Three-time Tony honoree Bernadette Peters will be presented with the 2024 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theater at the York Theatre Company's 32nd Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala November 11 at the Edison Rooftop.
The evening will also honor producer Ted Snowdon (Patriots, Spring Awakening, York’s Souvenir) with The York Theatre Company Founders’ Award. The gala, with performance details to be announced at a later date, will be directed by York Associate Artistic Director Gerry McIntyre.
The Oscar Hammerstein Award, named in honor of the legendary lyricist and librettist, recognizes significant lifetime achievement in musical theatre. Past recipients include Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Harold Prince, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, George S. Irving, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Thomas Meehan, Barbara Cook, Paul Gemignani, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Angela Lansbury, Joel Grey, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, Susan Stroman, André De Shields, Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, Leslie Uggams, and, most recently, Patti LuPone.
The
York Theatre Company Founders’ Award, recognizing individuals who have
made a significant impact on the sustainability of the arts, has previously been presented to York Founding Artistic Director Janet
Hayes Walker, W. David McCoy, Sarah Tod Smith, Molly Grose, Robert
Goldberg, Gerald F. Fisher, Betty Cooper Wallerstein, Riki Kane Larimer,
Elisa Loti Stein, Ted Chapin, and, most recently, Jamie deRoy.
“What
becomes a legend most? Well, we’d like to think an Oscar does: an Oscar
Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theater!
Bernadette Peters represents everything Oscar Hammerstein stood for, and
we could not be more excited that she will be the recipient of our 32nd
Oscar Hammerstein Award,” said Producing Artistic Director James Morgan in a statement. "And to have our longtime
friend Ted Snowdon in the mix as well just makes it all too special. We
hope you’ll come out to support these two truly exceptional pillars of
the theatre community on November 11!"
Peters received both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance. She earned her second Tony for her work in Annie Get Your Gun. She also received Tony nominations for her performances in Sam Mendes’ critically acclaimed revival of Gypsy, Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl, Stephen Sondheim’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday in the Park with George, the Jerry Herman-Gower Champion ode to the movies, Mack and Mabel, and the Leonard Bernstein-Comden and Green musical On the Town. She was last on Broadway in a critically acclaimed turn in the title role of Hello, Dolly!
She
was last seen on the London stage in 2023 in the Sondheim
revue, Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, which will arrive on Broadway later this season. Peters is also the recipient of the 2012 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award.
Tickets are now on sale at YorkTheatre.org.
