Walk of Fame star for recording artist Sarah Brightman to be unveiled
A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame will be unveiled Thursday honoring recording artist Sarah Brightman, the world’s biggest-selling soprano, pioneer of the classical crossover music movement and originator of the role of Christine Daaé in both the West End and Broadway productions of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Tony winning-actress Kristin Chenoweth, Emilie Kouatchou and Anthony Van Laast are scheduled to join Brightman in speaking at the 11:30 a.m. ceremony in front of the Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
Kouatchou plays Daaé in the Broadway production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” the first Black actress to play the role. Van Laast was the choreographer of the 2008 concert, “Sarah Brightman: Symphony in Vienna.”
The ceremony comes six days before the first of Brightman’s three concerts at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas.
The star is the 2,736th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the first 1,558 stars. The ceremony will be streamed on the Walk of Fame’s website, www.walkoffame.com.
Born Aug. 14, 1960, in Berkhamsted, England, 26 miles northwest of London, and raised there, Brightman began singing and dancing when she was 3 years old. She began her career as a member of the television dance troupe, Hot Gossip, and released several successful disco hit singles as a solo performer.
Brightman made her West End musical theatre debut in 1981 in “Cats,” meeting composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed “The Phantom of the Opera” and was Brightman’s husband from 1984-90.
The original London cast album of “The Phantom of the Opera,” released in 1987, sold over 40 million copies worldwide, the most for a cast album.
Brightman has released more than 15 solo albums, many debuting at No. 1 on the classical and crossover Billboard charts.
Brightman is the first artist to have performed the theme song at the Olympics twice, first at the 1992 Barcelona Games, then at the 2008 Beijing Games. She also performed at the 2007 Concert for Diana and the Kennedy Center Honors.