Herman, Rashad, McKean and Rebeck to Host NCTF Gala; Lansbury Honored | Playbill

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News Herman, Rashad, McKean and Rebeck to Host NCTF Gala; Lansbury Honored Composer Jerry Herman, playwright Theresa Rebeck, actors Michael McKean and Phylicia Rashad will take part in the National Corporate Theatre Fund's annual Chairman's Award Gala April 14.

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Michael McKean Photo by Aubrey Reuben

The gala will honor the previously announced Angela Lansbury as well as the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays and Bank of America.

Jerry Herman — whose musicals Dear World and Mame led Lansbury to earn two of her four Tony Awards — will co-host the evening with Mauritius playwright Theresa Rebeck and actors Michael McKean (The Homecoming) and Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof).

Lansbury will be feted with performances by Klea Blackhurst and Martin Vidnovic. Don Pippin – who served as conductor, musical director and vocal arranger for both Mame and Dear World — has penned the evening's arrangements and will also serve as musical director.

Additional entertainment includes appearances by The Civilians, who premiered This Beautiful City at the Humana Festival, and Adding Machine cast member and Paris by Night composer Amy Warren.

All proceeds from the gala evening benefit NCTF's development of new American plays and world-premiere works. NCTF's gala committee includes Hal Holbrook (chair), Mitch Auslander, Norbert Leo Butz, Marla Chandler, Carmen De Lavallade Richard Ditizio, John R. Dutt, Jeffrey Hatcher, Doug Hughes, Kate Mulgrew, Barbara Meek, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, David Hyde Pierce, Phyilica Rashad and John Thomopoulos. All will be on hand for the April 14 celebration.

The NCTF is an association of ten of America's not-for-profit theatres dedicated to increasing the participation of corporations and their employees in support of theatre across the country and in New York.

Among the participating theatres are the American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theatre, Center Theatre Group, the Cleveland Playhouse, the Guthrie, the Long Wharf Theatre, the Old Globe, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, and this year's honored company: the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Lansbury made a return to the Broadway stage last season opposite Marian Seldes in Terrence McNally's Deuce. Lansbury's illustrious career spans 50 years, including four Tony Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd, Dear World, Gypsy and Mame. In 1944 Angela Lansbury made her film debut in "Gaslight," which earned her an Academy Award nomination. Lansbury is well known to television audiences as Jessica Fletcher in the series "Murder, She Wrote."

The Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays has produced over 300 new American works, including three Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas. The Actors Theatre of Louisville earned the 1980 Regional Theatre Tony Award.

The Annual Chairman's Awards Gala will take place at Cipriani's Pegasus, located at 30 Rockefeller Center. Tickets and table reservations are available by phoning (212) 750-6895 or by visiting www.nctf.org.

 
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