Sydnie Christmas and Madalena Alberto are the final additions to the all-star cast for To Maury, With Love – this month’s special concert celebrating multi-award-winning composer Maury Yeston’s 80th birthday.
The first female vocalist to win Britain’s Got Talent, Christmas (Disney’s 101 Dalmatians: The Musical, Eventim Apollo, From The Heart, Fortune Theatre) and Alberto (Evita, Dominion Theatre, On Your Feet, London Coliseum) will join the previously announced Ramin Karimloo (Titanic The Musical, Nine in Concert), Graham Bickley (Les Misérables, Titanic The Musical), Rob Houchen (Titanique, Titanic The Musical) and Kelly Mathieson (The Phantom of the Opera, Dr Zhivago) at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 22 February.
Directed by Thom Southerland and produced by Danielle Tarento – the team behind the London premieres of Titanic The Musical and Death Takes a Holiday and a critically acclaimed revival of Grand Hotel – To Maury, With Love will feature an overture written especially for the occasion.
Commenting on the concert which will raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK, producer Tarento said: “My working relationship and friendship with Maury is one of the great joys of my life. His musicals resonate so deeply with me and have framed so much of the past 15 years of my career. To be able to celebrate his 80th birthday in such a significant way is a privilege and an honour.”
The concert will feature the 30-piece London Musical Theatre Orchestra and a choir of graduating Musical Theatre MA students from the Royal Academy of Music, conducted by orchestrator Mark Aspinall. Lighting design is by Howard Hudson with sound design by Andrew Johnson.
One of Broadway’s most celebrated composer lyricists, Yeston won a Tony Award for Best Score for Titanic The Musical (which won another four Tonys including Best Musical), a Tony Award and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics to Nine (based on Fellini’s 1963 movie 8½) which also won four additional Tonys including Best Musical.
The Broadway revival of Nine, starring Antonio Banderas, won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival while Yeston’s contribution to the score for Grand Hotel was nominated for a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards, and the Donmar Warehouse production won an Olivier Award. His score for Phantom has received national and international acclaim, he also contributed the music and lyrics to Death Takes a Holiday, which was nominated for 11 Drama Desk Awards. Other credits include the first entirely American full-length ballet, Tom Sawyer: A Ballet In Three Acts, which premiered in Kansas City and Anything Can Happen in The Theater – The Musical World of Maury Yeston, a musical revue conceived and directed by Gerard Alessandrini which premiered in March 2020 at Manhattan’s York Theater Company.
Other works include: Cello Concerto, premiered by Yo Yo Ma; the concert album ‘Goya – A Life in Song’, featuring Placido Domingo and Gloria Estefan; December Songs, a song cycle commissioned by Carnegie Hall for its centennial celebration; and An American Cantata – 2000 Voices, a choral symphony in three movements for the National Symphony Orchestra and 2,000 singers commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Angela Thomas
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