Tony Award Winner Brian Stokes Mitchell Returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in SIMPLY BROADWAY, 10/10

Broadway's favorite leading man, Brian Stokes Mitchell, opens Segerstrom Center's 2014 - 2015 Cabaret Season with his one-man-show Simply Broadway on Friday, October 10 at 8 p.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. For his return visit to the Center, the dashing Tony Award-winning artist with the captivating baritone voice will perform some of his favorite Broadway songs from Camelot, Porgy and Bess, Company, Sunday in the Park with George, LES MISERABLES and many more. He will be joined by pianist Tedd Firth.

The New York Times review of Simply Broadway proclaimed, "Mr. Mitchell commands a singularly thunderous baritone whose size matches the egos of vainglorious stage characters like Don Quixote from Man of La Mancha and Lancelot from Camelot. Unfurled in layers to uncover a feral growl at its bottom end, the voice accomplishes what no amount of heroic preening and posing could achieve. You tremble before its visceral impact. More important, you believe in these guys. Few other Broadway baritones have such vocal resources."

Tickets to Brian Stokes Mitchell - Simply Broadway are available now by subscribing to the 2014 - 2015 Cabaret Series. Single tickets, starting at $39, will go on sale Sunday, September 7 at 10 a.m. PST and will be available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds special underwriting support from Steve and Herma Brenneis.
Kia is the Official Automotive Partner of the Center and United Airlines is the Official Airline of the Center.

Segerstrom Center's 2014 - 2015 Cabaret Series also includes Johnny Mathis, Judy Collins, Laura Benanti and Ann Hampton Callaway. For more information, please visit www.scfta.org/cabaret.

Dubbed "the last leading man" by The New York Times, Brian Stokes Mitchell enjoys a career that spans Broadway, television, film and concert appearances with the country's finest conductors and orchestras. He has received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for his star turn in Kiss Me, Kate. He also

has given Tony-nominated performances in Man of La Mancha, August Wilson's King Hedley II and Ragtime. Other notable Broadway shows include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Jelly's Last Jam and most recently, Lincoln Center's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

An extremely versatile and in-demand singer, Stokes' performances have embraced jazz, opera, pop, country and musical theater. He has worked with John Williams, Marvin Hamlisch, Keith Lockhart, Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul Gemignani, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Big Band, The Mormon Tabernacle choir and the Muppets. Stokes has made multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall, beginning with his debut with the San Francisco Symphony through his televised performance in South Pacific opposite Reba McEntire to his sold-out solo concert, which he continues to perform throughout the U.S. He has been invited to the White House and has performed for Presidents Clinton and Obama.

Stokes has appeared on more than 20 albums, including his eponymous first solo CD. His newest solo album, Simply Broadway, was named one of the best albums of 2013 by USA TODAY. Inspired by a 1975 recording by Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, Simply Broadway was produced in a similar "old-school" style without overdubs or audio separation - Stokes and his pianist, Tedd Firth, were in the same room at the same time as they recorded the tracks to some of the most endearing classics of the Great White Way. Stokes also produced the album and co-arranged the tracks with Firth.

Stokes has enjoyed working with numerous charitable organizations from the March of Dimes to the USO,
and is in his twelfth term as Chairman of the Board of The Actors Fund. For more information, please visit
www.brianstokes.com.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi-disciplinary
cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.