Full company announced for The Sound of Music at Chichester Festival Theatre
The hills are alive in Chichester🎶
The full company has been announced for Adam Penford’s new production of The Sound of Music, running at Chichester Festival Theatre from the 10th of July till the 3rd of September.
The Sound of Music was Rodgers & Hammerstein’s last and perhaps most treasured musical, and is being produced at Chichester for the first time. The score is an iconic medley including: Climb Ev’ry Mountain, My Favorite Things and Edelweiss to Do-Re-Mi and The Sound of Music itself.
This brand new production of the original stage musical is directed by Adam Penford, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, where his productions include Piaf and The Madness of George III; and designed by Robert Jones (Murder on the Orient Express, The Unfriend, Oklahoma!).
Gina Beck, whose starred as Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific in 2021 in London and on a UK tour, returns to play Maria. Making their Chichester debuts are Edward Harrison (A Christmas Carol, Skellig) as Captain von Trapp and opera singer Janis Kelly (Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna, many appearances at Glyndebourne/Royal Opera House/ENO) as Mother Abbess. Returning to Chichester are Ako Mitchell (Caroline, Or Change, The Color Purple) as Max Detweiler, and Emma Williams (Half A Sixpence, Love Story) as Elsa Schraeder.
The roles of the von Trapp children will be shared by Jesamine-Bleu Gibbs, Barnaby Halliwell, Audrey Kattan, Arrabella McDermott, Gabriel Payne, Mia Raggio, Erin Rushidi, Maya Sewrey, Vishal Soni, Dylan Trigger, Felicity Walton and Sasha Watson-Lobo.
Joining them are Elliott Baker-Costello, Wendy Carr, Lauren Chia, Lauren Conroy (as Liesl), Wendy Ferguson, Hana Ichijo, William Ilkley, Rebekah Lowings, Liam Marcellino, Dylan Mason (as Rolf), Julia J Nagle, Minal Patel, Matt Pettifor, Rebecca Ridout, Tony Stansfield, Annabelle Williams and Penelope Woodman.
The choreographer is Lizzi Gee; the musical supervisor, Gareth Valentine; musical director Matt Samer; original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett; orchestral adaptation by Larry Blank and Mark Cumberland; lighting designer, Johanna Town; sound designer, Paul Groothuis; video designer Hayley Egan; casting director Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion Casting; and children’s casting director Verity Naughton CDG.
To get tickets you can visit the Chichester Festival Theatre website.
Have a look at more Rodgers & Hammerstein productions:
Oklahoma!
The first musical the legendary writing duo worked on was Oklahoma! which was based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. The musical first opened on 31st October 1943 at the St. James Theatre and went on for 2,212 performances which was unprecedented at the time.
Oklahoma! continues to be revived to this day with the most recent UK revival being the 2022 revival at the Young Vic.
Carousel
The second musical that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote was Carousel. The musical was based on the 1909 play Liliom by Ferenc Molnár and told the story of carousel barker Billy Bigelow 's romance with millworker Julie Jordan. Carousel premiered at the Majestic Theatre on 19th April 1945.
Carousel features the song 'You'll Never Walk Alone' which has become a football anthem with Liverpool F.C. fans since the 1960s.
The most recent UK production of Carousel was Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's revival which ran in the summer of 2021. Their version of the show moved the story's setting from the American state of Maine in the 1870s to the UK in the mid-20th century.
South Pacific
Based on James A. Michener Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'Tales of the South Pacific', South Pacific opened at the Majestic Theatre on 7th April 1949.
The most recent revival seen in the UK was the Chichester Festival Theatre's 2021 production which returns in 2022 for a West End run and UK tour.
The King and I
Based on Margaret Landon's novel Anna and the King of Siam, The King and I tells the story originally inspired by Anna Leonowens' memoirs of her time as the governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (now Thailand) in the 1860s.
The musical first opened on Broadway in 1951 at the St James Theatre and first arrived in the West End two years later with a run at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
The musical hit the big screen in 1956 with Deborah Kerr as Anna and Yul Brynner reprised his role as King Mongkut of Siam which he originated on Broadway.
Cinderella
Rodgers and Hammerstein took on the classic fairy tale of Cinderella for a musical that first went to the small screen instead of the stage. Cinderella was originally broadcast live on CBS in the United States in 1957 and starred Julie Andrews in the titular role.
Two more television films were made in 1965 and 1997 with the latter starring Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother.
The musical finally got the Broadway treatment decades later when it ran at The Broadway Theatre in 2013 with an updated book by Douglas Carter Beane. The production is set to get its UK premiere in late 2022 when it runs at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester.
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is one of the most beloved musicals written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Based on Maria Von Trapp's memoirs The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.
The musical opened at the Shubert Theatre with Mary Martin as Maria, the musical opened in London two year later at the Palace Theatre.
The 1965 film adaptation starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer is regarded as one of the most beloved movie musicals of all time.
Oscar Hammerstein II passed away nine months after the musical premiered on Broadway making The Sound of Musical the last musical written by the pair.
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