Seven-time NAACP Image Award winner, former Miss America, and Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award nominee Vanessa Williams was in New York City earlier this week to see the Broadway show she is co-producer for, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, at Studio 54. Notables in attendance included producers Tonya Lewis Lee, Gena Avery Knowles, and Les Coney; author and television and radio personality Bevy Smith; ABC television journalist Deborah Roberts; Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell; stylist to the stars June Ambrose; and actress Lisa Arrindell.
After the show, in which Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart gave an award-worthy performance of the master musician, Williams was invited on stage.
“Vanessa was not able to be at opening night because Vanessa was starring in her own show, she was in London in Devil Wears Prada,” Iglehart said before she took photos with the cast. Williams stars as Miranda Priestly in the musical currently at London’s Dominion Theatre.
Iglehart then honored her mother, music educator Helen Williams, who passed away in late December. Dozens of students who are musicians were also in attendance to celebrate the elder Williams.
“The fun thing is we did a show about Louis Armstrong, and in New Orleans, when someone that we love goes home, we don’t mourn them, we celebrate them, and we just want to say thank you and thank you for what you’ve done for us, and we thank your mom for what she did for us. We are going to celebrate how we do in New Orleans with a second line!”
Musicians then played a jazzed-up version of “Oh When The Saints Go Marching In,” popularized by Armstrong, as they left the stage accompanied by Williams.
A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical is a spirited show with a talented cast that details the beginnings of the iconic trumpeter, including his journeys around the country and his relationships with his four wives.
