Producers of The Sound of Music have announced the 18 children who have been cast in the world’s favourite musical, featuring three different casts alternating in the roles of the six youngest von Trapp children during the Melbourne season.
Playing Friedrich will be Alexander Glenk (15 years old), Jackson Rudge (11) and Oliver Wellington (12). Playing Louisa will be Emily Crockett (13), Darcy McGrath (11) and Bronte Muir (13). Playing Kurt will be Beaumont Farrell (11), Tim Haskayne (12) and Joshua Vass (12).
Playing Brigitta will be Amelia Szabo (11), Karina Thompson (11) and Chloe Vigilante (10). Playing Marta will be Rachel Kipnis (10), Ruby Moore (8) and Kayla Muir (8), and playing Gretl will be Portia Fragapane (8), Annie Jones (8) and Heidi Sprague (8).
“We have assembled an extraordinary cast of young stars to play the von Trapp children,” said the producers. “We had over 1000 children audition in February and we were absolutely blown away by the talent. It’s exciting that Australian audiences will see a production of this quality.”
The Australian production is led by Amy Lehpamer (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Once, The Rocky Horror Show) as Maria Rainer and Cameron Daddo (Legally Blonde, Big River) as Captain Georg von Trapp, starring alongside Marina Prior (Mary Poppins, The Secret Garden) as Baroness Schraeder, Jacqueline Dark (Opera Australia’s Aida, Don Giovanni) as Mother Abbess, Lorraine Bayly (Calendar Girls, The Sullivans) as Frau Schmidt and David James (Playschool, Avenue Q) as Max Detweiler.
This acclaimed production of the legendary Rodgers and Hammerstein musical premiered in 2006 at the home of West End musical theatre, the London Palladium, where it celebrated a record-breaking 954 performances seen by well over 2 million people, before going on to enjoy sell-out seasons internationally.
Inspired by the lives of the actual von Trapp family, The Sound of Music tells the uplifting story of Maria, a fun-loving governess who changes the lives of the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children by re-introducing them to music, culminating in the family’s escape from the Nazis across the mountains from Austria.
It features an unforgettable score that includes some of the most famous songs ever performed on stage, including My Favorite Things, Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, The Lonely Goatherd, Climb Ev’ry Mountain and the title song, The Sound of Music.
The Sound of Music will commence in Melbourne at the Regent Theatre on 13 May this year. For more information, visit: www.soundofmusictour.com.au for details.
Image: Marina Prior joins the Melbourne Children’s Cast of The Sound of Music – photo by Jim Lee