After Midnight: Vanessa Williams to guest star

Multi-Platinum recording artist and Tony Award-nominee Vanessa Williams will join the rotation of special guest stars in the Broadway premiere of After Midnight - a new production of Cotton Club Parade - playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Williams will star in the musical from 01 Apr - 11 May as the show's fifth special guest star. Fantasia Barrino guest starred from 18 Oct 2013 - 09 Feb 2014, K.D. Lang currently guest stars through to 11 Mar 2013, followed by Toni Braxton and Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds who jointly guest star from 18 - 30 Mar 2014.

Vanessa Williams has been nominated for 11 Grammy awards and her many hits include "Save the Best For Last," "You Can't Run," "The Right Stuff," "Dreamin'," "Runnin' Back to You," "The Comfort Zone," "The Way That You Love," "Love Is," and Alan Menken/Stephen Schwartz's Academy Award winning song "Colors of the Wind." She last appeared on Broadway in the 2013 revival of 'The Trip to Bountiful,' starring alongside Cicely Tyson and Cuba Gooding Jr. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as the 'Witch' in the 2002 revival of 'Into the Woods.'

After Midnight opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on 03 Nov 2014, following previews from 18 Oct 2014, where it is currently booking through to 31 Aug 2014.

The show opened to mostly good reviews: Sparkling new jazz revue (NY Times); An exhilarating joyride (NYDN); Brings class back to Broadway (NYP); It's thoroughly entertaining (Record); It's jazz heaven (Hollywood Reporter).

The regular cast of After Midnight features Dulé Hill, who leads the audience through the Harlem Renaissance as 'The Host'; Tony Award-winner Adriane Lenox ('Doubt') as the blues singer with a sense of humor; Julius "Iglide" Chisholm from the dance crew RemoteKontrol, reimagining Harlem's popular 1920's "snakehips" dance; hip hop performer Virgil J. Gadson; Tony Award-nominated modern dancer Karine Plantadit ('Come Fly Away'); Michael Jackson's tap coach Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards and tap-dancing choreographer Jared Grimes.

After Midnight is conceived by Jack Viertel, with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.

After Midnight celebrates Duke Ellington's years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s and '30s, when the joint was jumping with shows featuring big band swing and blues music.

The production features singers, dancers, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. The score includes songs by jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields ("I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Digga Digga Doo"), a young Harold Arlen ("Stormy Weather," "I've Got the World on a String," "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,"), and the legendary Duke Ellington ("Rockin' in Rhythm," "Cotton Club Stomp," "Black and Tan Fantasy," and "Creole Love Call").

The timeless tunes set against a narrative of Langston Hughes poetry provide a backdrop for an array of performances by 25 vocalists and dancers, including special guest stars.

The creative team will include costumes by Isabel and Ruben Toledo, sets by John Lee Beatty, lighting by Howell Binkley and sound by Peter Hylenski.

Encores! Special event production of the jazz musical 'Cotton Club Parade,' now named After Midnight, played two runs at New York City Center in 2011 and 2012.

After Midnight is produced by Scott Sanders Productions, and Wynton Marsalis, in association with Marks-Moore-Turnbull Group; Stephen and Ruth Hendel; and Tom Kirdahy.