Longtime friend and Broadway Barks co-founder Moore ("The Mary Tyler Moor Show," "Ordinary People") will present Peters with the honor during Westport's 80th anniversary gala. Peters is currently starring in the Broadway revival of Follies.

As part of the gala, Westport will present the concert Playing Our Songs: Celebrating 80 Years of Musical Theater, which will feature selections from the musicals produced at Westport since the theatre opened its doors in 1931.

Scheduled to attend the gala are Lucie Arnaz, Joel Grey, Sheldon Harnick, Tom Jones, Jo Sullivan Loesser, Laurence Luckinbill, James Naughton, Christopher Plummer, Jane Powell, Stephen Schwartz and Joanne Woodward.

"Bernadette Peters is not only a force of nature and a Broadway musical star of legendary significance, she is also a true artist: boldly exploratory, constantly refining her enormous talent, always challenging herself, never sitting on her laurels," Westport artistic director Mark Lamos said in a previous statement. "Whatever she does, watching her is akin to watching the great classical musicians who constantly stretch themselves and excite audiences not only with sheer charisma — which she has in spades, to be sure — but with a sense of refinement and that is unparalleled in American musical theatre. She goes for the truth of a song with the force of a heat-seeking missile."

Peters appeared at Westport Country Playhouse in Riverwind in 1967. She was last seen on Broadway in the revival of A Little Night Music and received Tony Awards for her work in Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun. He numerous stage appearances also include George M!, Dames at Sea, On the Town, Mack and Mabel, Sunday in the Park With George, The Goodbye Girl and Gypsy. Her films include "The Jerk," "Annie" and her Golden Globe Award-winning performance in "Pennies from Heaven." Benefit tickets, beginning at $500, are available by phoning (203) 227-5137, ext. 122 or e-mailing [email protected].

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