VIDEO: AFTER MIDNIGHT's Vanessa Williams: 'My Parents Urged Me to Pursue Music'

Vanessa Williams is guest-starring in the Broadway musical After Midnight, featuring the music of artists like Duke Ellington. The talented actress and singer stops by this morning's TODAY on NBC and tells hosts Kathie Lee and Hoda that she is thankful her music-teacher parents encouraged her to pursue the arts. Check out the appearance below!

About After Midnight:

Producers Scott Sanders and Wynton Marsalis present After Midnight, directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyleand featuring the big-band sounds of nine-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, After Midnight began previews on Friday, October 18, 2013 at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W 47th St) and officially opened tonight, November 3, 2013.

The evocative After Midnight will take the sexy, smoky glamour of the original Jazz Age and catapult it into a whole new era of heart-pounding, mind-blowing entertainment for modern Broadway audiences. Refracted through a contemporary lens, After Midnight will celebrateDuke Ellington's years at the Cotton Club using his original arrangements and performed by a world-class big band of 17 musicians hand-picked by living jazz legend, Wynton Marsalis. The timeless tunes set against a narrative of Langston Hughes poetry will provide an authentic backdrop for an array of cutting-edge performances by 25 sensational vocalists and dancers, including special guest stars, whose interpretations will shatter everything you think you know about music, nightlife and Broadway.

ABOUT VANESSA WILLIAMS

Vanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today. Having sold millions of albums worldwide, she has conquered the music charts and achieved critical acclaim for her film, stage and television work. She most recently appeared on Broadway in the Tony nominated play The Trip to Bountiful where she portrayed Jessie Mae Watts, the icy daughter-in-law toCicely Tyson's Mama Watts, roles both actresses will reprise for Lifetime's upcoming television adaptation of the Horton Foote classic. Other Broadway credits include: Into the Woods (Tony Nomination),Kiss of The Spider Woman (Theatre WORLD Award), Sondheim on Sondheim, and St. Louis Woman for City Center's acclaimed Encores! Series.