Signature Theatre and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announce the headliners for their sixth annual musical theater collaboration, Broadway in the Park (Saturday, June 20 at 8 PM). The concert will welcome Emmy Award nominee Tituss Burgess (Netflix’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Broadway’s Oh, Mary!) and Tony Award winner Heather Headley (Broadway’s Aida, The Lion King) to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap and will feature a cast of Signature favorites. The show will be directed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner; Jon Kalbfleisch is the music director and conductor.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Emmy and SAG-nominated actor, musician, and writer Tituss Burgess is one of the entertainment industry’s most versatile and dynamic performers, with his work in television, film, and theater generating both critical and commercial acclaim. Tituss starred as ‘Titus Andromedon’ in the hit Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. After four seasons on the show, he garnered nominations for four consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, and two Critics’ Choice TV Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He reprised his role in the Netflix interactive special Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
On stage, Burgess most recently starred as Mary Todd Lincoln in a limited run of Cole Escola’s hit Broadway comedy, Oh, Mary! He made his Broadway debut in 2005 as ‘Eddie’ in Good Vibrations. Since then, he’s held many memorable roles, including ‘Hal Miller’ in Jersey Boys, ‘Nicely-Nicely Johnson’ in the 2009 revival of Guys and Dolls, ‘Sebastian the Crab’ in The Little Mermaid, and ‘Harold Zidler’ in Moulin Rouge. In May 2024, Tituss debuted his own musical adaptation of The Preacher’s Wife at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre.
Tituss will next star in the upcoming animated feature film The Cat in the Hat. He has also starred in the MGM Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, the comedy Set It Up and the biopic Dolemite Is My Name, both for Netflix. An accomplished voice actor, Tituss starred in the animated musical comedy series Central Park for Apple TV+, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance, his sixth Emmy nomination. In 2024, his voice talents featured in Netflix’s animated feature Spellbound, in which he starred as the voice of ‘Sunny’ – Oracle of the Sun alongside Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis and Nathan Lane. Tituss currently resides in New York.
Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley considers her multi-faceted career a blessing. She was born and spent most of her childhood on the beautiful Caribbean island of Trinidad. The family moved to the United States in the early 90’s where Heather’s love for the arts continued.
In 1997 Heather won the role of Nala in the original Broadway cast of Elton John and Tim Rice’s hit Tony-winning musical The Lion King. While still in The Lion King, Heather was asked to audition for the title role in the writing duo’s next Broadway venture together, Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. Her portrayal of the Nubian princess, Aida, won her the praise of critics and the prestigious Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In addition to other awards, she also received the coveted Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. That year she was listed as one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People and Essence Magazine’s 30 Women To Watch. In 2012 Heather made a triumphant return to the stage, starring in The Bodyguard in London’s West End, where she gained the critics praise and a new fan base overseas.
Heather continued her musical success on the pop charts with her 2002 debut album on RCA Records, This Is Who I Am which featured productions by several top-flight producers. Two songs, “He Is” and the album track “I Wish I Wasn’t,” both emerged as Top 5 R&B and Dance chart hits. Heather earned numerous accolades for This Is Who I Am, including Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Heather returned in January 2006 with In My Mind, her long-awaited second solo album. The opening title tune single became Heather’s first #1 hit, topping the Dance and R&B charts.
In 2009 Heather released Audience of One for which she won the Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album. In 2012 she released Only One In The World, an album that featured songs that Heather wrote as well as some of her favorite songs that she covered. To the audience and critics’ delight, Heather made her return to Broadway in 2016 starring in the Tony Award-winning The Color Purple in role of Shug Avery. In 2018 Heather had a recurring role on Chicago Med playing the formidable Gwen Garrett. In 2021 Heather won the critics’ praise for her role of the Witch in the New York City Center’s production of Into The Woods. Heather can currently be seen as a series regular on the Netflix series Sweet Magnolias.
Broadway in the Park, presented by Signature Theatre and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, performs Saturday, June 20 at 8:00 PM at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Rd, Vienna, VA. Tickets start at $49.50 and are available at the Wolf Trap box office, by phone at 703.255.1868, or online.
ABOUT SIGNATURE THEATRE
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award-winning regional theater that broadens and brightens the region’s cultural landscape with its bold productions of challenging new and established works and engaging education and outreach programs. Founded in 1989 by Eric Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio, and currently under the leadership of Managing Director Maggie Boland and Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, musical theater is Signature’s “signature,” and the Theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects. Signature combines Broadway-caliber productions with intimate playing spaces and aims to be a leading force in U.S. musical theater.
Since its inception, the Theatre has produced 61 world premiere works — including 20 new musical commissions. Signature opens its doors to more than 100,000 people annually from the Washington, DC region and beyond and reaches more than 10,000 students every year through its innovative education programs, including the award-winning initiative Signature in the Schools. Signature has won 148 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region’s professional theater and has been honored with 527 nominations.
ABOUT WOLF TRAP
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, produces and presents a full range of performance and education programs in the Greater Washington area, as well as nationally. Wolf Trap features three performance venues: the outdoor Filene Center and Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, both located at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and The Barns at Wolf Trap, located adjacent to the Center for Education at Wolf Trap. The 7,028-seat Filene Center is operated in partnership with the National Park Service and annually showcases an extensive array of diverse artists, ranging from pop, country, folk, and blues to classical music, and dance from May through September. The Barns at Wolf Trap is operated by Wolf Trap Foundation year-round, and during the summer months is home to the Grammy-nominated Wolf Trap Opera, one of America’s outstanding professional training programs for early career opera singers. Wolf Trap’s education programs include the nationally acclaimed Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, a nationally recognized internship program, arts education classes, and grantmaking programs.
