Audra! Idina! Olivo! Broadway Stars Light up July 4 Fireworks

The annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks celebration will be even more dazzling this year, thanks to appearances by Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, and Karen Olivo and the cast of West Side Story.

Newly minted Tony winner Olivo and her castmates will be performing—what else?—“America.” And Tony winners Audra McDonald and Idina Menzel are bringing their vocal pyrotechnics to “American River Suite,” an original work by Ragtime composer Stephen Flaherty and Macy’s creative director William Schermerhorn. They’ll be backed by the Choir Academy of Harlem, the New York Pops and approximately 40,000 exploding shells. The piece, which Menzel and Anika Noni Rose premiered in April 2009 at Carnegie Hall, was commissioned for the fireworks celebration.

Set on Manhattan’s Hudson River, the 33rd annual Macy’s 4th of July spectacular—the largest fireworks display in the country—also features the music of Rob Thomas, Jewel and the Steve Reineke-directed New York Pops. It will be telecast nationally on NBC at 9pm on Saturday, July 4.