Young Artists of America at Strathmore Presents World Premiere of The Circle of Life: The Songs of Tim Rice in Concert

Young Artists of America at Strathmore (YAA) is thrilled to announce the world premiere of The Circle of Life: The Songs of Tim Rice in Concert which will take place on March 12th, 2017 at 5:00pm at the Music Center at Strathmore. It will feature over 250 artists from the Young Artists of America Orchestra, Vocal Ensemble and YAAjunior, as well as the Walt Whitman High School Combined Choruses (Bethesda, MD) and dancers from Studio Dans in Fulton, MD. Hugh Wooldridge (Chess in Concert, Royal Albert Hall; An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner, Lincoln Center; The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber) has devised the concert specifically for YAA and will guest direct, during his time as YAA Artist-in-Residence. Broadway star Adam Pascal (Rent, Aida, Something Rotten) will perform as guest artist, appearing alongside the over 250 young artists. Sir Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Aida, Chess, Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King) has helped to curate the performance, and will also participate in the performance via video.

Leading up to the performance, YAA will be selling tickets for a raffle for the chance to win two orchestra tickets to Broadway's Hamilton plus a two night's stay at The Phillips Club in Lincoln Center, and a round-trip luxury shuttle bus ride from DC to NYC. Tickets for this raffle will be open to the public starting Monday, February 27th at www.yaa.org/win.

For tickets ($18-$68) or for more information about each of these performances, visit www.yaa.org/performances.

Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal starred as the original Roger Davis in the Off-Broadway, Broadway and London Productions of RENT. Was the original Radames in Broadway's AIDA. Starred as the final Emcee in the Roundabout's Broadway production of Cabaret. Played Huey Calhoun in Broadway's Memphis and Billy Flynn in Broadway's long running hit Chicago. Most recently he played Chad in Broadway's Disaster! and Shakespeare in Broadway's Something Rotten. He is the co-owner, along with his wife Cybele, of the Gluten and Allergen free packaged foods company Cybele's Free To Eat which can be found in thousands of supermarkets across the country.

Hugh Wooldridge
As a freelance director Hugh Wooldridge has directed theatre and teleVision Productions throughout Europe, Africa, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States. In England he has been a resident director with the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead and the Prospect Theatre Company at The Old Vic Theatre, London. His most recent productions have been An Evening With Tim Rice (Henley Festival and Holder's Festival, Barbados introduced by Tim Rice), the Variety Club stellar tribute to lyricist Don Black, a celebration of 350 years of Jewish Music with Michael Ball, Maria Friedman and Michel Legrand (the new Roundhouse), the workshop production of the screenplay of the Andrew Lloyd Webber movie, The Phantom Of The Opera, the live, stadium-event, version of BBC TV's Robot Wars, and a full-scale revival of the Rice / Lloyd Webber musical Evita featuring a cast of 125 (Grand Theatre, Leeds). He is thrilled to be working with YAA. Full bio.

Sir Tim Rice (bio from Wikipedia)
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an English author and Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award, and Grammy Award-winning lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita; with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA, with whom he wrote Chess; for additional songs for the 2011 West Endrevival of The Wizard of Oz; and for his work for Walt Disney Studios with Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, King David), Elton John (The Lion King, Aida, The Road to El Dorado) and Ennio Morricone. One of the most celebrated lyricists in British popular culture, Rice was knighted by Elizabeth II for services to music in 1994. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, is a Disney Legend recipient, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.