In the performance, for which she will be accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Ian Fraser, Andrews will take the audience on a nostalgic journey through her life and career, including music from some of her greatest stage and screen performances, and will offer the live narration to "Simeon’s Gift," the best-selling children’s book written by Julie and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.
Runolfsson was previously standby to Andrews during the Broadway run of Andrews' last Broadway appearance in Victor/Victoria in 1995. Other Broadway credits include appearing in Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and originating the role of Roxane in the Dutch-originated musical version of Cyrano – the Musical that palyed at the Neil Simon Theatre in 1993-94. She has also been a swing in Aspects of Love and an understudy in James Joyce's The Dead.
Sykes, a classically trained baritone, is a respected opera, jazz and spiritual vocalist, who was named vocalist of the year by Sacred Music USA in 1996. His first album, "Jubilant," was issued on Sony Classical in 1998, followed by "Wait for Me" in 2001. He has sung at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the Deutsche Opera in Berlin, as well as with the Boston Pops, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Odekirk was recently seen at the Royal Albert Hall, re-creating his performance in the concert version of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' Swedish musical Kristina that he first gave at New York's Carnegie Hall last September. He made his Broadway debut as Marius in Les Misérables, and has gone on to perform with Andrews as well as Barbra Streisand, Bernadette Peters and Angela Lansbury.
Noll was most recently seen on Broadway playing Mother in the revival of Ragtime at the Neil Simon Theatre. Other Broadway credits include originating the role of Emma Carew in Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll and Hyde and taking over in It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. Buntrock's Broadway credits include replacement roles in Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and the Beast, and Titanic, and originating roles in Jane Eyre, Trevor Nunn's productions of Oklahoma! and currently A Little Night Music, as well as creating the role of Teen Angel in the most recent Broadway revival of Grease in 2007.
Andrews famously made her Broadway debut in 1954, starring as Polly in the Broadway transfer of the West End production of The Boy Friend. She subsequently created the roles of Eliza Doolittle in the original 1956 Broadway production of My Fair Lady and Guenevere in the original 1960 Broadway production of Camelot; she was last seen on Broadway re-creating the role of Victoria Grant that she had originally played on film in the musical version of Victor/Victoria. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her appearances in My Fair Lady, Camelot and Victor/Victoria, but did not win. She was also seen Off-Broadway in 1993 when she starred in Putting it Together at Manhattan Theatre Club.
She is also well-known for her appearances in such films as "Mary Poppins," "The Sound of Music," "The Princess Diaries," the "Shrek" films and "Eloise at the Plaza."
In a press statement, she commented, “To perform once again in my homeland on the London stage will be a wonderful moment - it is where it all began for me, and I am so excited to be able to share a brand new work with audiences."
For ticket inquiries for the sold-out concert, contact the box office on 0844 856 0202, or visit www.the02.co.uk.
