An 'Unexpected' evening with Marie Osmond

Marie Osmond is bringing six decades of music to Lakeland with ''An Evening with Marie Osmond'' on Jan. 22.

A nine-time Grammy Award nominee and one-time winner, Osmond will perform a range of music styles from pop, to Broadway, to classics and even traditional opera.

Speaking from her home near Zion National Park in southwest Utah, Osmond said “An Evening with Marie Osmond” will also include selections from “Unexpected,” released Dec. 10. The LP reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover charts and No. 1 in Billboard’s Current Classical Albums.

“Unexpected” follows Osmond's 2016 Top 10 Billboard Country album, “Music is Medicine.” It centers on orchestral pieces and classic standards as well as a repertoire of classic opera, including “Nessun Dorma” from the opera “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini, George Frideric Handel’s “Lascia ch’io Pianga” from the opera “Rinaldo,” “Pie Jesu,” taken from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Dies Irae” and Antonin Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon” from “Rusalka.”

Although opera will be highlighted, the show will include Broadway songs as well as pop-rock tunes from her days with The Osmonds and accompanying her brother, Donny Osmond, on stage and in the studio.

Donny and Marie scored Billboard Top 10 hits with 1974’s “I’m Leaving It Up to You” and “Morning Side of the Mountain.” “Deep Purple” reached No. 14 the following year. As a solo artist, her debut single “Paper Roses” reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country and Adult Contemporary charts in 1973 and she scored No. 1 country hits with “Meet Me in Montana (1985),” “There’s No Stopping Your Heart (1985)” and “You’re Still New to Me (1986).”

With what she said is an eclectic mix of music, Osmond called Saturday's concert a “feast of music.” She will be backed by the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra (formerly the Imperial Symphony Orchestra), as well as two singers: Daniel Emmet, a finalist on “America’s Got Talent” Season 13 TV talent show, and her 37-year-old nephew, David Osmond, a successful solo artist.

“I think people are thinking it’s going to be a totally classical evening, which it’s not. This is six decades of performing,” she said. “You’ll hear from ‘Paper Roses’ to ‘Meet Me in Montana’ to songs from ‘Unexpected.’ But the real reason I’m touring, honestly, is people need joy again.”

Osmond — who also has three New York Times bestselling books — said in addition to concerts, she travels the United States in a motorhome and on a motorcycle “just to have fun.” She said that’s the goal with her current tour.

“It’s the sound, the laughing, the stories — it’s the evening,” said Osmond, who spent 11 years performing in Las Vegas. “I know what it’s like to go through tough stuff and if I can help and encourage people to be positive, that’s what I really enjoy doing most. This is not me just standing there doing song, after song, after song. This is a fun evening, I promise you.”

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: An Evening with Marie Osmond

WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Jan. 22

WHERE: RP Funding Center Youkey Theatre, 701 W. Lime St., Lakeland

COST: $67, $73, $83, $158; parking $10

INFO: 863-834-8100; 888-397-0100; www.rpfundingcenter.co

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Marie Osmond brings selections from her most recent album ‘Unexpected’ to Lakeland