Three-time Tony honoree Bernadette Peters, who will return to Broadway next season in the hit London revue Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Chita Rivera Awards.
Tony and Oscar winner Joel Grey, who shared the stage with Peters in Broadway's George M!, will present the Broadway favorite with her award at the May 20 ceremony at The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
“We are thrilled to honor Bernadette Peters with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award,” stated Joe Lanteri, founder and executive director of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation, Inc., which produces the annual awards in conjunction with Patricia Watt, in a statement. “Over an unbelievable career spanning over six decades, Bernadette has starred on stage and screen, performed concerts around the world, written children’s books, and as a humanitarian, has saved hundreds of animals with her charity Broadway Barks. Having Joel Grey on hand to present her award will make this a truly unforgettable evening.”
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! Peters is also the recipient of the 2012 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award.
Named for the late Broadway icon, the Chita Rivera Awards celebrate dance and choreographic excellence—past, present, and future. Through education and scholarships, the awards are also committed to nurturing future generations, as well as preserving notable dance history.
Nominators will consider outstanding choreography, featured dancers, and ensembles in productions on Broadway and Off-Broadway as well as outstanding choreography in film during the 2023-2024 season. Nominations will be determined by the designated nominating committees.
All proceeds of the Chita Rivera Awards benefit the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation Scholarship Program. This year, all funding and proceeds will support the creation of a new Chita Rivera Training Scholarship.
Next year, Carnegie Hall's house band will perform Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony, unfinished works by Schubert, and the final concert of Conductor Bernard Labadie.
