The evening honoring the Tony and Oscar winner begins at 6 PM with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres followed by a concert and award ceremony at 8 PM.
Carolee Carmello (Finding Neverland), Robert Creighton (Cagney), Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens), Sutton Foster (Anything Goes), Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago), Rory O'Malley (The Book of Mormon), and Bernadette Peters ( Sunday in the Park with George) are scheduled to appear as guest performers to honor Grey. The evening’s entertainment is directed by Denis Jones (Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas) with music direction by Rob Berman.
The Oscar Hammerstein Award, named in honor of the late lyricist and librettist, “recognizes significant lifetime achievement in musical theatre.” The award, endorsed by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and the Hammerstein Family, has previously been given to Angela Lansbury, Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden & Adolf Green, Harold Prince, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, George S. Irving, Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick, Thomas Meehan, Paul Gemignani, Alan Menken, and Barbara Cook.
“For this Silver Anniversary presentation of the Oscar Hammerstein Award, we are thrilled to celebrate the extraordinary Joel Grey, whose artistry — for over half a century — has become an indelible part of Broadway history,” stated James Morgan, York producing artistic director, in a previous statement.
The York Theatre Company’s Founders Award, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on the sustainability of the company, will be given to Molly Pickering Grose and Sarah Tod Smith at the gala. Both are founding Board Members of the company who have made distinguished contributions over its 47-year history.
Grey made his Broadway debut in Neil Simon’s Come Blow Your Horn. Since then, he has been seen on and Off-Broadway in more than a dozen shows that have netted him a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and multiple further nominations for each, including Cabaret; George M!; Goodtime Charley; The Grand Tour; Chicago; Wicked; Anything Goes; Give Me Your Answer, Do!; and The Normal Heart, which he later co-directed on Broadway. He was most recently seen as Firs in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Cherry Orchard. Grey is one of only nine actors to have received the Tony and the Oscar for the same role, having won both as the Emcee in Cabaret.
Grey is also one of the numerous Broadway stars set for the second BroadwayCon, which returns January 27–29, 2017, at the Javits Center. Co-presented by Playbill, Mischief Management, and Anthony Rapp, the one-of-a-kind weekend includes panels, performances, one-on-one star moments, seminars, autograph and photo sessions, a booming Marketplace, and other activities. Click here for more information about BroadwayCon.
For additional information, pricing and reservations, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call Ellen Weiss at (212) 935-5824, ext. 214, or via email at [email protected].
