Point Park Alum Rob Ashford Directs NBC's THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE, Airing Tomorrow

Point Park alumnus and Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford will direct the classic musical, The Sound of Music, live on NBC at 8 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, Dec. 5.

The three-hour live telecast, directed by Ashford and Beth McCarthy-Miller, stars six-time Grammy Award-winner Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp, Stephen Moyer, star of HBO's hit series True Blood, as Captain von Trapp, and five-time Tony Award-winner and two-time Grammy Award-winner Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess.

This will be a faithful adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's beloved musical and include all the favorite musical numbers performed by the cast in the live broadcast.

Ashford won a Tony Award in 2002 for choreographing Thoroughly Modern Millie. He has been nominated for a Tony Award eight times and for several Laurence Olivier awards, the British equivalent of the Tony. He won the Drama Desk, Fred Astaire Award, and Outer Critics Circle awards for Cry-Baby (2008).

Ashford made his directorial debut with Parade (2008) on London's West End. On Broadway, he directed revivals of the musicals Promises, Promises, starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth, and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, starring Daniel RadclifF. Earlier this year, Ashford directed his first non-musical on Broadway, a revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Scarlett Johansson. Ashford also directed the musical numbers for the film, Beyond the Sea, Kevin Spacey's Bobby Darin biopic, and won a 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

NBC's live version of The Sound of Music also features another Pittsburgh native - Michael Campayno, a Carnegie Mellon University Drama School senior.