EXCLUSIVE: Sky has landed UK broadcast rights to music film My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80thAnniversary Concert.
The deal was announced today by the film executive producers Sophia Dilley from Concord Originals and Imogen Lloyd Webber from Concord Theatricals. Sky will broadcast the film in the UK on Sky Arts on Sunday, March 31.
Directed by BAFTA winner Julia Knowles (The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration), the film celebrates the historic partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and features iconic songs from The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Oklahoma! and others.
The film includes a concert captured in London in December 2023 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane – the same venue that premiered the original West End productions of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Carousel, SouthPacific and The King and I.
It was headlined by the likes of recent Rogers & Hammerstein leading lady Joanna Ampil (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific); Olivier Award winners Michael Ball (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera) and Maria Friedman (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street); actor Daniel Dae Kim (Netflix’s Avatar the Last Airbender, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I); and six-time Tony Award winner and actress Audra McDonald (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, Netflix’s Rustin) among others.
My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80thAnniversary Concert also features special appearances by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rita Moreno.
Presented by The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, the concert film was produced by Concord Originals, Concord Theatricals, Kilimanjaro Live/JAS Theatricals, Austin Shaw and Rob Bagshaw.
Sky has also acquired UK rights from Concord Originals to the 1958 musical film South Pacific, which is based on the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical and stars Mitzi Gaynor, and the rights from Samuel Goldwyn Films to the 1965 US TV production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic fairy tale Cinderella starring Lesley Ann Warren.
“We are thrilled to partner with Sky in bringing the 80th anniversary concert and these classic Rodgers & Hammerstein films to UK audiences in celebration of an artistic legacy that continues to inspire and shape culture, generation after generation,” said Sophia Dilley, Executive Producer and SVP Concord Originals.
In the U.S., My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert will be available to stream on-demand in North America from Sunday, March 24 through Sunday, March 31, 2024, presented by Concord Originals and The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, in partnership with Kiswe.
Concord Originals is the production arm of the music giant Concord, developing and producing stories anchored by its artists, music and theatrical works. Upcoming and current projects include Stax: Soulsville, USA, a multi-part docuseries about Stax Records for HBO from executive producer Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America) and director Jamila Wignot (Ailey), which screened at SXSW; a documentary feature with White Horse Pictures, Shari & Lamb Chop, which is directed by Lisa D’Apolito (Love, Gilda); Alison Ellwood documentary feature Let The Canary Sing, chronicling musical icon Cyndi Lauper, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival; and Ilya Chaiken’s music doc Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks from RBG’s Julie Cohen and Betsy West.