The original Off-Broadway cast of the late Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike reunited for a special benefit reading of the play, the headline event of Lincoln Center Theater's 2024 gala, May 7. The reading was held at LCT's Vivian Beaumont Theater and followed by a cocktail party at Spike's Lounge. Special guests included Steve Carell and 2024 Tony nominee William Jackson Harper, both currently starring in LCT's Uncle Vanya on Broadway.
Sigourney Weaver, David Hyde Pierce, and Kristine Nielsen all reprised their performances from the Tony-winning play's Off-Broadway and Broadway bows (as Masha, Vanya, and Sonia, respectively), with David Hull, Linda Lavin, and Liesel Allen Yeager joining as Spike, Cassandra, and Nina, respectively. Bartlett Sher directed, carrying the baton from late original director Nicholas Martin.
See photos from the reading and celebration in the gallery below.
Kewsong Lee, Steve Carell, and Eric Kuhn
Justin Ellington, Mark Bennett and guest
Morgan Wolk, Ben Edelman, Alex Dash, and Kobi Kassal
Justin Ellington, Miriam Kelleher, and Emily Rebholz
DJ Jenny Albright
Company of Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike
Kewsong Lee and Andre Bishop
Kewsong Lee
Michael R. Jackson and Natalie Walker
Ali Ahn and William Jackson Harper
Brenda Pressley and Mia Katigbak
Bartlett Sher and Ayad Akhtar
Elyse and Michael Newhouse
Bartlett Sher
Judith Byrd
Eric Reilly, Tracey Tillger, Liz Goudley, and John Augustine
Maria Tash
David Hyde Pierce and Steve Carell
Steve Carell, Kewsong Lee, David Hyde Pierce, Sigourney Weaver, and André Bishop
Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce, and Sigourney Weaver
Company of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Michael Roberts, Scott Mills, and Kewsong Lee
Linda Lavin and Linda LeRoy Janklow
Peter Soros and Electra Toub
Robert Klein and Jamie deRoy
Stellene Volandes
Marie and Lileana Blain-Cruz
Colleen Jennings Roggensack
Ayad Akhtar and Kewsong Lee
J. T. Rogers and Rebecca Ashley
Raymond Joabar and Daria Reznikova
Steve Carell
Candice Bergen and Linda LeRoy Janklow
Additional guests included Candice Bergen, Ayad Akhtar, Karolina Kurkova, Peggy Siegel, Molly Jong-Fast, Kamilah Forbes, Michael R. Jackson, J. T. Rogers, Maria Tash, Electra Toub, Linda LeRoy Janklow, Stellene Volandes, Scott Mills, and Tristen Snell.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a riff on the plays and characters of Chekhov, opened at LCT’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater November 12, 2012, and subsequently transferred to Broadway's Golden March 14, 2013, going on to win both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play.
Gala co-chairs included Brooke Garber Neidich, Daniel Neidich, Sarah Long, and David Solomon. Vice-chairs include Katherine Farley and Jerry I. Speyer, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Judy and Will Hiltz, Sandra and Howard I. Hoffen, Kewsong Lee and Zita J. Ezpeleta, and Elyse and Michael Newhouse.
