The Hills Are Alive! Jack O'Brien-Helmed THE SOUND OF MUSIC Will Kick Off National Tour Next Fall

Producer Ken Gentry for NETworks Presentations, in collaboration with Ted Chapin, President and Executive Director of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, announced today that a brand new production ofTHE SOUND OF MUSIC, directed by Jack O'Brien, will tour North America beginning September 2015. This lavish new production will launch at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, under the auspices of the Center Theatre Group, and will then tour North America for multiple seasons, playing multi-week and week-long engagements. Additional cities and casting will be announced at a later time.

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. This new production is directed by Jack O'Brien (Three-time Tony Award® winner, credits include: Hairspray, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Coast of Utopia). The design and production team is comprised of Douglas Schmidt, Set Design (Tony Award® nominee: 42nd Street, Into the Woods); Natasha Katz, Lighting Design (Four-time Tony Award® winner: Once, Aida, The Coast of Utopia, The Glass Menagerie) and Ken Travis, Sound Design (Aladdin, Newsies, Memphis).

Director Jack O'Brien said, "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 before. It's no longer 'your mother's familiar' SOUND OF MUSIC we're trotting out. We are tearing off the varnish of the past of one of the great, fresh glories of our theatre-going experience! This is an opportunity we've all longed to create!"

Ted Chapin, President and Executive Director of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, said "THE SOUND OF MUSIC continues to be the world's most beloved musical. When Ken Gentry suggested a major national tour, I not only agreed, but was willing to roll up my sleeves and do whatever I could to make a new stage production that would re-engage today's theatre-going 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'Brien at the directorial helm - well, we simply couldn't do better. Landing somewhere between The Coast of Utopia andHairspray (shows for which Jack won the Tony®), his production will be smart, focused, and surprising. I can't wait."

THE SOUND OF MUSIC enjoyed extraordinary success as the first live television production of a musical in over 50 years when "The Sound of Music Live!" aired on NBC in December, 2013; 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the film version, which continues to be the most successful movie musical in history. The spirited, romantic and beloved musical story of Maria and the Von Trapp Family will once again thrill audiences with such songs as "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Edelweiss" and the title song.