John Doyle (who staged Broadway's recent Sweeney Todd and Company) will write, direct and host the 90-minute evening (billed as a musical revue) featuring Broadway babies who have famously sung Sondheim: Angela Lansbury (Anyone Can Whistle, Sweeney Todd, Gypsy), Patti LuPone (the recent Sweeney Todd and the dawning Broadway Gypsy), Debra Monk (1995's Company), Laura Benanti (the recent Into the Woods and the dawning Broadway Gypsy) and Pamela Myers (the original Company) are expected, among others yet to be named.
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, who won a Drama Desk Award for her orchestrations for 2007's Company, which she music-supervised, will be musical director.
Here's how Telecharge bills the show: "Angela Lansbury is back on Broadway singing Sondheim with Patti LuPone and other Broadway notables, in a star-studded event directed and hosted by Tony-winner John Doyle, who weaves together a glorious songbook."
The 7 PM event will benefit The Acting Company, the not-for-profit touring troupe founded in 1972 by John Houseman and current producing director Margot Harley with members of the first graduating class of Juilliard's Drama Division. Alumni members include Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, David Schramm, Jesse L. Martin, Keith David, Lorraine Toussaint, David Ogden Stiers, Mary Lou Rosato, Lisa Banes, Derek Smith, Frances Conroy, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jeffrey Wright and Rainn Wilson.
The Ladies Who Sing Sondheim ticket prices range $101.50-$251.50. The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre is at 236 W. 45th Street. For tickets or more information, call The Acting Company at (212) 258-3111 or visit www.telecharge.com. For more information about The Acting Company, visit www.theactingcompany.org.
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The Acting Company gives young actors the chance to perform classic works, and exposes underserved communities to theatre. The troupe has performed 129 productions for over two million people in 48 states and nine foreign countries.
In the 2007-08 season, the company presented Shakespeare's The Tempest and Moby Dick Rehearsed, Orson Welles' stage adaptation of the classic novel by Herman Melville, directed by Casey Biggs. The 2008-09 season will feature Shakespeare's Henry V (co-produced by The Guthrie Theatre) and the world premiere of The Spy, an adaptation of a James Fenimore Cooper novel, directed by the Guthrie's John-Miller Stephany.
