A host of theatre stars, including West End and Broadway favorite Ramin Karimloo (Anastasia, Les Misérables), will celebrate the 80th birthday of Tony-winning composer Maury Yeston during a concert evening at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane February 22.
Entitled To Maury, With Love, the 7:30 PM concert will be directed by Thom Southerland and produced by Danielle Tarento. Karimloo will be joined on stage by Graham Bickley (They're Playing Our Song, The Pajama Game, Sunset Boulevard), Rob Houchen (Titanique, Les Misérables, Titanic), and Kelly Mathieson (The Phantom of the Opera).
The celebration will also feature the 30-piece London Musical Theatre Orchestra and a choir of graduating Musical Theatre MA students from the Royal Academy of Music, under the baton of Mark Aspinall.
Tarento and Southerland have collaborated on several of Yeston’s shows in the U.K., including the London premieres of Titanic and Death Takes a Holiday and an acclaimed revival of Grand Hotel. The forthcoming concert will feature songs from these shows as well as Yeston's version of Phantom and the Tony-winning Nine.
The evening will be orchestrated by Aspinall with lighting design by Howard Hudson and sound design by Andrew Johnson.
Karimloo, who played Barrett in the recent City Center Encores! production of Titanic and Guido Contini in Nine in Concert for Hope Mill Theatre at The Lowry, is featured in a trailer for the upcoming concert, which can be viewed below:
Producer Tarento said in a statement, “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 honor.”
The concert will raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK with all profits going towards supporting the work of this charitable organization.
Yeston won a Tony for Best Score for Titanic (which won another four Tonys, including Best Musical), and a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics to Nine. That production also won four additional Tonys, including Best Musical.
For ticket information click here.
