Former soap stars Kara Tointon and Katherine Kelly are to appear in a live adaptation of The Sound Of Music for ITV.
Alexander Armstrong and Julian Ovenden will also show off their musical prowess alongside the Mr Selfridge co-stars for the televised version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which will be shown over Christmas.
Ex-EastEnders star Kara, 32, will play Maria, who joins the von Trapp family as a governess, with former Coronation Street actress Katherine, 35, portraying Baroness Elsa Schraeder.
Both are no strangers to singing, with Kara starring in the West End production of Pygmalion.
Katherine appeared on the Coronation Street 50th anniversary album, Coronation Street: Rogues, Angels, Heroes And Fools in 2010.
Trained opera singer Julian, who has appeared in ITV’s period drama Downton Abbey, has been cast as Captain Georg von Trapp, while classically trained baritone Alexander – the new voice of animated secret agent Danger Mouse in the CBBC revival – will be the Captain’s friend Max Detweiler.
The Sound Of Music Live!, to be filmed at London’s Three Mills Studios, will feature all the songs from the classic score including How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi, My Favourite Things and Climb Ev’ry Mountain.
ITV’s director of entertainment and comedy, Elaine Bedell, said: “This is the first time in the UK that this type of project has been attempted – a musical drama both performed and broadcast live – but big ambitious live television events is what ITV does well. We’ve assembled some of the very best talent both in front of and behind the camera and I can’t wait to see it all come together.”
Ted Chapin, president of Rodgers and Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, added: “The Sound Of Music really is in a class by itself. The notion of creating a production for live television broadcast is a large undertaking, and one we are delighted ITV has taken on for what will undoubtedly be a Christmas time treat for the whole of the UK.”
The Sound Of Music – based on Maria von Trapp’s 1949 memoir The Story Of The Trapp Family Singers – inspired a 1956 German film, the original Broadway musical in 1959 and various stage revivals.
The 1965 Hollywood film, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, won five Oscars.
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