Ellis, May & Jersey Boys Join Proms in the Park

This year’s BBC Proms in the Park on 11 September with feature performances from Oliver! star Kerry Ellis and Queen guitarist Brian May.

The annual Hyde Park extravaganza – now in its 15th year – has become Britain’s largest outdoor classical music event and is expected to attract over 40,000 people again this year.

Ellis and May, who performed together in The Great British Songbook concert at the Shaw Theatre last year, join a line-up that also includes the award-winning soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The event also sees the return of one third of the world-famous Three Tenors, José Carreras, and the BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of Martin Yates.
 

Abba tribute band Björn Again, Nell Bryden, Serpentine Fire and the cast of Jersey Boys will start the entertainment in the afternoon’s warm-up events, hosted by BBC Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce.

The evening concert will culminate in a live video link-up with the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and a “nationwide sing-along” to favourites including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s You’ll Never Walk Alone.

The Proms have a distinctly theatrical flavour this year – Stephen Sondheim‘s 80th birthday will be celebrated with a special ‘all-Sondheim Prom’ on 31 July 2010, featuring a cast led by Bryn Terfel, Maria Friedman and Simon Russell Beale. And musical theatre will feature again later in the season with Prom 49: A Celebration of Rodgers and Hammerstein, on 22 August 2010.