The Broad Stage Presents Tony Award Winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, 3/9, 11

Brian Stokes Mitchell's credits include work as an actor, singer, dancer, voice-over artist, author, arranger, orchestrator, conductor and record producer. He has enjoyed a career on Broadway, television and film, along with appearances in the great American concert halls. On Valentine's Day this year, he joined the national TV phenomenon of Glee (along with Jeff Goldblum) to play one of Rachel's (Lea Michele) two Dads. 

Stokes Mitchell has performed selections from Porgy and Bess with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony at Carnegie Hall; works by Aaron Copland and various contemporary composers at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the batons of Leonard Slatkin and John Mauceri; Broadway tunes at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch; and jazz and standards with John Williams at Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Boston Pops. He premiered Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici's Rip Van Winkle with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin.

Stokes Mitchell headlined the Carnegie Hall concert presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific with Reba McEntire, which aired on PBS in the spring 2006 and was also released on DVD and CD. He reprised his role along with Reba McEntire in July 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl and returned to the Bowl in 2008 starring as Javert in Les Misérables (Lea Michele sang Eponine) and in 2009 as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls. He also starred as Frank Butler with Patti LuPone in Annie Get Your Gun at Ravinia. 

In December 2004, Stokes Mitchell reprised his Tanglewood performance in John Williams' jazz version of My Fair Lady at Walt Disney Concert Hall, singing with Dianne Reeves. His one-man show Love/Life debuted in 2005 at Feinstein's at the Regency then moved to the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. 

Stokes Mitchell's Broadway career includes performances in Man of La Mancha (Tony nomination and Helen Hayes Award); Kiss Me Kate (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards); Ragtime (Tony nomination); August Wilson's King Hedley II (Tony nomination); Jelly's Last Jam; David Merrick's Oh, Kay! and Mail, which earned him a Theatre World award for outstanding Broadway Debut. In 1998 he was the sole recipient of that year's Distinguished Performance Award from the Drama League, the nation's oldest theatrical honor, for his performance in Ragtime. 

Stokes Mitchell has appeared on numerous cast albums and has been a featured guest with various artists from Michael Franks to his collaboration with children's recording sensation Dan Zanes. In 2007 he released his self-titled album as the inaugural artist on the Playbill Records label. In addition to singing, Stokes Mitchell produced the album and also wrote many of the arrangements and orchestrations. The executive producer was Stokes Mitchell's frequent collaborator, Richard Jay-Alexander and it was mixed by 15-time Grammy winner Al Schmitt.

More Articles by This Author...