Preview: The Sound of Music by Base Entertainment Asia

The Sound of Music is set to be the first international musical to take stage in Singapore since the pandemic. This November, the legendary musical, produced by Broadway International Group, Simone Genatt, and Marc Routh and presented by Base Entertainment Asia, will make a triumphant return to Sands Theatre. A casting search is now on in Singapore for 18 children, ages six to 14, to be part of the musical as members of the famous von Trapp children.

This highly acclaimed original production of The Sound of Music is directed by three-time Tony Award-winner and Broadway veteran Jack O’Brien, and comes directly from the NETWorks Presentations National Tour, which has entertained audiences for more than three years across North America. The production is choreographed by Danny Mefford and has Music Supervision by Andy Einhorn.

The Sound of Music tells the uplifting true story of Maria, the fun-loving governess who changes the lives of the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children by re-introducing them to music and culminating the family’s escape across the Austrian mountains as tensions rise prior to the outbreak of World War II. The musical features some of the most unforgettable songs ever heard on stage and screen, 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 is one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time – it won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as the Grammy Award for Best Show Album. It has since entertained generations of audiences within live productions across the world and inspired the beloved film starring Julie Andrews, which won five Oscar Awards, including Best Picture. The film is ranked as one of the highest grossing movies of all time. An Emmy-winning television special starring Carrie Underwood was watched by 44 million people.

Chantal Prudhomme, Chief Executive Officer of Base Entertainment Asia said, “It has been a long wait during this pandemic and we are more than excited to be able to finally bring musicals back to our shores. This will be the third time we are presenting THE SOUND OF MUSIC in Singapore and it has received so much love each time. The auditions have become somewhat of a tradition where we are able to give our local talent the chance to star in an international production from Broadway with professional actors. This is not only a dream come true and the chance-of-a-lifetime, the possibilities of where this opportunity will take them are endless.”

“We have been eager to bring this beautiful production to Asia for years and are certain that Singapore is ‘a very good place to start’ to launch this highly anticipated global tour,” Simone Genatt and Marc Routh, Executive Producers of Broadway International Group said in a joint statement. Genatt and Routh have worked on various international productions of THE SOUND OF MUSIC for over 25 years, including producing the 1997 Broadway Revival and five global tours as part of Broadway Asia, a production, management, and licensing company in the Asia Pacific region.

The Sound of Music was last staged in Singapore in November 2017 and saw a highly-successful season. Even today, The Sound of Music is considered the world’s most popular musical – an iconic show that touches the hearts of all ages. In addition to O’Brien, Mefford, and Einhorn, The Sound of MusicInternational Tour will feature an all-Broadway creative, design, and production team. Matt Lenz, Original Tour Restaging; Douglas Schmidt, set design; Jane Greenwood, costume design; Natasha Katz, lighting design; and Shannon Slaton, sound design. Additional team members to be announced. Eric Cornell serves as General Manager and Simone Genatt and Marc Routh are Executive Producers for Broadway International Group. THE SOUND OF MUSIC is presented in special arrangement with Concord Theatricals and NETWorks Presentations, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and is suggested by The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

The Sound of Music runs from 22nd November to 9th December 2022 at the Sands Theatre. Tickets available from Marina Bay Sands