McDonald’s Gospelfest 2025 – Produced by A. Curtis Farrow

 

The 42nd Annual McDonald’s Gospelfest comes to Palladium Times Square for two big shows on Mother’s Day Weekend Saturday, May 10^th, 2025. A Broadway matinee at 2:30 PM and evening show at 7:30 PM.

Emmy Winning Producer and Director, A. Curtis Farrow has done it again, gathering the best talent in gospel music for an uplifting and spiritual production. This year’s event will feature performances by one of the bestselling gospel artists of all-time, Grammy winner Yolanda Adams, the” First Lady of Gospel” the legendary Shirley Caesar, Karen Clark-Sheard and Dorinda Clark-Cole.

 

This will be a special year that no one will want to miss. It will feature the inaugural presentation of the Cissy Houston lifetime achievement award. The late Cissy Houston was a perennial performer in McDonald’s Gospelfest for over 30 years and her memory will be honored at this event as well.

Gospelfest continues to inspire and uplift souls.

McDonald’s Gospelfest 2025 promises to be the biggest Gospel event in the country as we celebrate 42 years of spreading the good news through music, arts, and entertainment.

 

 

About, Yolanda Adams

Currently starring in BET’s Kingdom Business, Ms. Adams is one of the best-selling gospel artists of all time, having sold nearly 10 million albums worldwide. In addition to achieving multi-platinum status, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Dove Awards, five BET Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards, two BMI Awards and sixteen Stellar Awards. She was also the first Gospel artist to be awarded an American Music Award.

About, Shirley Caesar

Known as the First Lady of Gospel, began her professional music career in 1958 at the age of nineteen.  In 2000 she was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In 2015, she performed for President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at the White House. In 2016, Caesar was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She is the recipient of Eleven Grammy Awards, Fourteen Stellar Awards, and Fifteenth Dove Awards.

 

About Producer, Director A. Curtis Farrow

2025 marks the 27^th year Mr. Farrow has joined with McDonald’s to bring this phenomenal celebration to life.  Under his direction McDonald’s Gospelfest has become the preeminent gospel event in the world and has garnered him three Emmy awards and sixteen nominations. Under his leadership the festival has been celebrated and regarded as one of the most important and influential events in the world with participants coming from Germany, Japan, Korea and Canada and every state in the USA. Last August, he received his seventeenth Emmy nomination for McDonald’s Gospelfest 2023 television show.

Mr. Farrow was responsible for the organization, planning and execution of the homegoing services for the Late Whitney Houston and produced the homegoing services for the Late Aretha Franklin, both international events were viewed around the world. As a choir empresario in 2014 Mr. Farrow broke the Guinness World Record for Largest Gospel Choir at 1175, which he followed with a 2000 Voice Choir at Madison Square Garden in 2017 and a 5000 Voice Choir at the Nassau Coliseum in 2018. Mr. Farrow continues to mentor, instruct and hold Choir Master Classes around the world.

Mr. Farrow has worked with a myriad of artists and performers including the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Fantasia, Dionne Warwick, Steve Harvey, Phylicia Rashad, Stephanie Mills, Patti Labelle, Roberta Flack, Hezekiah Walker, Yolanda Adams, CeCe Winans, and the list goes on…

Mr. Farrow is the total package of creativity in many arenas including Broadway, Concerts and shows. His directing and producing credits include Broadway tours of; Ain’t Misbehavin’, Smokey Joe’s Café, Sophisticated Ladies, Five Guys Named Moe, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, Godspell and Forever Plaid. His productions are constantly met with rave reviews, and he is always credited with bringing the best of Broadway talent to the masses.

Mr. Farrow credits everything in his life to his strong belief in God, and his motto has always been “God as the great Creator has made each of us in his own image.  Therefore, we are little Creators.  We shall spend all of our days creating!”

 

About McDonald’s Gospelfest

McDonald’s Gospelfest originated in 1983 under the auspices of the McDonald’s Corporation and the McDonald’s New York Metro Owner/Operator Association. Forty-two years later, it has emerged as the nation’s preeminent Gospel celebration, bringing joy, inspiration, encouragement and hope to millions of Americans. Previous McDonald’s Gospelfest participants have gone on to successful careers in entertainment, including the renowned Bishop Hezekiah Walker.