The Pittsburgh CLO (Civic Light Opera) will present its eighth Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theater to two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters on Oct. 10. Peters, who performed an all Richard Rodgers evening at New York's Radio City Music Hall this summer, will be presented with the award at a gala evening at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Rodgers' daughter, Linda Rodgers Emory, will present the award to Peters. The star of the upcoming revival of Gypsy joins an illustrious group who have received the award, including Mary Martin, Julie Andrews, Harold Prince, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Stephen Sondheim, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gwen Verdon.

Actress-singer Peters won Tony Awards for her performances in Song & Dance and Annie Get Your Gun. She has also starred on Broadway in Mack & Mabel, On the Town, Sunday in the Park with George, The Goodbye Girl and the original production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Peters was recently inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame where she sang selections from her newest CD, "Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein."

Created in 1946, the Pittsburgh CLO is a non-profit organization whose mission has remained the same throughout its many decades: "to preserve, perpetuate and create the very best of musical theatre and to encourage its appreciation by producing and presenting first-rate performances." Those interested in attending The Richard Rodgers Award Gala should call Cheryl at (412) 281-3973. For more information about the Pittsburgh CLO, go to www.pittsburghclo.org.