongside Marina Prior as Baroness Schraeder, Jacqueline Dark as Mother Abbess, Lorraine Bayly as Frau Schmidt and David James as Max Detweiler.
Leisl will be played by Stefanie Jones and Rolf by newcomer Du Toit Bredenkamp.
The ensemble cast includes Johanna Allen (Sister Sophia), Eleanor Blythman (Sister Margaretta, Sophie Cheesman, Colin Dean, William Groucutt, Stephen Madsen, Dominica Matthews (Sister Berthe), Katie McKee, Kathleen Moore, Ashleigh Rubenach and Sophie Weiss.
This acclaimed production of the legendary Rodgers and Hammerstein musical premiered in 2006 at the London Palladium, where it celebrated a record-breaking 954 performances seen by well over 2 million people, before going on to enjoy sell-out seasons internationally.
The Sound of Music is produced by John Frost, Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and the Really Useful Group.
“The Sound of Music is an iconic musical, probably the most loved musical of all, and contains all the elements which make a show magical,” added John Frost. “It is exciting that Australian audiences will see a production of this quality, which has entertained so many people across the globe. I’m very much looking forward to the auditions to find our sets of von Trapp children too.”
Inspired by the lives of the actual von Trapp family, The Sound of Music tells the uplifting story of Maria, a fun-loving governess who changes the lives of the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children by re-introducing them to music, culminating in the family’s escape from the Nazis across the mountains from Austria. It features an unforgettable score that includes some of the most famous songs ever performed on stage, including My Favorite Things, Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, The Lonely Goatherd, Climb Ev’ry Mountain and the title song, The Sound of Music.
The musical originally premiered on Broadway in 1959 to record-breaking advance ticket sales, where it won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The show opened in London in 1961 and became the longest-running American musical of its generation. The 1965 Hollywood film, which starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, and quickly became the highest grossing film in history. Even today The Sound of Music remains the most successful movie musical of all time.
The original Australian production of The Sound of Music opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in 1961 and ran for three years with a cast headed by June Bronhill. Later Australian productions starred Julie Anthony and Lisa McCune as Maria.
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