With a NBC live broadcast of “The Sound of Music” in the works, almost 700 kids responded to an open casting call for a place as one of the von Trapp children.
Bernie Telsey, the founder of the casting agency who has seen almost 80 potential candidates after the initial auditions, said “I think we found someone from that open call. Someone from that will be in the show. That’s how confident I feel. That’s so exciting. It’s wild when you think about it that way.”
Speaking of the spots that are being auditioned for, Louisa, Briggita, Gretl, Marta, Friedrich and Kurt von Tropp are the ones that are vacant while the spot for the eldest child, Leisl, will be filled in by a professional actor as it a larger role which involves performing the song, ‘Sixteen going on seventeen’.
As for the rest of the cast, they will comprise Tony award winners such as Laura Benanti, Audra McDonald, Christian Borle as well as Stephen Moyer of which the latter will play Georg Captain von Trapp.
This open casting call is for children between the ages of 6-14 who have no showbiz connections and will be tested based on how they perform one of the songs that the kids sing in the show. If they get past the first test, then Telsey will test their ability to take direction.
Those children who are able to handle these tests and are picked as members of the cast will begin a six-week rehearsal period in mid-October.
Since the show is a live telecast, Telsey believes that the kids who are picked will have to be quick, take directions and run with the instructions provided.
