Broadway vets Laura Osnes, Brooke Shields and Tony Goldwyn will lead the cast of The Sound of Music in a one-night-only concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert staging of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical will be presented at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on April 24, directed by Broadway vet Gary Griffin. Rob Fisher (Anything Goes, Chicago) will serve as musical director, conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. The evening will benefit the music education programs of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.
Osnes (Bonnie & Clyde, Anything Goes, Grease) will star as Maria Rainer alongside Goldwyn (Promises, Promises) as Captain von Trapp and screen star Brooke Shields (The Addams Family, Wonderful Town) as Elsa Schräder. Patrick Page (Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark) will appear as Max Detweiler, and Metropolitan Opera star mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as The Mother Abbess.
The cast will also feature Joy Hermalyn (Fiddler on the Roof) as Sister Berthe, Linda Mugleston (Anything Goes) as Sister Margaretta, mezzo-soprano Faith Sherman as Sister Sophia, Veanne Cox (Caroline or Change, Company) as Frau Schmidt, and Daniel Truhitte (Rolf Gruber in the film version of The Sound of Music) as Baron Elberfeld. The roles of the von Trapp children include members of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus: Jake Montagnino as Friedrich, Olivia Knutsen as Louisa, Jacob Sutton as Kurt, Grace Luckett as Brigitta, Natalie Hawkins as Marta and Charlotte Knutsen as Gretl. Remaining cast members will be announced at a later date.
The Tony-winning musical, set in Austria on the eve of World War II, tells the story of the musical von Trapp family and features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a libretto by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, adapted for the Carnegie Hall evening by David Ives. The score includes favorites such as the title song, “My Favorite Things,” “Do Re Mi,” “Edelweiss” and “Climb Ev'ry Mountain.”
The Sound of Music first opened on Broadway on November 16, 1959, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel. The 1965 film adaptation starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.