The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", and the title song "The Sound of Music".
Samuel Alexander Joseph West is an English actor, theatre director and narrator. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor in theatre, film, television, and radio. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Leonard Bast in the Merchant Ivory film adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel Howards End (1992), and was later nominated for the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of the title role in Rupert's Land (1998). In 2010, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jeffrey Skilling in Lucy Prebble's Enron. He has appeared as reciter with orchestras and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2002. He has narrated several documentary series, including five for the BBC about the Second World War.
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical theater writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century.
Elizabeth Lee McGovern is an American-British actress. She has received many awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, three Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Award nomination.
Samantha Jane Bond is an English actress. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. On television, she played "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She also originated the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. She is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Jennifer Elizabeth Pike is a British violinist.
Mark Simpson is a British composer and clarinettist from Liverpool. In 2006, he became notable for winning both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year, making him the first and, to date, only person to win both competitions.
George William Stiles is an English composer of musicals for the stage.
Stephen Campbell Moore is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys and the film based on it. He has starred in the sci-fi television series War of the Worlds (2019–2021).
Gareth Valentine is a Welsh composer, arranger, conductor and musical director. He has worked extensively in London's West End on musical productions and also conducted orchestras worldwide including the BBC Concert Orchestra, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pasdeloup orchestra, RPO Concert Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, ENB Sinfonia, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, and many others. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, London, he studied with Sir Peter Pears at Aldeburgh.
Sierra Marjory Boggess is an American theater actress and singer.
Norman Houston O'Neill was an English composer and conductor of Irish background who specialised largely in works for the theatre.
John Wilson is a British conductor, arranger and musicologist, who conducts orchestras and operas, as well as big band jazz. He is the artistic director of Sinfonia of London.
Paul Gemignani is an American musical director with a career on Broadway and West End theatre spanning over forty years.
Edward Seckerson is a British music journalist and radio presenter specialising in musical theatre. Formerly Chief Classical Music Critic of the Independent, Edward Seckerson is a writer, broadcaster and podcaster. He wrote and presented the long-running BBC Radio 3 series Stage & Screen in which he interviewed many of the most prominent writers and stars of musical theatre. He appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and 4. On television, he has commentated a number of times at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He has published books on Mahler and the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and has been on Gramophone Magazine’s review panel for many years. Edward presented the long-running BBC Radio Four musical quiz Counterpoint for one year in 2007, after the death of Ned Sherrin.
The John Wilson Orchestra was formed by British orchestral conductor John Wilson in 1994. It performs the original arrangements of MGM musicals and the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The orchestra performed annually in The Proms summer festival between 2009 and 2019.
Harry Frederick Gerard Hadden-Paton is a British actor. He is perhaps best known for his television roles as Herbert "Bertie" Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham, in the television series Downton Abbey and Martin Charteris in The Crown.
David Charles Abell is an American conductor of opera, orchestral music and musical theater. Described as “a protean talent” with “impeccable and inspired” skill as a conductor, he is active in symphonic music, opera and musical theatre. Abell was one of Leonard Bernstein's last protégés, and collaborated with Bernstein on many works during the 1980s.
Alexandra Silber is an American actress, singer, writer and educator. She has performed roles on Broadway, in London's West End, on television and film, and concert stages. Among other stage roles, in London, she created the role of Laura Fairlie in The Woman in White (2005), played Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (2007) and Julie Jordan in Carousel (2008). In New York, she appeared in Hello Again (2010), Master Class (2011), created the role of Sara Jane in Arlington (2012–14) and as Tzeitel in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof (2015).
Michael Longhurst is artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre in Covent Garden, London. He was appointed as its fourth artistic director, succeeding Josie Rourke in the role.
