(MILLBURN, NJ) -- Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting for The Sound of Music, directed by Mark S. Hoebee.  The show will begin performances at Paper Mill Playhouse on Friday, December 2 and play through Sunday, January 1, 2023. Opening night is set for Sunday, December 4.

The production will feature Ashley Blanchet (Paper Mill’s Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Broadway’s Waitress) as Maria Rainer, Graham Rowat (Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen, Sunset Boulevard) as Captain Georg von Trapp, Cáitlín Burke (The Sound of Music national tour) as Mother Abbess, Emily Borromeo (Broadway’s School of Rock, The Prom first national tour) as Elsa Schraeder, Gavin Lee (Paper Mill’s Beauty and the Beast, Broadway’s SpongeBob SquarePants) as Max Detweiler, Analise Scarpaci (Broadway’s Mrs. Doubtfire, Matilda) as Liesl von Trapp, Andrew Alstat as Rolf Gruber (Grease at Cape Playhouse, The Sound of Music at the Muny), Stacia Fernandez (Paper Mill’s Beauty and the Beast, Broadway’s Mamma Mia!) as Frau Schmidt, Christopher Gurr (Paper Mill’s The Sting, Broadway’s Kinky Boots) as Herr Zeller, Paul Slade Smith (Broadway’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, My Fair Lady) as Franz, and Mark Banik (Beautiful first national tour) as Admiral von Schreiber.

The von Trapp children will be played by Coleman Simmons (age 14, from West Orange, NJ) as Friedrich, Jacey Sink (age 12, from Summit, NJ) as Louisa, Cody Braverman (age 10, from Short Hills, NJ) as Kurt, Tara Rajan (age 9, from Sands Point, NY) as Brigitta, Austin Elle Fisher (age 9, from Tinton Falls, NJ) as Marta, Charlotte Sydney Harrington (age 7, from Shelton, CT) as Gretl, and standbys Charlotte Ewing (age 11, from Chatham, NJ) and Ethan Joseph (age 12, from Somerset, NJ).

The ensemble cast will feature Griffin Binnicker, Dean Cestari, Brittany Conigatti, Nick Davis, Vincent DiPeri, Madeleine Doherty, Eric Michael Gillett, Gina Hanzlik, Katie Horner, Mary Illes, Meredith Lustig, Kate Mazza, Christine Price, Chandler Reeves, Emily Royer, Kayleen Seidl, Ariana Valdes, and Kai B. White.

Celebrate the holidays with the heart-soaring melodies of The Sound of Music, including such beloved gems as “My Favorite Things,” “Edelweiss,” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” Directed by Paper Mill Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final musical conjures an Austria replete with rolling hills, singing nuns, and a tender love story, set in the shadow of World War II.

Directed by Paper Mill’s Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee, The Sound of Music features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Kenny Ingram (Paper Mill’s Songs for a New World, A Jolly Holiday and Dreamgirls) returns to choreograph, alongside Meg Zervoulis (Broadway’s Funny Girl and 2020 West Side Story revival) as music director and conductor.

The Sound of Music will feature scenic design by Kelly James Tighe (PMP’s Songs for a New World and Jolly Holiday), based on original scenic design by James Fouchard (PMP’s Kiss Me, Kate and Grease); costume design by Leon Dobkowski (PMP’s Annie, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike), based on original costume design by Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber (Broadway’s Mrs. Doubtfire, Moulin Rouge!); lighting design by Charlie Morrison (PMP’s On Your Feet!, Sister Act); sound design by Sun Hee Kil (Suffs at The Public, Broadway’s Choir Boy); and hair and wig design by Jimmy Goode (The Public’s As You Like It, Suffs). Gary Mickelson serves as Production Stage Manager. Casting is by Nora Brennan Casting, CSA.

Paper Mill Playhouse offers its audiences the opportunity to enhance their theater experience with behind-the-scenes views of mainstage productions, including Q&A with the cast. Paper Mill Prologues and The Director’s Viewpoint will be available to everyone on the Paper Mill Playhouse mobile app.

Tickets start at $35 may be purchased by calling 973.376.4343, at the Paper Mill Playhouse Box Office at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn, or online at papermill.org.  Groups of 10 or more may receive up to a up to 30% discount on tickets and should call 973.376.4343. Students may purchase $20 tickets. Patrons under 30 years old may purchase tickets for $30 to any performance. Three-show and four-show subscription packages are also available starting at just $111.

Paper Mill Playhouse offers award-winning access programs and services, including audio-described performances on Saturday December 17, 2022, 1:30pm and Sunday December 18, 2022, 1:30pm (sensory seminars for the blind are held at noon) and an open-captioned performance on Sunday December 18, 2022, 7:00pm. Braille and large-print programs and assistive listening devices are available.

Programs, dates, and artists are subject to change.

PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE, recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Managing Director). A beloved New Jersey arts institution since 1938, Paper Mill creates and produces groundbreaking new musicals and reimagined classics. Several productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including Disney’s Newsies, Les Misérables, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Bronx Tale, and Bandstand. The theater is also the home to an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training, with outreach programs that impact thousands of students each year. As one of the nation’s premier musical theaters, Paper Mill fosters a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all. We acknowledge that our theater stands on the traditional land of the Lenni-Lenape, and we honor the Indigenous people who inhabited it for thousands of years before European settlers arrived. Paper Mill Playhouse programs are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Paper Mill Playhouse is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Council of Stock Theatres, and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.