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Richard Sings 1000 Voices Finale as Matinee Added

Ageless pop star Sir Cliff Richard (pictured) will join The Woman in White’s Michael Ball, Best Actress in a Musical Olivier Award winner Laura Michelle Kelly from Mary Poppins, Caroline Sheen, Tiffany Graves, Annette McLaughlin, Broadway’s Len Cariou and others for this year’s The Night of 1000 Voices, the annual musicals spectacular which celebrates its fifth anniversary on Bank Holiday Sunday 1 May 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall (See News, 1 Dec 2004). An extra matinee performance of The Night of 1000 Voices has also been announced, at 4.00pm on the same day.

The 2005 gala performance is hosted by TV presenter Gloria Hunniford, who hosted the first-ever Night in 1999, and is performed in aid of the Caron Keating Foundation, the cancer charity set up in memory of Hunniford’s late daughter. Richard was a close family friend, who visited Keating when she was ill. He will sing the final number at the gala, an a capella version of “Miss You Nights”, Keating’s favourite song.

The programme of songs for 2005 will include “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, “Tonight”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, “Make Our Garden Grow”, “Superstar”, “Anthem”, “Memory”, “The Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from the musicals Evita, West Side Story, Carousel, Candide, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess, Cats and The Lion King.

Other soloists now confirmed to take part in this year’s event are: Brad Little, Patricia Nessy, Teri Bibb, Kenneth Nicols, Kelli James, Peter Prentice and David Michael Johnson. The Night of 1000 Voices is directed by Hugh Wooldridge, with David Firman conducting the City of London Philharmonic orchestra. Performers will be accompanied by the Sing Live choir amassed from around the British Isles.

Previous years’ celebrations have been themed around director Trevor Nunn, lyricist Tim Rice, composer Stephen Sondheim and musicals through the millennium. Additional charities benefiting from the 2005 gala performance will be the Alan Jay Lerner Fund for Cancer Research at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

- by Terri Paddock

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