THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: May 19-25

Leslie Odom Jr. and Hugh Dancy. Photo Credit: Linda Lenzi

The 57th Annual Obie Awards were just given out at a ceremony at Webster Hall in Greenwich Village. Numbers from this season's top Broadway musicals, including "Summertime" performed by Joshua Henry and Sumayya Ali from the cast of Porgy & Bess and "Raglan Road" performed by David PatRick Kelly from the cast of Once, were entertainment for the evening. The ceremony kicked off with two numbers from newly minted Obie winner Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra from their show No Place to Go. Click here for full coverage from the event.

Ben Crawford and Whitney Bashor. Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy

York Theatre Company presented the 8th Annual NEO 8 (an acronym for "New, Emerging, Outstanding") on Monday, May 21, at The York Theatre at Saint Peter's (Citicorp Building, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). The event celebrated songwriters primed to pen the next generation of musicals. NEO 8 included songs by the following new musical theatre writers: Andrew Gerle, Jenny Giering, Joe Kinosian & Kellen Blair, Marisa Michelson, and Ryan Scott Oliver. Click here for full coverage from the concert!

The Cast of Once on This Island. Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

On May 22, Paper Mill Playhouse hosted a performance preview for its new production of Once On This Island at The New 42nd Street Studios (229 W 42nd Street, 7th Floor). More than 20 years after its premiere, Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are re-inventing their first musical with Tony-nominated director Thomas Kail (In the Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird), choreographer Bradley Rapier (So You Think You Can Dance, Jesus Christ Superstar) and new orchestrations by music director Lynne Shankel (Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Altar Boyz). For more photos of the cast in action, click here.

Sherie Rene Scott, Adam Pascal & Merle Dandridge. Photo Credit: Walter McBride

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) this week honored New York Theatre Workshop Board Chair Barbara Warner Howard and Disney Theatrical Group and its president Thomas Schumacher at its 2012 Spring Gala at the Plaza Hotel. Performers at the event included Christian Borle, Adam Chanler-Berat, Merle Dandridge, Glen Hansard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Pascal, Roger Rees, Sherie Rene Scott, and the cast of Newsies. For more photos from the celebration, click here.

Norm Lewis, David Alan Grier, Nikki Renee Daniels and Joshua Henry. Photo Credit: Under The Duvet Productions

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is now on Broadway with a cast led by four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (Ragtime, "Private Practice") as Bess, Drama Desk nominee Norm Lewis (Les Misérables, Sondheim on Sondheim) as Porgy and two-time Tony nominee David Alan Grier (Race, "In Living Color") as Sporting Life. The cast just visited Barnes & Noble for a performance and cast recording signing. Click here for photos from the appearance.

Jacob Fishel, Josh Cooke, Tim McGeever, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Kristen Bush & Kieran Campion. Photo Credit: Walter McBride

On May 24, Roundabout Theatre Company opened Simon Gray's The Common Pursuit, directed by Moisés Kaufman at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre /Laura Pels Theatre. The Common Pursuit features Kristen Bush as "Marigold," Kieran Campion as "Peter," Josh Cooke as "Stuart," Jacob Fishel as "Martin," Tim McGeever as "Humphry," Lucas Near-Verbrugghe as "Nick." The production will play a limited engagement through July 29, 2012. Click here for full coverage from opening night.

Kristen Sieh, Stephanie Hayes, and A.J. Shively. Photo credit: Steve and Anita Shevett

The Public Theater's world premiere production of FEBRUARY HOUSE, with music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane and book by Seth Bockley, opened on May 22, at The Martinson Theater. Directed by Davis McCallum, FEBRUARY HOUSE runs through Sunday, June 10. In attendance at opening night were Alan Alda, Mo Rocca, Kristen Sieh, Stephanie Hayes, A.J. Shively, Kacie Sheik, Stanley Bahorek Oskar Eustis and more. For more photos from opening night, click here.

Corbin Bleu, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

On May 23, the company of Godspell celebrated their Academy Award-winning writer Stephen Schwartz in a one-night-only concert featuring songs from Schwartz's Pippin, Wicked, The Baker's Wife, The Magic Show, Working, My Son Pinocchio, Children of Eden, Rags, "Pocahontas", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "The Prince of Egypt", "Enchanted" and more. For more photos from the concert, click here!

Kate Baldwin and Burke Moses. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater's production of MerEdith Wilson's The Music Man, helmed by Artistic Director Molly Smith, stars Kate Baldwin(Tony Award nominee for Broadway's Finian's Rainbow) as Marian the librarian, joined by Burke Moses (original Gaston in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast) as Harold Hill. The Music Man runs through July 22, 2012 in the Fichandler Stage. Click here for more production shots!

Joe DiPietro, Bernadette Peters, Melissa van Der Schyff & John Weidman. Photo Credit: Walter McBride

On May 24, New Dramatists honored two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters with their 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 63rd Annual Spring Luncheon tribute at the New York Marriott Marquis. Among those who offered tributes were Emmy Award-winner Mary Tyler Moore, Peters' Tony Award-winning A Little Night Music co-star Elaine Stritch, and New Dramatists Artistic Director Todd London. Click here for more photos from the big event!