THE SOUND OF MUSIC Global Tour to Launch Second Season in Shanghai, China

By Chloe Rabinowitz

Broadway International Group and Broadway Asia are launching a second season of the international tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE SOUND OF MUSIC. The first season of the global tour completed successful multi-week engagements in Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, India, and Macao S.A.R. This lavish and popular production of one of the world's most beloved musicals of all time will premiere in Shanghai on November 22nd, 2023 together with SMG Live, a company under Shanghai Media Group, at the brand new 2500-seat Bocom New Bund 31 Theater in Shanghai. THE SOUND OF MUSIC will perform for 30 weeks across the country.

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"We are excited to return to China with THE SOUND OF MUSIC. We have been touring the country for over 20 years with this production, and the audience absolutely loves this musical. We know it's going to be a great success. Our goal is to celebrate the beauty of this Rodgers & Hammerstein production with the world market and sing 'Do-Re-Mi' with audiences everywhere! We are certain that Shanghai is 'a very good place to start' our tour in China," Simone Genatt and Marc Routh, Co-Founders and Owners of Broadway International Group and Broadway Asia said in a joint statement. Genatt and Routh are the lead Producers of the international tour of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and over the past year this tour was the first Broadway musical to light the theatre lights across the world during first season post pandemic, including the grand opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai, India where the production was the first Broadway touring musical to cross into India, and sold more than 101,000 tickets this past spring.

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One of the most popular Broadway musicals in the international marketplace, THE SOUND OF MUSIC is celebrating its 65th birthday in 2024, having won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the GRAMMY Award for Best Show Album, for its original run. It has since entertained generations of audiences in live productions across the world, as has the classic film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which won five Oscar Awards, including Best Picture. "Eighty years after Rodgers & Hammerstein's partnership began, they continue to inspire new generations to 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain,'" said Imogen Lloyd Webber, SVP at Concord Theatricals on behalf of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. "We are delighted that this revival of THE SOUND OF MUSIC will enchant international audiences once again."

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The International Tour Company is currently in Zhuhai, China remounting the production for previews at the brand new Jinwan Art Center with CAEG before going to Shanghai. The tour is led by Natalie Duncan as Maria Rainer, Corey Greenan as Captain Von Trapp, with Corey Bryant as Rolf, Lauren Kidwell as Mother Abbess, Jonathan Wiener as Max, Julia Salatti as Liesl, and Taylor Tveten as Elsa. The Von Trapp children are played by Everett Baumgarten, Pippa Blaylock, Luke Cantu Gutierrez, Avril Kagan, Haddie Mac Wesson, Keenan Moran, Lily Philbrook, and Addyson Tabankin. The adult company includes Lily Burka, Elizabeth D'Aiuto, Maddie Eaton, Scott Fuss, Michael Isaac, Dayne Joyner, Hannah Rose Kidwell, Weston LeCrone, Leah Mattfield, Mollie-Claire Matthews, Caroline McKinzie, Marissa O'Donnell, Sabina Petra, Jason Pintar, Travis Poelle, Robert Rice, and Lauren Senden. Stage Managers are Drew Cipollone, Lanie Liu, and Elena Chapman; Company Managers are Tony Rex and Lola Bao; and Charlie Yokom conducts an 11-piece touring orchestra.

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According to three-time Tony Award winning director Jack O'Brien, "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. 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've all longed to create!"

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THE SOUND OF MUSIC features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, suggested by The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp. The tour features the original creative work of three-time Tony Award winning director Jack O'Brien, Broadway choreographer Danny Mefford, and Musical Supervision by Andy Einhorn, as well as an established award-winning Broadway creative, design, and production team: Matt Lenz, Tour Director; James Gray, Tour Choreographer; Anthony C. Daniel, Associate Director; Douglas Schmidt, set design; Jane Greenwood, costume design; Natasha Katz, lighting design; and Shannon Slaton, sound design. Original North American Tour by NETworks Presentations. Casting is by Murnane Casting. Eric Cornell serves as General Manager for Broadway Asia International, with Associate General Manager Joseph Longthorne. Simone Genatt, Marc Routh and Broadway International Group are Producing, along with Co-Producers Roy Furman, Broadway Asia Group, Cornice Productions and Gabrielle Palitz. THE SOUND OF MUSIC is presented in special arrangement with Concord Theatricals and Broadway Asia Company. For more information, please visit www.broadwayasia.com