Segerstrom Center for the Arts July 19 thru 31st! Featuring music from Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, this new production is directed by Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Daniel Mefford. It is starring Kerstin Anderson as Maria Rainer, who won the coveted role from hundreds who auditioned. This will be Ms. Anderson’s first national tour.

Director O’Brien says of his discovery of Kerstin Anderson:

“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. “If ever there were an enchanting young woman standing on the brink of discovery — this was it! And now, the discovery is about to be all of ours! Please, as I do — welcome her!”

In the words of Ted Chapin, President of Rodgers & Hammerstein, “THE SOUND OF MUSIC continues to be the world’s most beloved musical. When a major national tour was suggested, I not only agreed, but was willing to roll up my sleeves and do whatever I could to fashion a new stage production that would reengage today’s theater going public. The show was originally created for Broadway, and seeing it on stage only reinforces the power of the story and the score.”