Santino Fontana has joined the lineup for three-time Olivier-winning actor Maria Friedman's one-night-only benefit concert, set for March 4 at the Hudson Theatre, the home of the currently Merrily We Roll Along revival (which Friedman directs). The concert will serve as a benefit for Broadway Cares, The Stephen Sondheim Foundation, and The Marvin Hamlisch International Music Awards.
The performance, titled Legacy: An Evening With Maria Friedman and Friends, will see the Woman in White and Sunday in the Park With George star focusing on the work of Stephen Sondheim, Marvin Hamlisch, and Michel Legrand—she had personal and professional relationships with all three artists.
Fontana joins a lineup of performers including Friedman, Savy Jackson and a company comprised of recent performing arts college graduates. They will be joined by music director and pianist Theo Jamieson. Christopher Gattelli is directing the evening.
Friedman made her Broadway debut in 2005 starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White, but she's spent the majority of her stage career in London's West End. Among her major roles there are Dot in the first London Sunday in the Park With George, Mary in Merrily We Roll Along, Fosca in Passion (Olivier Award), Sukie in The Witches of Eastwick, Roxie in Chicago, Mother in Ragtime (Olivier Award), Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. She also played the Narrator in the screen version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Mother Abbess in the U.K.'s The Sound of Music Live!
Friedman first directed Merrily We Roll Along for Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012, and the production's West End transfer won Best Musical Revival at the 2014 Olivier Awards. The production's current Broadway bow is Friedman's Broadway directorial debut.
VIP sponsorship packages and tickets to the concert are available at BroadwayCares.org.