Tony- and Oscar-winning Cabaret star Joel Grey hosts the 50th annual Theater Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater induction ceremony November 15 at the Gershwin Theatre.
Presented by The Theater Hall of Fame Inc., the 2021 inductees include performer-playwright Anna Deavere Smith, performers Leslie Uggams and Victor Garber, composer Alan Menken, set designer Bob Crowley, and, posthumously, director Gerald Freedman. (The previously reported Lynn Nottage has withdrawn from the evening due to a previous commitment and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the 2022 ceremony.)
Presenters for the evening include Tony recipients Brian Stokes Mitchell, Alfred Uhry, Daryl Roth, Jack O'Brien, John Benjamin Hickey, and Stephen Schwartz.
The Theater Hall of Fame was founded in 1971 by James M. Nederlander, Earl Blackwell, and Gerard Oestreicher. To be eligible for nomination, the theatre professional must have at least 25 years in the Broadway theatre, five major productions, or be a leader of Off-Broadway or a regional theatre pioneer.
The 250 voters are past Hall of Fame inductees as well as members of the American Theater Critics Association.
The 2019 honorees included actors André De Shields and Donna McKechnie, Goodspeed Musicals Founder Michael Price, director-playwright Emily Mann, lighting designer Natasha Katz, theatre critic Michael Feingold, the late actor-choreographer Ann Reinking, and the late playwright Thomas Meehan.
Terry Hodge Taylor produces the annual invitation-only event.
