The new national touring production of "The Sound Of Music" is on stage at the Fisher Theatre through May 22. Click the video player for JoAnne Purtan's interview on 7 Action News at noon.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic runs through May 22nd. It's the heartwarming story of Maria, a Nanny to seven children who falls in love with the kids and their father in Austria in the WWII era.
Tickets are on sale by phone at 1-800-982-2787 and online at www.BroadwayInDetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Tckets may also be purchased at The Fisher Theatre box office. For more information, please visit www.TheSoundOfMusicOnTour.com.
This production stars Director Jack O'Brien's brand new discovery, KERSTIN ANDERSON as Maria Rainer. A current student at Pace University, Ms. Anderson won the coveted role from hundreds who auditioned. This is her first national tour.
Director O'Brien had this to say about his leading lady:" "in looking over a great American classic, like THE SOUND OF MUSIC, sometimes you stumble on something you wonder if anyone ever saw before. For instance, I was privileged to actually see Mary Martin in the original production - as I was myself just a junior at the University of Michigan. She was a great star, and she was giving a 'great star's' performance. She was at the apex of her career, and she was both brilliant and 46 years old."
"But in reading it privately, something caught my eye: Maria is probably, as a postulant, no more than six or seven years older than Liesl! She may be many things - a country lass, a climber-of-trees, a young renegade, but she is clearly NOT an established star! How interesting!"
"I've always believed Maria was a 'star-making' part, rather than the leading role we remember from the movies and our experience; so I went looking for someone with star-making magic. And in through the audition door one day walked Kerstin Anderson, still studying at Pace University in New York. She opened her mouth, she sang, and the tears welled up in my eyes."
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.
Director O'Brien says, "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. It's no longer 'your mother's' familiar SOUND OF MUSIC. 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 shows producers say: 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 marked 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.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC runs through May 22, 2016 at The Fisher Theatre, located at 3011 W. Grand Blvd., in Detroit, Performance times are:
- Tuesday through Saturday evening performances at 8:00 p.m.
- Sunday evening performances at 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
- Sunday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. is a special open captioned performance
