Urban Stages to Honor Designer Tony Walton with Lifetime Achievement Award

Urban Stages' Board of Directors and founding artistic director Frances Hill will celebrate "The Magic of Set and Costume Design" by presenting the 2017 Urban Stages' Lifetime Achievement Award to Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award-winning legendary set and costume designer Tony Walton presented by Broadway, television and film star Melissa Errico ("Billions", My Fair Lady, High Society, Encores' Do I Hear a Waltz?) at their gala benefit at the Boathouse in Central Park at 6:30PM on May 15, 2017.

The evening will consist cocktails, gondola rides in scenic Central Park and entertainment by the theater's acclaimed teaching artist and a special performance by Ms. Errico. This year, Christies Auction House will serve as auctioneer for Urban Stages' exclusive live auction, which includes luxury vacations, golf adventures, and hard-to-get theatre tickets.

This year's gala fundraiser will benefit Urban Stages' season of developing and producing new plays and musicals as well as Urban Stages' celebrated Outreach Program, which brings over 25 different programs to libraries and schools in all five boroughs of NYC. The theatre serves over 8,000 New Yorkers from pre-school to senior adults with its touring programs, along with theatre residencies in community centers and schools.

Ticket Information: General Tickets are $400 (30 and under, $200) Patron tickets are $800. For tickets go online to www.urbanstages.org or call the Urban Stages Office at 212 421-1380.

Tony Walton is an award-winning set, costume designer, and director known for iconic Broadway shows, film and television. Walton has won three Tony Awards - in 1973 for the original production of Pippin, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse; in 1986 for The House of Blue Leaves, starring Stockard Channing and Swoozie Kurtz; and in 1992 for the smash hit revival of Guys and Dolls starring Nathan Lane. He has also been Tony-nominated 13 other times for works such as The Apple Tree (1967), Chicago (1975), Anything Goes (1987), Grand Hotel (1989), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), She Loves Me(1994) and Uncle Vanya (2000). His other awards include an Oscar for All That Jazz in 1980, an Emmy for the acclaimed 1985 TV version of Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman, BAFTA nominations for costume and set design for Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Oscar nominations for both costume design and set direction/art direction for the motion picture version of The Wiz (1979) starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Lena Horne.

Melissa Errico has starred in seven Broadway musicals including My Fair Lady, High Society, and Amour and released several major solo CDs, most recently (2015) What About Today? Melissa Errico Live at 54 Below (Broadway Records) which was followed up immediately by a DVD. She has been called everything from "divine" to "the voice of enchantment" to "one of the most valuable assets of the musical theater" by the New York Times. Errico has worked steadily in non-musical roles as well as in front of the camera, starring in a network TV series Central Park West written by Darren Star, and doing guest and recurring roles steadily throughout her career, most recently as "June" in Billions for Showtime.

URBAN STAGES (Producer) is an award-winning, not-for-profit, Off-Broadway Theatre Company founded in 1984 by current Artistic Director Frances Hill. For over 30 years, Urban Stages has produced dozens of World, American and NYC premieres including Pulitzer Prize Finalist Bulrusher (2007) by Eisa Davis. We have been honored with awards, nominations, and recognition from the Drama Desk, Obie Awards, Audelco, Outer Critics Circle and much more. For instance, our world premiere of the musical Langston In Harlem by Walter Marks (music and book) and Kent Gash (book and direction) garnered a Drama Desk Nomination, a Joe A. Calloway award and 4 Audelco awards including Best Musical Production of 2010. More recently, Trezana Beverly's Mabel Madness (2016) was nominated for an Audelco Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, Unseamly by Oren Safdie (2015) was a NY Times Critics Pick, Jim Brochu Character Man (2014) was nominated for a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award for Best Solo performance and Honky (2013) by Greg Kalleres saw a regional run at San Diego Rep and was televised nationally on PBS in late 2015. After production, most plays move on to larger venues. Men on The Verge of a Hispanic Breakdown by Guillermo Reyes and Minor Demons by Bruce Graham both moved to commercial theatres. Chili Queen, a play by newscaster Jim Lehrer, transferred to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (1989). My Occasion of Sin (2012) by Monica Bauer won critical acclaim when it moved to Detroit Rep. Bill Bowers has toured the United States and the world with his two Urban Stages premieres blending mime and theatre - Beyond Words (2012) and Under a Montana Moon (2002)! Some Urban Stages premieres have even been developed into film and television projects such as Scar by Murray Mednick, Conversations with the Goddesses by Agapi Stassinopoulos, and Cotton Mary by Alexandra Viets. In addition to plays and musicals, annually we hold a music festival - Winter Rhythms - that features famous and up-and-coming Cabaret, musicians, lyricists and other music artists. In 2016, Winter Rhythms was honored with the Bistro Award for Outstanding Series, and in 2015, it received the Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs.