Kirsty Findlay cast as Maria, pictured with the Youth Cast above, in Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s The Sound of Music
Leading, what is shaping up to be a tremendous cast, Findlay once more takes centre-stage at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, this time performing the beloved role of Maria in Elizabeth Newman’s last production for the venue, The Sound of Music, following the news of her stepping down from the Artistic Director Role.
Joining Findlay is a range of past Pitlochry performers and new faces, including ‘West End Producer’ Christian Edwards, Ali Watts, Sally Cheung, and Hannah Baker. The Roger and Hammerstein musical, of a postulant nun who begins working for Captain von Trapp as governess to his children, only to fall for the man and his family, has long been a beloved film and stage musical – one which Newman is delighted to finally be bringing to Pitlochry.
The Sound of Music will play at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 15 November to 22 December 2024.
The upcoming The Sound of Music will mark the start of the end of Elizabeth Newman’s tenure as the Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director. The production, opening on November 15th and running until December 22nd, will be Newman’s final production, ahead of taking up the position of Artistic Director at Sheffield Theatre.
After curious minds finally got an answer to their first question, who would take over the role from Newman (spoilers, it took us all by surprise), the follow-up question was clear: how do you solve a problem like Maria? Answer? You cast one of Scotland’s most promising and talented performers, Kirsty Findlay.
This has well and truly been Olivier-nominated Findlay’s year in the Perthshire theatre, headlining stellar performances across the season for Pitlochry Festival Theatre from their Scottish premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Story, then cutting about in Footloose before changing into period attire for Frances Poet’s re-imagining of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. For the uninitiated or audiences who haven’t made it to Pitlochry this season (and what on earth have you been doing?), they may also recognise Findlay from the tremendously successful Islander: A New Musical (Southwark Playhouse/Helen Milne Productions) or recent entry into Scotland’s musical repertoire with A Mother’s Song (Macrobert Arts Centre and KT Producing).
Joining Findlay’s Maria Rainer, postulant turned governess who brings song and light into the von Trapp family in the darkest of times, is a host of familiar faces to Pitlochry and Scottish Theatre, but with notable fresh ones too… Including Christian Edwards as Max Detweiler. A name which may ring very familiar to a wealth of theatre lovers. Edward’s on-stage roles (Cyrano De Bergerac and All I See Is You)are as (in)famous as his off-stage persona: The West End Producer, a character Edwards played in the public eye for over a decade.
Joining the pair as the beloved Captain Georg von Trapp is Ali Watt, most recently known to Scottish audiences for their musical roles in Edinburgh Festival Fringe smash-hit The Grand Old Opera House Hotel, Traverse Theatre and Runrig musical The Stamping Ground (Eden Court/Raw Material). Some of the other past Pitlochry names include Trudy Ward (Sunshine on Leith and Gypsy,) and Jack Ward (A Streetcar Named Desire and The Secret Garden), along with other performers Lee Drage, Kate Milner-Evans, Elliot Gooch, Ellen Lawford, Lydia Barton Lovett, and Matthew James Hinchliffe.
Additional notable casting for significant characters includes the likes of Angela Caesar as Frau Schmidt/Sister Berthe, Hannah Baker as Elsa Schraeder, Sally Cheng as the eldest daughter of the Captain, Liesl von Trapp, and a whole gaggle of fresh ones in the roles of the von Trapp siblings, in rotating performances from; Benjamin Barenco, Isla MacGregor, Ross Martin, Ailsa Marx, Lily McSherry, Joseph Miranda, Theo Miranda, Millie Nicolson, Tanvi Reddy, Leva Stewart, Martha Swain, and Callie Wilson.
Announced to coincide with the 89th birthday of one of the finest performers of musicals herself, Dame Julie Andrews DBE, this entire cast announcement for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical certainly sets eyes firmly on Pitlochry Festival Theatre for what is shaping up to be a venue bursting with all of our favourite things.
Bursting With All Of Our Favourite Things
The Sound of Music will run at Pitlochry Festival Theatre from 15th November to 22nd December 2024.
Photo credit – Fraser Band
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