[title of show] creators Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell — who penned the performance — join co-stars Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell as hosts of the evening staged by Avenue Q director Jason Moore. Also joining the event — titled "A Sterling Silver Celebration: Vineyard XXV" — in honor of the company's 25th anniversary will be Patricia Clarkson, Julianne Moore, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, Ann Harada, Annie Parisse, Tony Roberts, Michael Berresse, Penny Fuller and more.
The event will kick off with an original song from Bowen and Bell and include musical performances of the Off-Broadway troupe's past hits. Merkerson ("Law & Order," "Lackawanna Blues") will perform songs from Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, Kuhn (Chess, She Loves Me) will sing songs by Laura Nyro from Eli's Comin' and Jackson (All Shook Up, The Agony and the Agony) will perform from John Kander and Fred Ebb's Flora, The Red Menace.
The evening will also feature a tribute to Paula Vogel with the presentation of the company's inaugural Paula Vogel Playwriting Award. (The Vineyard first produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's How I Learned to Drive Off-Broadway in 1997 as well as her more recent work The Long Christmas Ride Home in 2003). The winner of that award as well as the winner of the 2007 Kitty Carlisle Hart Musical Theatre Award (The Burnt Part Boys creators Nathan Tysen and Chris Miller) will be honored.
To purchase tickets to this event at The Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th Floor), call (212) 353-3366 ext. 238 or visit vineyardtheatre.org .