Jamie Rocco (Singin' in the Rain) directs the work on the Washington state stage Nov. 29-Dec. 18 with an official opening night Dec. 1. The musical fills the slot vacated by the canceled run of Doctor Dolittle. (The good doctor will be revived on the road in early 2006.)
Mann (Cats, Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast) and Huber (Beauty and the Beast, Sunset Boulevard) — who play Captain Georg von Trapp and Maria — will head up a 37-member cast.
Selected from hundreds of Seattle-area students at an open casting call, the seven Trapp family children will be played by Cara Rudd (already a 5th Ave vet from The Secret Garden, A Little Night Music, The Wizard of Oz), Charlie Meissner, Kirstin Maki, Josh Froebe, Jenna Levin, Olivia Spokoiny, and Paige Befeler — who makes her stage debut alongside her mother, Huber.
The ensemble also features Seattle Opera star Susan Marie Pierson (Mourning Becomes Electra) as Mother Abbess, David Hunter Koch as Max, Kristin Flanders as Elsa, with Carol Swarbrick, Leslie Law and Elizabeth Arnold as nuns.
Set in Austria, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's The Sound of Music follows the story of an aspiring nun, who is sent from the convent to work as a governess. The high-spirited Maria wins over the unruly children and eventually the head of the household just as the Nazi regime looms around them. The score includes such well-known tunes as "My Favorite Things," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and "Edelweiss." Mann recently appeared on Broadway in Lennon. His numerous stage credits include The Rocky Horror Show, Barnum, Cats, Rags, Les Miserables, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, A Christmas Carol, Beauty and the Beast, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Assassins and 1776.
Huber has been seen at The 5th Avenue as Martha in 1776 and as Belle in the national touring company of Beauty and the Beast — a role she also played on Broadway. Other credits include Sunset Blvd., Marie Christine, Floyd Collins, The Last Five Years, The Spitfire Grill, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Saturday Night.
For tickets to The Sound of Music at The 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle, WA, are available by calling (206) 292-ARTS (2787). For more information on The 5th Avenue Theatre, visit www.5thavenuetheatre.org.
