‘Sound of Music’ lead bows out

The male lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s high-profile London stage production of “The Sound of Music” has pulled out of the show nine days before opening night, producers said Monday.

Producers said that Simon Shepherd, who had been cast as Capt. Georg Von Trapp in the big-budget show, had withdrawn by mutual agreement with Lloyd Webber and his co-producers. Shepherd will be replaced by Alexander Hanson, who hoped to begin preview performances later in the week.

The show, due to open at London’s Palladium on Nov. 15, has attracted publicity by using a reality TV show to cast relative unknown Connie Fisher in the lead role of Maria Von Trapp.

In a statement, producers said that following the first two preview performances Friday and Saturday, Shepherd agreed with the producers and director Jeremy Sams “that his performance as Capt. Von Trapp was not working within the production and therefore he has withdrawn from the show.”