By Kenneth Jones
05 Nov 2009

Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury will receive Signature Theatre's annual Stephen Sondheim Award at a black-tie gala dinner in Washington, DC, in April 2010, artistic director Eric Schaeffer announced.

Signature is the Tony Award-winning resident theatre in Arlington, VA, noted for its commitment to new musicals and productions of shows by composer-lyricist Sondheim. The Sondheim Award gala (on April 26, 2010) is a major benefit gala for the not-for-profit's artistic, education, and community outreach programs.

Stephen Sondheim stated, "Angela Lansbury's first appearance on the musical stage was in a show called Anyone Can Whistle, for which I wrote the score. That appearance was a gift to the musical theatre, although perhaps not such a gift to her, since the show only ran for nine performances. I am thrilled that Signature Theatre is helping me make it up to her by giving her the first Stephen Sondheim Award."

Schaeffer stated, "I'm thrilled that Angela will be the first recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Award, having appeared aurally on our stage as The Giant in Into the Woods. She is a major force in the American musical theatre and we look forward to saluting her endless talents."

TV, film and stage actress Lansbury is a five-time Tony Award-winning Broadway star. Two of Lansbury's Tonys are for Stephen Sondheim musicals: the role of Mama Rose in the 1974 revival of Gypsy and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd in 1979. This fall, she will return to Broadway in the role of Madame Armfeldt in the revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music, co-starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. Lansbury appeared most recently on Broadway as Madame Arcati in the 2009 revival of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, for which she received her fifth Tony Award, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards; and in 2006 in Terrence McNally's Deuce, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She made her Broadway debut in 1957 starring as Bert Lahr's wife in the French farce, Hotel Paradiso. 
In 1960, she came back to Broadway as Joan Plowright's mother in the season's most acclaimed drama, A Taste of Honey, by Shelagh Delaney. Lansbury returned to New York in triumph in 1966 as Mame, for which she won the first of her unprecedented four Tony Awards as Best Actress in a Musical; her second was for the Madwoman of Chaillot in Dear World (1968).

From 1984-1996 she starred as Jessica Fletcher, mystery-writing amateur sleuth, on TV's "Murder, She Wrote," for which she won four Golden Globe Awards.


 In 2009 Signature Theatre inaugurated The Stephen Sondheim Award "in recognition of the importance of Sondheim's work to Signature and to theatre in general." The Award is given on a yearly basis "to an individual for his or her career contributions to interpreting, supporting, and collaborating on Stephen Sondheim's music works."

Signature has produced 18 productions of the works of Stephen Sondheim, more than any other theatre in the United States. In 2002, Signature's Eric Schaeffer was the artistic director of "The Sondheim Celebration" at the Kennedy Center.

Sponsorship packages for the 2010 Sondheim Award Gala range from $1,000 to $50,000 and "include rewarding, year-long visibility and entertainment benefits." Individual tickets and ticket packages range from $650 to $5,000.

For more information about sponsorship and tickets contact Signature's Development Department at (571) 527-1828 or events@signature-theatre.org.