Betsy Wolfe, Norm Lewis, and Rachel Tucker to Join Jason Robert Brown at The Palladium

Special guests announced for three-time Tony Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown's one-off West End concert at London's Palladium, as part of BBC Radio 2's 'Friday Night is Music Night', accompanied by the 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra

Broadway stars Norm Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera) and Betsy Wolfe (Waitress) will appear alongside Wicked star Rachel Tucker

This April, three-time Tony Award winning composer, conductor and pianist Jason Robert Brown is coming to London for one night only for a special concert with the 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra. Today it is announced that he will be joined by Broadway stars Norm Lewis and Betsy Wolfe and star of Wicked Rachel Tucker.

An Evening with Jason Robert Brown will feature music from his dazzling musicals including the Tony Award winning productions of The Bridges of Madison County and Parade, his debut song cycle Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years and Honeymoon in Vegas.

Jason Robert Brown will be joined on the evening by special guests Norm Lewis - who has recently appeared in the NBC television special Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert and was the first African American Phantom in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway -, star of Wicked and The Last Ship Rachel Tucker, and Betsy Wolfe, who recently finished starring in the hit Broadway musical Waitress, taking over the lead role from Sara Bareilles. The evening will include his most popular songs and introduce new work that has never been heard this side of the Atlantic. Conducted by Broadway maestro Larry Blank, it is a chance to catch one of the giants of contemporary musical theatre at the iconic London Palladium with a 60-piece live orchestra.

Norm Lewis was recently seen in the NBC television special, "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!," alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. He recently appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. In May of 2014, he made history as The Phantom of the Opera's first African American Phantom on Broadway. He has been seen on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, and New Year's Eve: A Gershwin Celebration with Diane Reeves, as well as American Voices with Renée Fleming and the PBS Special First You Dream - The Music of Kander & Ebb. He can be seen recurring in the VH1 series, Daytime Divas, also alongside Vanessa Williams. His additional television credits include Chicago Med, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Blue Bloods, as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal. Lewis received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who's Tommy. In London's West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS. Off-Broadway Mr. Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park's The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain. His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks. On film he can be seen in the newly released drama, Magnum Opus, and has appeared in Winter's Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, and Preaching to the Choir. Norm's solo debut album "This is The Life" can be found on Amazon.com as well as cdbaby.com. Website: www.normlewis.com

Rachel Tucker is best known for her award-winning portrayal of Elphaba in Wicked in the West End. She made her acclaimed Broadway debut in Sting's musical The Last Ship, which was later followed by a stint as Elphaba in New York. Recently she completed her green journey by performing as part of Wicked's 10th Anniversary. Other credits include Communicating Doors (Menier), Farragut North (Southwark Playhouse), We Will Rock You (West End), The Wizard of Oz, To Be Sure (Belfast Lyric), Tommy, The Full Monty (National Tour). She has performed solo concerts at Live at Zedel and Shoreditch Town Hall and as part of a National tour. Her first album, The Reason, was released in 2013 and her second, On the Road, was released in 2017 when it was nominated for The Curtain Up Show Album of the Year award.

Betsy Wolfe recently finished starring in the hit Broadway musical Waitress, taking over the lead role from the composer and pop star Sara Bareilles. Prior to Waitress she was on Broadway starring in Falsettos as Cordelia, one of the lovable "lesbians from next door", directed by James Lapine. Her other Broadway credits include Woody Allen's musical adaptation of Bullets Over Broadway where she played opposite Zach Braff, under the direction of Susan Stroman. Previously, she starred in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years at Second Stage Theatre and the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Rosa Bud. Prior to that Wolfe played Beth in Merrily We Roll Along at Encores! and created the role of Mary Ann Singleton in ACT's world premiere of Tales of the City, a musical based on the Armistead Maupin novels. Other Broadway credits includes Everyday Rapture with Sherie Rene Scott (a show she also performed Off- Broadway), 110 in the Shade, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Douglas Carter Beane's adaptation of Die Fledermaus, which she recently returned to for an encore engagement. Wolfe starred in the La Jolla Playhouse world premiere production of Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez's new musical Up Here, under the direction of Alex Timbers. She starred in the San Francisco and Boston companies of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Wolfe has been a guest artist for over 40 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras across the U.S. and internationally including the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Last season she performed with Maestro Reineke and Darren Criss to sold out crowds at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center with their show "Broadway Today". Recordings include Falsettos, Bullets over Broadway, The Last Five Years, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Stage Door Canteen, 35MM, and Merrily We Roll Along. She holds a BFA in musical theatre from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Wolfe can also be seen in the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. www.betsywolfe.com Instagram- @bwolfepack

Jason Robert Brown says: "My general feeling about musicians is 'the more the merrier', and particularly so when it's a group of musicians as versatile, as sensitive, and as spectacularly virtuosic as the members of the BBC Concert Orchestra. I can't wait to share the music I've written with these brilliant musicians, these glorious singers, and the wonderful audience at the Palladium and on the air!"

Jason Robert Brown is a composer, conductor and pianist. His musicals include The Bridge of Madison County (Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, Broadway), Parade (Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway), Honeymoon in Vegas (Nederlander Theater, Broadway), 13 (Bernard B Jacobs Theater, Broadway) and The Last Five Years (Chicago and Off-Broadway) which was adapted into a feature film in 2015 starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. He has won three Tony Awards (Best Original Score for Parade and The Bridges of Madison County and Best Orchestrations for The Bridges of Madison County), four Drama Desk Awards (for Outstanding Music for Parade, The Last Five Years and The Bridges of Madison County and Outstanding Lyrics for The Last Five Years), an Outer Critics' Circle Award (Outstanding New Score for The Bridges of Madison County) and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (Best Musical for Parade). He has previously played sold out London concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Garrick Theatre, Apollo Theatre and Charing Cross Theatre.

BBC Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night is the world's longest-running live orchestral music programme on radio, featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra and broadcast from locations throughout the UK. BBC Radio 2 is the UK's most popular radio station, with a weekly audience of 15.36m

Conductor Larry Blank is a composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor who has worked in theatre, films, television and concerts. He has been nominated for three Tony Awards, for his orchestrations of Catch Me If You Can, White Christmas, and The Drowsy Chaperone. In 2012 his orchestrations were performed in Singin' in the Rain at the Palace Theatre in London.

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