While stars and artists galore have made their way across Broadway stages this season, the array lined up for one single night at the Millennium Broadway Hotel on April 24 is pretty staggering. Stephen Sondheim, Lauren Bacall, Elaine Stritch, Bernadette Peters, Dame Edna, Chita Rivera, Arthur Laurents, John Guare, Marin Mazzie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Tina Howe, Arthur Miller and Marvin Hamlisch are just a few of the notables taking part in a benefit for the Dramatists Guild Fund of America.
The centerpiece of the event, chaired by Cathy Graham and hosted by Broadway’s Dame Edna, will feature famous composers accompanying major stars on songs from musicals that have yet to reach Broadway. For example, Bernadette Peters will sing a number from Wise Guys, with Stephen Sondheim accompanying. Also on tap:
John Kander playing for Chita Rivera as she offers a tune from The Visit.
Stephen Flaherty tickling the ivories as Brian Stokes Mitchell sings a song from The Glorious Ones.
William Finn accompanying Elaine Stritch on a tune from Royal Family of Broadway.
Marin Mazzie singing a number from The Night They Raided Minsky’s, with Charles Strouse in support.
Marvin Hamlisch accompanying Brian D’Arcy James on a tune from Sweet Smell of Success.
According to event spokesperson Mark Ungemach, following dinner, Lauren Bacall will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Arthur Miller (The Ride Down Mt. Morgan). Other body-of-work presentations include the Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition (to Sondheim), the Flora Roberts Award to Tina Howe, and the Hull-Warriner Award, which earlier went to Donald Margulies’ for Dinner With Friends.
Capping the evening, which will be directed by James Lapine, Betty Comden and Adolph Green will warble “An Ode to the Dramatists Guild.” The Guild, which has 6,000 members in the U.S. and UK, is an “advocacy organization” for playwrights, composers and lyricists, dealing with both contract issues and the place of dramatic writers in society. Single benefactor tickets ($1,000) are still available for the evening, which takes place at the Hudson Theatre in Millennium Broadway, 145 West 44th Street at 7 PM. For information call (212) 685-0113.
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