Unforgettable: Celebrating the Nat King Cole Centennial

Ryan Shaw is a three-time Grammy-nominated artist. He most recently appeared as Judas in the Lyric Opera House (Chicago) U.S. debut of the critically acclaimed Regents Park (London) production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which won the Oliver for Best Musical Revival. He also stared as the original Stevie Wonder in Motown the Musical on Broadway; on London’s West End, he was the Soul of Michael Jackson in Thriller Live. Ryan has toured the world and shared the stage with such artists as Van Halen, Bonnie Rait, Joss Stone, John Legend, B.B. King, Bruce Hornsby, and Jill Scott, to name a few.

As a concert soloist, Ryan made his Radio City Music Hall debut at the Dream Concert benefit to build the Martin Luther King Jr. National Monument in Washington, D.C. His Carnegie Hall appearances include the Elton John and Bernie Taupin Tribute and A Celebration of The African American Cultural Legacy, curated by Jessye Norman. He headlined Carnegie Hall’s Nat King Cole Centennial Concert. Ryan was the second artist in history to perform a return engagement at the Central Park SummerStage Gala (second to Stevie Wonder). The Houston Symphony featured Ryan at a July 4^th celebration and its R&B Mixtape concert.

Upcoming and recent concerts include engagements with the Houston Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, Philly Pops, National Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Tucson Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Springfield (OH) Symphony, and Calgary Philharmonic, among many others.

New York native Josette Newsam has been seen as solo and background vocalist on Today, Live! with Regis and Kelly, and Live! with Kelly and Michael and heard on voice-overs for NBCUniversal. She has performed lead and background vocals with amazing artists such as Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon, Melba Moore, Lou Reed, Macy Gray, Angélique Kidjo, Nona Hendryx, Billy Bragg, Norm Lewis, and Ben E. King.

Her regional theatre engagements include Ragtime as Sarah, Ain’t Misbehavin’ as Nell, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s The Party (Ensemble), and A Christmas Carol (Ensemble).

She toured with Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon’s musical adaptations of Gustave Flaubert’s The Temptation of St. Anthony and renowned director Robert Wilson’s Zinnias. She is currently Mrs. Sims in the musical adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.

Josette is a member of the world-traveling gospel group The Bobby Lewis Ensemble and Toshi Reagon’s band Big Lovely as lead and background vocalist.