FLAMBOYANT conductor Jae Alexander needs no introduction to devotees of the Castle Howard Proms, but his Grand Opera House show in York on April 18 does need a re-introduction.

Out goes the original title of Hear The People Sing!; in comes The WestEnders: The World’s Most Popular Musicals In Concert, featuring Tracie Bennett , after the Olivier Award-winning actress joined the tour company, although the song format remains the same.

The 7.30pm gala concert will feature past members of the London production of Les Miserables singing Jae's vocal arrangements of West End hits, as they have been for more than a decade, with the latest line-up comprising Frances Fry, Jill Nalder, Linda Jarvis, Adrian Grove, Stephen Weller and Andrew Newey, from Hull, alongside Tracie. Jae also will provide the orchestrations for a seven-piece band in a show built around Boublil and Schonberg's Les Miserables numbers and much more besides.

"I'm going indoors! " says Jae, as he prepares to return to North Yorkshire with memories still fresh from his 16th summer of open-air Castle Howard Proms last year. "The weather was just horrendous; I really felt for the audience. Normally after the rehearsal, I love to mingle with the crowd, get a feel of the atmosphere, have a burger, but I couldn't get out of the marquee, the weather was so bad."

Inclement conditions can play havoc with an outdoor concert. "All instruments change with the atmospheric changes, and some of the violins cost £30,000, £40,000, £50,000, or even £13,000 for a bow. We had to leave the stage, seek refuge in the marquee and talk through what we could still do, topping and tailing the programme, with only an hour's rehearsal in the end. But we got through the show; the British public are so resilient, and Castle Howard is such a beautiful setting."

Given the following for Jae and his trademark Union Flag waistcoat, he hopes his Proms devotees will make their way to the Grand Opera House to see another string to his bow in his York debut. "York is a lovely place; I've stayed there of course, though I've never played at the Grand Opera House before, and I just hope everyone's not in church as the show's on Goodn Friday!" he says.

Jae started his WestEnders shows 14 years ago at a time when he was musical director for the £13 million Disney musical production of Beauty And The Beast. "The idea was that a group of us would do corporate events, which we still do, and then we started doing theatres and cruise shops," he says. "Singers come and go in the ranks, but generally they have been in Les Miserables at some point.," he says.

"We'll be doing songs from Chicago, The Lion King, Phantom, Evita, Mary Poppins and Miss Saigon and we even do Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with all the range of voices in our singers."

Jae also takes the show to the Netherlands, Poland and Germany. "But for some reason, the Germans don't like Les Miserables, so we have to take it out and put Dirty Dancing in! We ended up doing Eye Of The Tiger last time, and we did a Michael Jackson medley too, which I think we'll be doing in York."

Les Miserables will be at the heart of the York show. "I think people like that show so much because it has the greatest story, such passion, and there's so much spirit and soul behind it, with all those characters that are suffering," says Jae. "What we've done is put together a love medley so we do songs from Les Miserables that normally don't get done in a show like this."

You will have to wait to learn what dapper Jae will be wearing. "I'll tone it down for the Grand Opera House," he says. "I'll leave the dressing up to the audience. Well, maybe not!"

The WestEnders featuring Tracie Bennett, Grand Opera House, York, April 18, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com