Benefits and GalasLea Salonga Will Salute Ahrens and Flaherty at Primary Stages GalaThe Miss Saigon Tony Award winner returns to Broadway this fall in a re-imagined revival of their musical Once on This Island.
By
Adam Hetrick
August 30, 2017
Lea Salonga
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Primary Stages will honor Tony Award-winning Ragtime, Anastasia, and Once on This Island songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty at its October 16 gala in New York City.
Tony Award winner Lea Salonga and Quentin Earl Darrington, who are set to appear in the upcoming Broadway revival of Once on This Island, lead a roster of talent who will offer performances and tributes in their honor, including Liz Callaway (the original singing voice of the title role in the 1997 animated film Anastasia) and Rocky’s Margo Seibert.
The evening will also feature words from Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally, Ahrens and Flaherty’s collaborator on the Tony-winning musical Ragtime, A Man of No Importance, and this season’s Anastasia; as well as producer Tom Kirdahy, who ushered Anastasia to Broadway this season.
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
The 6:30 PM gala will also honor Janet B. Rosen and Marvin Rosen, producers of In Transit on Broadway, and Jose Mendez and Katie Graziano of The Excel Group and MIC Floor Covering, LLC.
Lyricist Ahrens and composer Flaherty made their 1990 Broadway debut with Once on This Island, which returns to Broadway in November with a re-imagined orchestral sound incorporating found instruments and multi-layered vocal arrangements. It will open December 3 at Circle in the Square.
Tickets for the gala begin at $750. Visit primarystages.org, or phone (212) 840-9705, ext. 203.
The production will include Bernstein’s incidental music for Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of The Lark, and Menotti’s The Unicorn, The Gorgon, and The Manticore.
