On Sept. 16, a two will be feted at a reception in Sardi's restaurant. "I was born in the theatre and grew up in it," says Bob Boyar in a statement. "The theatre is like nothing else. It goes on and on. It has been our job to make sure that the requisite insurance for each production was always available and written by underwriters who would pay all legitimate claims without litigation."

The work that the Boyars do is not well known to the theatregoing public, or even to the creative professionals who mount the shows, but every Broadway producer who's hovered over a balance sheet knows the critical insurance innovations the Boyars invented. Among them are the "business interruption" policy, which covered a show if a producer is forced to cancel performances. Another Boyar invention is the "nonappearance policy," which protects a production's backers should a star lose his or her voice or some such similar misfortune occur. The policy was fashioned by Lloyd's of London specifically for legitimate theatre in the United States.

The Boyars' first Broadway client was 1955's House of Flowers. Over the years, they have handled Gypsy, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Applause, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Dreamgirls, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers and Hairspray. Their final clients were Little Shop of Horrors and The Boy from Oz.