For Immediate Release FINAL EXTENSION DUE TO UNPRECENTED DEMAND TO SEE THIS WEST END SPECTACULAR (HONG KONG, 10 April, 2015) Hong Kong can truly say THE SOUND OF MUSIC is one of My Favorite Things! Demand for tickets has been so overwhelming the producers have extended the run of the show for the final time. The Rogers and Hammerstein classic will now continue through from 15 to 21 June, 2015, at the Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts. Tickets for the eight additional and final performances will go on sale to the public on 13 April, 2015, at 10am. All seats will be available at www.hkticketing.com or via the booking hotline 31-288-288. They can also be obtained at all HK Ticketing or Tom Lee outlets. Fans are urged to secure their seats now to the hottest musical coming to town. I am delighted by the way Hong Kong has taken this show to heart and that fans are so passionate and enthusiastic that we have had to add even more dates to our season. However, the show must close on 21 June. It is not suprising that this award-winning West End production is selling so well. It is even one of my favourite things!! says James Cundall, Producer and CEO of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. I left with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. Suddenly the world seemed a brighter place. The Daily Telegraph, UK
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Press Release P. 2 of 7 THE SOUND OF MUSIC opens on 15 May, and comes direct from sell-out seasons in Singapore, New Zealand and China. The acclaimed show premiered at the home of West End musical theatre the famous London Palladium - where it celebrated a record-breaking 954 performances and was seen by over two million people, before going on to tour the UK and internationally. THE SOUND OF MUSIC tells the uplifting true story of Maria, the fun-loving governess who changes the lives of the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children by reintroducing them to music, culminating in the family s escape across the Austrian mountains. The show features an unforgettable score that includes some of the most memorable songs ever performed on the musical stage including My Favorite Things, Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi, Sixteen Going on Seventeen, The Lonely Goatherd, Climb Ev ry Mountain, and the title song The Sound of Music. The 30-strong international cast includes veteran performers of the stage and screen including Carmen Pretorius in the lead role as Maria Rainer. The South African s musical credits include Disney s High School Musical Live On Stage (playing Gabriella Montez), Footloose The Musical, Mamma Mia!, Janice Honeyman s Cinderella, Cabaret, and in the touring production of Jersey Boys. Film credit includes: Lien Jooste in the feature film Lien se Lankstaanskoene. Playing Captain von Trapp is Mark Rayment whose long resume includes UK productions of A Midsummer Night s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Guys and Dolls, as well as the international touring company of The Lion King and East Towards Home in New York. Mr. Rayment is also a guest tutor at the Oxford School of Drama and Laine Theatre Arts, and associate director of B+R Productions UK. In the role of Mother Abbess is Janelle Visagie, whose opera trained voice has been featured in productions of Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Rigoletto, and the musical Show Boat. Her oratorios include Requiem in D Minor (Mozart), Elijah (Mendelssohn), The Messiah (Händel), Stabat Mater (Pergolessi) and The Christmas Oratorio (Bach). She also sang in the South African Sopranos Concerts with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and the World Aids Day Celebration Concerts.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Press Release P. 3 of 7 Six of the seven children that form the von Trapp family will be played by 20 of Hong Kong s young actors and actresses, selected from amongst 600 talented and passionate young boys and girls who competed for the coveted roles in the show. The original Broadway production won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The 1965 movie starring Julie Andrews as Maria won five Oscars, including Best Picture, and remains one of the most popular movies of all time. This dazzling West End production is produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber s Really Useful Company and David Ian Productions, and is presented in Hong Kong by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and David Atkins Enterprises. American Express and BMW are the proud Co-title Sponsors of the Hong Kong season of THE SOUND OF MUSIC; OOCL the Official Ocean Carrier; Austrian Trade Commission/ Advantage Austria and Pacific Coffee are the Official Partners. THE SOUND OF MUSIC Music by RICHARD RODGERS Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II Book by HOWARD LINDSAY and RUSSEL CROUSE Suggested by The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp For more information, please visit www.lunchbox-productions.com For more updates, please visit * * * The above press release is issued by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions Ltd. through PRO Marketing Services Company Limited To download images, press material and information on THE SOUND OF MUSIC please visit: http://www.propublicity.com/promweb/public/news.aspx For further Information and interview requests, please contact: PRO Marketing Services Company Limited Catherine Cheung and Priscilla Lui Ph: (852) 2851 1482 Mob: (852) 9466 4743 Email: info@propublicity.com
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Press Release P. 4 of 7 Ticketing Information Tickets for 8 additional performances go on public sale at 10:00a.m. on Monday, 13 April, 2015. THE SOUND OF MUSIC Date: From Friday, 15 th May, 2015 to Sunday, 21 st June, 2015 Venue: Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Show Date Tue - Fri Evening Saturday Sunday Show Time 7:30pm 2:30pm & 7:30pm 1:00pm & 5:30pm Price*: $995 (VIP), $795, $595, $395 A limited number of Full-Time Student tickets are available in VIP, A & B Reserve for all performances. (excluding Friday & Saturday Evening Shows) A limited number of Family Packages include: Purchase 4 tickets together at a special Family Package price (excluding Friday & Saturday Evening Shows) VIP $3,488 (2 Adults + 2 Children aged under 18) A Reserve $2,688 (2 Adults + 2 Children aged under 18) B Reserve $1,888 (2 Adults + 2 Children aged under 18) Recommended for 4 years and over; One ticket per person, regardless of age. *Ticket prices are exclusive of HK Ticketing booking fees. Tickets can be purchased via all HK Ticketing outlets or by calling the HK Ticketing purchase hotline or website as follows: - HK Ticketing hotline: 31 288 288 - HK Ticketing website: www.hkticketing.com - HK Ticketing outlets: K11 Select, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, The Academy s Landmark Heritage Campus-Bethanie, AsiaWorld-Expo, Fringe Club, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, and all Tom Lee Music outlets
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Press Release P. 5 of 7 NOTES TO EDITORS About David Ian Productions David Ian Productions was founded in 2006 and is based in London s Covent Garden. Producing credits include: West End: Saturday Night Fever- London Palladium, The King and I, Grease, The Shawshank Redemption - Wyndhams, Sweet Charity - Dominion,Cambridge, Victoria Palace, Piccadilly, Defending the Caveman - Apollo, Ain t Misbehavin - Lyric, Daisy Pulls It Off, Anything Goes - Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The Producers -Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Guys and Dolls - Piccadilly, The Sound of Music - Haymarket, La Cage Aux Folles - Playhouse. UK Tours: Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pirates of Penzance, Rocky Horror Show, Singin in the Rain, Evita, Chess, Dr Dolittle,The King and I, West Side Story, Cats, Chicago, Starlight Express, My Fair Lady, The New Statesman, The Producers, Flashdance and Britain s Got Talent (Arena Tour). Broadway and US: Grease, Gypsy, My Fair Lady (North American tour), The Sound of Music Toronto and Phantom - The Vegas Spectacular at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas. David Ian was Chairman of Global Theatre for Live Nation until 2007. About Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of The Likes of Us, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, By Jeeves, Evita, Variations and Tell Me on a Sunday later combined as Song & Dance, Cats, Starlight Express, The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard, Whistle Down the Wind, The Beautiful Game (now called The Boys in the Photograph), The Woman in White, Love Never Dies and Stephen Ward. He composed the film scores of Gumshoe and The Odessa File and a setting of the Latin Requiem mass. As well as many of his own shows, his producer credits include Daisy Pulls It Off, Lend Me a Tenor, Shirley Valentine, La Bête, the ground-breaking Bollywood musical, A R Rahman s Bombay Dreams, his smash hit productions of The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium and the films of The Phantom of the Opera and the acclaimed Australian production of Love Never Dies. He pioneered television casting for musical theatre with the Emmy Awardwinning BBC series How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?. His awards include seven Tonys, three Grammys including Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, two International Emmys, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship and the Kennedy Center Honor. He currently owns six London theatres, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the London Palladium. His future projects include support for the breeding programme of the increasingly rare Turkish swimming cat at Van in Eastern Turkey. He was knighted in 1992 and created an honorary life peer in 1997.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Press Release P. 6 of 7 About The Really Useful Group THE REALLY USEFUL GROUP LTD (RUG) (Producer) was founded in 1977 by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is wholly owned by him. At the heart of RUG s business are the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, By Jeeves, Evita, Variations, Tell Me on a Sunday, Cats, Starlight Express, The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard, Whistle Down the Wind, The Boys in the Photograph, The Woman in White, Love Never Dies and Stephen Ward. In addition to his own musicals, Andrew s productions include A. R.Rahman s Bombay Dreams, the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium and Toronto). The Really Useful Group is an international entertainment company, with offices in London and Sydney that produce and coordinate Lloyd Webber s works throughout the world. The company s theatre and concert production, recording, merchandising, music publishing and licensing divisions provide specialised services for Lloyd Webber s works and also to other producers and authors. About Lunchbox Theatrical Productions Founded in Hong Kong in 1992 by James Cundall, Lunchbox Theatrical Productions has established an unrivalled reputation for producing top quality international entertainment across five continents, and is now headquartered in the UK with companies in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. Productions include musicals such as Les Misérables, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You, Starlight Express, West Side Story, Annie and Chicago; spectaculars such as Cirque du Soleil s Alegria and Riverdance; boutique shows such as Stomp, Slava s Snowshow, Raise the Red Lantern by the Chinese National Ballet, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo and Circus Oz; musical concerts including Thriller Live, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Abba Mania and One Night of Queen; international artists Barry Humphries, Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Pam Ayres, Elaine Paige and Bryn Terfel; plays such as The Woman in Black, Grumpy Old Women and The 39 Steps; children s shows Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney s Space Adventures; The Imperial Ice Stars productions of The Sleeping Beauty on Ice, Swan Lake on Ice, Cinderella on Ice and The Nutcracker on Ice; and events such as Yorkshire s Winter Wonderland (an outdoor Christmas event in York, UK). As well as Sound of Music in Hong Kong, future productions for 2015 include Cats in New Zealand and Australia; Sleeping Beauty on Ice in New Zealand; Singin in the Rain in New Zealand, Singapore and Manila; and The Nutcracker on Ice at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC Press Release P. 7 of 7 About David Atkins Recognised in the 2003 Queen s Birthday Honours with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the entertainment industry, David Atkins is Australia s most awarded producer, choreographer and director. He has starred in, produced, directed, choreographed and created more than 20 musicals in Australia, Britain, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. In 2000, Juan Antonio Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Committee, presented David with a Gold Olympic Pin for his outstanding and innovative work as artistic director and producer of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. David is the first and only Australian to win an MTV award for choreography. His original production Hot Shoe Shuffle was the first Australian musical on London s West End, for which he won the prestigious Olivier Award and this year the Green Room Award for Excellence in Choreography for Music Theatre. David has directed and produced some of the largest live events, across continents, languages and international audiences, including the Ceremonies of the Doha 2006 Asian Games, the Opening, Closing and Victory Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the Opening Ceremony of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. In 2011 David directed and produced the Moscow City Day Anniversary Celebrations, the Opening Ceremony of the New Zealand 2011 Rugby World Cup and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Doha 2011 Arab Games. David is the only Australian director and producer whose work on Olympic Ceremonies won Emmy awards, with three wins for the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony. His work in Shanghai, Vancouver, Moscow, Doha and New Zealand earned him Best Export Productions and in 2010 he was awarded the highly prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the annual Australian Event Awards. Over and above the enormous body of work that David has directed and produced, beyond the vast number of awards and nominations, he has revolutionised the way shows are created and produced.