News

Wicked's leading ladies Rachel Tucker and Louise Dearman will spread some charity magic at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in January when they perform alongside Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole and Elaine Paige at a special gala event on behalf of World Hunger Day. The theatre (home of the hit musical) has been kindly donated for the evening by The Ambassador Theatre Group.

Stellar Line-Up Confirmed

A stellar line-up has been confirmed for the red carpet evening on Sunday 09 January 2011, including UK Soul Queen Mica Paris, Opera Singer Simon Keenlyside, The London Gospel Community Choir and the legendary Dionne Warwick, who recently celebrating her 70th birthday!

In a career spanning more than 48 years, Dionne has established herself as an international music legend, selling over 100 million records since her first hit in 1962 - “Don’t Make Me Over”

Dionne Warwick Thrilled to Take Part

Speaking in support of the charity event, Dionne said: "When Tim Holder, Country Director of The Hunger Project UK, first got in touch earlier this year to let me know about the invaluable work that The Hunger Project does around the world, asking if I could help him re-launch the charity in the UK, I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of the process of change."

The star added: "I'm so thrilled to have been able to support this project's incredible growth over recent months and am looking forward to joining the team in London to launch ‘World Hunger Day – Empowering People. Ending Hunger’ on January 9th, 2011.”

'No Good Deed' Goes Unnoticed for Wicked's Witches

Rachel Tucker (Elphaba) and Louise Dearman (Glinda) joined the cast of Wicked in March 2010 and immediately impressed critics and fans alike.

Rachel was recently nominated for a Whatsonstage.com Award, in the category of Best Takeover in a Role for her performances in the show.

Both actresses have seen their contracts extended until 10 December 2011!

Raising Money for The Hunger Project

The Hunger Project was founded in the US more than 30 years ago by, among others, the singer/songwriter, John Denver.  It now works across 13 ‘programme’ countries in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. The charity’s main office in the developed world is in New York, with supporting partner country operations across Europe and Australasia.

For Gala Concert tickets and further information about World Hunger Day, please visit www.worldhungerday.org.uk.

The Dionne Warwick & Friends Line-Up Includes:

• Multi-Grammy Award Winner, Natalie Cole
• The First Lady of Musical Theatre, Elaine Paige
• The UK’s Queen of Soul, Mica Paris
• International Opera Singer, Simon Keenlyside
• The Royal Ballet’s Stephen McRae
• The entire orchestra of The Southbank Sinfonia
• The London Gospel Community Choir
• Wicked Leading Ladies, Rachel Tucker & Louise Dearman
• Jazz Singer, Jumoke Fashola
• Singer/Songwriter, David Elliott

The concert will be held on 09 January 2011 at 7.30pm at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.