Exchange, Halle and Lowry team up for Bernstein show

The Sound of Music's Connie Fisher will lead the cast in the comedy musical

Three of north-west England's leading arts institutions are to join forces for the first time to revive Leonard Bernstein's musical Wonderful Town.

Braham Murray, joint artistic director of Manchester's Royal Exchange theatre, will direct the show, to be presented at the Lowry centre in Salford.

Manchester's Halle orchestra, conducted by its musical director Sir Mark Elder, will play its music.

The show runs from 31 March to 14 April 2012 and will star Connie Fisher.

The 27-year-old, who starred in The Sound of Music in London after winning BBC One's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, will play a young woman who travels to New York with her sister in search of love and fortune.

First staged in 1953 on Broadway, Wonderful Town ran for 559 performances and won five Tony awards.

"Bernstein's magnificent work will get what it deserves - a great orchestra performing a great score as part of a great production," said Sir Mark.

Following its run in the Lowry's Lyric theatre, the production will embark on a national tour.