Baranski, Connick, Laine, Voigt, et al. to Appear at Kennedy Center in 2007

Christine Baranski, Harry Connick, Jr., James Earl Jones, Dame Cleo Laine, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Doc Severinsen, and Deborah Voigt are among the performers scheduled to appear at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2007.

Voigt, one of the opera world’s leading sopranos, will appear with National Symphony Orchestra in a concert version of Richard Strauss’ Salome, January 18, 20 and 21. Severinsen, the world-famous trumpeter and former Tonight Show bandleader, will appear with National Symphony Orchestra Pops in a salute to Duke Ellington, January 25-27.

Laine, the award-winning singer, will team with her husband Sir John Dankworth for Shakespeare and All That Jazz, a concert featuring songs inspired by the playwright on February 18. Jones will host “Jazz in Our Time” on March 3, a concert featuring 35 jazz luminaries, including Nancy Wilson and Regina Carter.

Connick, seen earlier this year on Broadway in The Pajama Game, will host the Center’s 14th Annual Kennedy Center Gala on April 29; Baranski and Mitchell will re-team for Sweeney Todd: The Reunion Concert on June 22-23; the pair previously starred in the Stephen Sondheim musical as part of the Center’s Sondheim Celebration.

Theater offerings for 2007 will include the national tour of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Bill Irwin and Kathleen Turner, a new production of the musical Carnival, the national tour of Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands, 4D Art’s The Tempest/La Tempete, and The Phantom of the Opera.

For more information, call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.