Regent’s Park Open Air theatre has announced Harper Lee’s American classic To Kill A Mockingbird will launch its 2013 season with much-loved musical The Sound Of Music following.
The Olivier Award-winning alfresco venue will see Christopher Sergel’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel play from 16 May to 15 June.
Directed by the theatre’s Artistic Director Timothy Sheader, the famous story is set in the Great Depression and tells the story of Atticus Finch, a lawyer who defends a black man against a false charge of rape and must tackle racial prejudices to fight his case.
The Sound Of Music will play from 25 July to 7 September with details of the creative team yet to be announced. While the venue is renowned for its musical revivals, winning the Best Musical Revival Olivier Award three years in a row, the production will mark the first time a work by legendary writing duo Rodgers and Hammerstein has been staged at the theatre.
Featuring classic songs including Climb Every Mountain, My Favourite Things and Do-Re-Mi, the musical began life in a 1959 Broadway production and went on to become one of the most famous and popular musicals of all time following the 1965 Oscar-winning film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
Telling the story of the Von Trapp family and their governess, the wannabe-nun Maria, the romantic musical is a West End favourite. It was most recently seen at the London Palladium with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 2006 production, which followed a BBC reality TV series to find its Maria.
The Regent’s Park Open Air theatre’s 2013 season will also include two more productions which are yet to be announced. The current season, which includes productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ragtime The Musical, continues until 8 September.