Trevor Vaughan was still a teenager at university when he was the understudy for Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
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His mate Peter Saide played the role and Vaughan never got a call-up.
Saide went on to become a successful actor based in New York in off-Broadway shows until his untimely death in 2020.
Now cast in the role of The Captain in Albury Wodonga Theatre Company's adaptation of The Sound of Music, Vaughan said he wanted to honour Saide's memory.
"I've got unfinished business with The Sound of Music," he said.
"I was 19 when I was the understudy to The Captain in my second year at Central Queensland University and I want to dedicate my performance to Peter."
Saide was only 36 when he died from complications from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after surgery.
The Sound of Music opens at Albury Entertainment Centre on Friday, May 10.
Having resettled from Melbourne with his young family during 2022, Vaughan said The Sound of Music would be his first role on the Border.
Working between the financial sector, the film industry and in corporate voice-overs, the father-of-two was relishing his role as The Captain.
"The character has really gotten into me," Vaughan said.
"This morning I was visiting my favourite coffee van and I was standing near the van at ease with my hands folded behind my back.
"It's something I'd normally never do!"
Vaughan said The Sound of Music was a very weighty play delivered in a very clever way.
He said the theatre writing team behind the musical, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, were gifted beyond measure.
"Rodgers and Hammerstein deliver a light and fluffy show while dealing with unbelievably dark topics," he said.
"The Captain deals with a lot of loss before the play even starts; he's lost his position in everything but name only, he was successful in the military but lost the war, he lost his wife and he was about to lose his country.
"He's taken a lot of knocks but there is also hope in the end."
The Sound of Music background
Inspired by the real von Trapp family, The Sound of Music tells the uplifting story of Maria, a fun-loving governess who changes the lives of the widowed Captain von Trapp and his seven children by re-introducing them to music, culminating in the family's escape from the Nazis across the mountains from Austria.
It features an unforgettable score that includes some of the most famous songs performed on stage including My Favourite Things, Edelweiss, Do-Re-Mi, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, The Lonely Goatherd, Climb Ev'ry Mountain and The Sound of Music.
The Sound of Music runs at Albury Entertainment Centre on Friday, May 10, at 7.30pm, Saturday, May 11, at 1pm and 7.30pm, Thursday, May 16, at 7.30pm, Friday, May 17, at 7.30pm and Saturday, May 18, at 1pm and 7.30pm. Audio description is available for the 1pm show on Saturday, May 18.
For bookings visit Albury Entertainment Centre box office or online at alburyentertainmentcentre.com.au.
