NBC’s ‘Sound of Music’ Adds Three Tony Winners to Cast

NBC has added three Tony Award-winning stage veterans to The Sound of Music.

Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti and Christian Borle have been added to the cast for the network’s live production of The Sound of Music, slated to air Dec. 5, NBC announced Monday.

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McDonald, a five-time Tony and two-time Grammy winner, will portray Mother Abbess, the head of Nonnberg Abbey. Benanti, who won a Tony for Gypsy, will play Elsa Schrader, Capt. von Trapp’s rich would-be fiancee. Meanwhile, Borle, a Smash vet who won a Tony for Peter and the Starcatcher, has joined as Max Dettweiler, Capt. von Trapp’s friend.

The three-hour production is based on the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music, which starred Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel. The play won the Tony Award for best musical, with Martin winning for best actress. The 1965 Sound of Music film adaptation starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer went on to win five Academy Awards, including best picture.

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The castings come three weeks after True Blood veteran Stephen Moyer was announced as Capt. Georg von Trapp, the single father of seven children. Living in Austria on the cusp of World War II, the militaristic but warm-hearted von Trapp engages a young governess, Maria (Carrie Underwood), whom he hires to take care of his children.

The Sound of Music, produced by Universal TV, is executive produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan. Beth McCarthy-Miller and Rob Ashford will serve as directors.

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