Vanessa Williams to Join SETH RUDETSKY'S BROADWAY at The Town Hall

The Town Hall & Mark Cortale will continue with the latest installment of the internationally acclaimed concert series Seth Rudetsky's Broadway, hosted and music directed by Sirius/XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky at The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd Street). On Monday, June 20 at 8pm, Seth welcomes platinum recording artist and star of stage and screen Vanessa Williams.

Read BroadwayWorld's interview with Seth Rudetsky HERE!

The format of each concert is a seamless mix of intimate behind-the-scenes stories prompted by Rudetsky's funny, insightful and revealing questions - and the music from the star's stellar Broadway career.

"Yes, everyone knows Vanessa Williams started her pop career in the '80's and went on to do fabulous tv shows, but do people know she was a musical theater major?," said Seth Rudetsky. "That's right! Vanessa is a Broadway baby at heart and this concert is going to be an amazing combination of her Broadway roots, her amazing pop hits, and the hilarious and sometimes shocking stories from her career. From singing on the Oscars and working with Sondheim, to being blocked from starring opposite the incredible Tommy Tune. As usual, my concerts aren't pre-planned so who the H knows what will happen!"

Tickets for Seth Rudetsky's Broadway with Vanessa Williams are $52-$97. For tickets and information, please visit www.thetownhall.org or call 800-982-2787.

This series is raising funds for Sandy Hook Promise. For more info visit: www.sandyhookpromise.org

BIOS

Vanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in the entertainment industry today. Having sold millions of records worldwide, Vanessa has also achieved numerous #1 and Top 10 hits on various Billboard Album and Singles charts: Pop, Dance, R&B, Adult Contemporary, Holiday, Latin, Gospel and Jazz. Her critically acclaimed work in film, television, recordings and the Broadway stage has been recognized by every major industry award affiliate including 4 Emmy nominations, 11 Grammy nominations, a Tony nomination, 3 SAG award nominations, 7 NAACP Image Awards and 3 Satellite Awards. Her platinum single "Colors of the Wind," from Disney's Pocahontas, won the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. A graduate of Syracuse University, Vanessa is a strong advocate for equal rights, especially concerning the gay community and minorities. She was honored with the Human Rights Campaign "Ally for Equality" Award for her humanitarian contributions. Vanessa also achieved a career pinnacle with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. Vanessa's autobiography, You Have No Idea, co-written with her mother Helen Williams, was a New York Times Best Seller in 2012. In 2020, Vanessa released Bubble Kisses, her first picture book for children, which tells the story of a young girl with the ability to transform into a mermaid. This effervescent, lively tale is based on a song which is also available with the book and as a download. Bubble Kisses was honored with The American Book Fest Award, The National Indie Excellence Award and The International Book Award in the Category of Best Children's Picture Book - Hardcover Fiction. Vanessa's recent Broadway credits include starring in the new play POTUS - featuring an all-female cast, co-starring with Cicely Tyson in The Trip to Bountiful, (the #1 play of the 2013 season), After Midnight (2014), and a special limited engagement in Hey, Look Me Over at New York City Center in 2018. Vanessa also recently starred in the revival of City of Angels on The West End in London and special performance of Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle at Carnegie Hall. In 2021, Vanessa joined the star-studded panel of judges for the new RuPaul series, Queen Of The Universe, along with Michelle Visage, Trixie Mattel and Leona Lewis. The show is hosted by Graham Norton and airs on ViacomCBS. Vanessa is the mother of four - Melanie, Jillian, Devin and Sasha. Her charitable endeavors are many and varied, embracing and supporting such organizations as Black Theatre United, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Special Olympics, Broadway Cares-Equity Fights AIDS and several others. Vanessa is one of the world's most accomplished concert artists, appearing regularly with the most prestigious symphony orchestras in the world, including the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center.

Seth Rudetsky (Musical Director & Host) is the afternoon host on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's On Broadway as well as the host of Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Stars. As an author, he penned My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan and the sequel The Rise And Fall Of A Theater Geek (Random House) as well as three volumes of Seth's Broadway Diary featuring inside scoops and hilarious stories from all of the stars he's worked with. He co-wrote and co-starred in Disaster! (NY TIMES "critics pick") which also premiered to rave reviews in London. In June 2016, he and his husband, James Wesley, co-produced a recording of "What The World Needs Now" with stars like Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Carole King, Audra McDonald which went to number one on iTunes and raised more than $100,000 for the Orlando shooting victims (and is still raising money. Buy it!). Seth and James have a foundation called Your Kids Our Kids that presented Concert For America; a series around the country featuring stars like Barry Manilow, Keala Settle, Stephanie Mills, Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter, Randy Rainbow and Audra McDonald that raised money for 5 non-profits that have been working relentlessly since the 2016 presidential election. They also present Voices for The Voiceless, a yearly star-studded concert for You Gotta Believe which helps older foster children find families, even if they've aged out of the system. SiriusXM/Pandora also carries Seth's first podcast series: Seth Rudetsky's Back To School where he interviews stars about the ups and (hilarious) downs of their high school years. The first two seasons include Tina Fey, Bowen Yang, Allison Janney, Vanessa Williams and many more. When Broadway shut down, Seth and James started hosting / producing Stars In The House (StarsInTheHouse.com) ... a twice-daily livestream that's featured tons of Broadway stars as well as TV reunions like The West Wing, Scandal, Frasier and E.R. and has raised more than $1,000,000 for The Actors Fund. They also joined Marlo Thomas and co-produced new versions of "Free To Be You And Me" with Sara Bareilles and "Sisters And Brothers" with the Broadway Inspirational Voices with the profits going to NAACP Legal Defense Fund. You can find out more about Seth, and watch his signature "deconstructions" at SethRudetsky.com. If you want to hang out with Seth and James and a bunch of Broadway stars performing up a storm, come on one of their cruises! In April 2022 they journey from Barcelona to Venice, Italy, in June 2022 roundtrip from Southampton, England to Norway, and in October 2022 Transatlantic from New York to Southampton. More info at www.SethsBroadwayVacations.com.

MARK CORTALE is celebrating his eleventh anniversary season as Producing Artistic Director of The Art House in Provincetown, MA. Since 2011 he has presented artists that include Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, Kristin Chenoweth, Megan Mullally and Christine Ebersole. In 2019, he co-produced the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get. He founded the international Broadway @ Concert Series featuring Seth Rudetsky as music director and host in Provincetown in 2011 and has presented these concerts at theatres that include the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Broward Center, The Wallis, The Kimmel Center, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Huntington Theatre Company, The Herbst Theatre and the Leicester Square Theatre in London. Beginning in June of 2020 these concerts were offered virtually every Sunday during the pandemic as The Seth Concert Series in association with BroadwayWorld. Mark also founded the singing string quartet Well-Strung which debuted at Ars Nova and Joe's Pub in 2012. In 2020 he founded the developmental theatre lab New Works Provincetown. In conjunction with producing partners Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese, New Works Provincetown has commissioned two new full scale musicals to date: The Last Diva with a book by Jonathan Tolins, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and Maiden Voyage with book and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein and music by Carmel Dean. Info at www.markcortalepresents.com