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

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.

"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.

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."

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.

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!"

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

About Broadway International Group and Broadway Asia (Producer)

Broadway International Group and Broadway Asia are among the largest production, management, and distribution companies of live entertainment throughout the global markets with focus in New York, London, Europe and Asia. Its founders, Simone Genatt and Marc Routh, are two of the most active commercial Broadway and West End producers. Over the last 25 years, theatrical productions by the Broadway International Group and Broadway Asia partners have performed in over 60 countries on 5 continents and garnered over 56 Tony, Olivier, Grammy Awards and many other global theatrical accolades through its many collaborations. Select live entertainment productions and attractions include: The Sound of Music, Back to the Future, An American in Paris, The Producers, Hairspray, Anastasia, Amelie, Beetlejuice, Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, The Great Comet, Stomp, COOKIN/NANTA, Shear Madness, The King and I, Cinderella, West Side Story, 42nd Street, Rock of Ages, Immersive Great Gatsby, Immersive Doctor Who, Neverland, the Peter Pan Immersive, Murder Ballad, Tape Face, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Jay Chou's THE SECRET, ICE AGE LIVE: A Mammoth Adventure, Madagascar Live, Fuerzabruta, the Gatsby Mansion Immersive Club in NY, and Journey, an immersive technology dining attraction in NY. Select forthcoming productions and attractions include: Marilyn Monroe Hollywood Experience, and The Great Comet in Shanghai. Simone Genatt and Marc Routh are committed to expanding the boundaries of entertainment around the world. www.broadwayasia.com

About Jack O'Brien (Original Director)

Jack O'Brien has won three Tony Awards for his direction of Hairspray, Henry IV, and The Coast of Utopia. His other recent Broadway credits include Arthur Miller's All My Sons, Carousel, The Front Page, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, It's Only a Play, Macbeth, The Nance, Dead Accounts, Catch Me If You Can, Impressionism, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination and Drama Desk winner),The Full Monty (Tony nom.), More to Love, Getting Away with Murder, The Little Foxes, Damn Yankees, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nom.) and Porgy and Bess (Tony nom.).Off- Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard's The Hard Problem, Pride's Crossing, and Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award). Other productions include Il Trittico at the Metropolitan Opera, Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall, Much Ado About Nothing for The Public's Shakespeare in the Park, Love Never Dies and Hairspray (Olivier nom.) in London, which saw a revival at the Coliseum in London last summer. Mr. O'Brien was the Artistic Director of The Old Globe Theatre from 1981 till 2007. He has directed six programs for PBS's American Playhouse. His book, Jack Be Nimble, is published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux and his next volume, Jack in the Box: or, How to Goddamn Direct, will also be published by FSG.

About Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II

After long and highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers (Composer, 1902-79) and Oscar Hammerstein II (Librettist/Lyricist, 1895-1960) joined forces in 1943 to create the most successful partnership in American Musical Theatre. Prior to joining forces, Rodgers collaborated with lyricist Lorenz Hart on musical comedies that epitomized wit and sophistication (Pal Joey, On Your Toes, Babes In Arms, and more), while Hammerstein brought new life to operetta and created the classic Show Boat with Jerome Kern. Oklahoma!, the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, introduced an integrated form that became known as "the musical play." Their shows that followed included Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals have earned Tony, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Pulitzer, and Olivier Awards. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization is a Concord Company, www.concord.com.

 

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