To Kill a Mockingbird and The Sound of Music will play London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2013. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird will be helmed by Artistic Director Timothy Sheader and run from May 16 through June 15. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music will run from July 25 to September 7, with no director currently announced. Casting, creative teams, and two additional productions will be announced in the coming months. No word yet on if the previously rumored Cats revival will be added to the 2013 season.
Adapted from Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird explores themes of racism in 1930s Alabama after the alleged rape of a local white woman by a black man. The story features the moral lawyer Atticus Finch and his children Scout and Jem.
The Sound of Music marks the first time an Rodgers and Hammerstein musical will play Regent’s Park. Set in Austria on the eve of World War II, the Tony-winning show tells the story of the von Trapp family and features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a libretto by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse. The score includes favorites such as the title song, “My Favorite Things,” “Do Re Mi,” “Edelweiss” and “Climb Ev'ry Mountain.”
The Regent’s Park production of Into the Woods, directed by Sheader, is currently playing in New York’s Central Park through September 1.