Eartha Kitt Joins Hosts Irwin & Daly at Vineyard's Albee Tribute

International singing sensation Eartha Kitt - one of only a handful of performers to be nominated for a Tony (three times), a Grammy (twice) and an Emmy Award - is set to join previously announced co-hosts Tony Award-winners Tyne Daly and Bill Irwin with a special performance at The Vineyard Theatre's 80th birthday tribute to Edward Albee on Monday, February 4 beginning at 6pm at The Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th floor) in New York City.

The Vineyard Theatre - where Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Three Tall Women debuted in 1994 - will celebrate Mr. Albee's 50-year career as one of the world's leading dramatists, as he turns 80 during this theatrical season. (His actual birthday is March 12, 2008.)

The Gala - which will benefit the Vineyard Theatre, one of the nation's leading theatres devoted to presenting new works -- will include salutations to Mr. Albee by actors, writers and other theatre artists, including the evening's co-hosts, Tony Award-winner Tyne Daly, currently appearing in Mr. Albee's newest play Me, Myself and I at the McCarter Theater; and Bill Irwin, Tony Award-winner for his performance in the revival of Mr. Albee's masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Eartha Kitt, who recently celebrated her 81st birthday, and has distinguished herself in film ("The Emperor's New Groove"), theater (The Wild Party), cabaret, music, and on television, is set to perform in honor of Mr. Albee.

The evening's other notable participants include esteemed Albee actors Marian Seldes, Brian Murray, and Judith Ivey, along with Tony Roberts, playwright John Guare, Kathleen Chalfant, and Joe Morton.

Honored guests include Betty Buckley, David Burtka, Jon Robin Baitz, Jeffrey Carlson, Linda Emond, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Kuhn, Anne Meara, Sally Murphy, Jerry Stiller, Jeff Whitty, Doug Wright, and the original Off-Broadway cast of Three Tall Women, which debuted at The Vineyard, winning Mr. Albee his third Pulitzer Prize: JorDan Baker, Myra Carter, Marian Seldes, and Michael Rhodes.

The Vineyard Theatre - under the leadership of Douglas Aibel, Artistic Director - is presenting the Gala in conjunction with Mr. Albee's longtime producer, Elizabeth Ireland McCann. Ms. McCann and co-producers Daryl Roth and Jeffrey Ash joined forces with The Vineyard in 1994 to transfer the theatre's sold-out production of Three Tall Women to the Promenade Theatre, where the play ran Off-Broadway for three years, prior to a successful national tour and an engagement in the West End. Ms. McCann has subsequently produced many of Mr. Albee's other plays including The Goat and the recent revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin on Broadway, as well as Off-Broadway's The Play About the Baby and Beckett/Albee starring Marian Seldes and Brian Murray.

Widely considered America's foremost living playwright, Edward Albee is the winner of the Pulitzer for his plays A Delicate Balance, Seascape and Three Tall Women. He has won two Tony Awards, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Goat, starring Bill Pullman and Mercedes Ruehl in 2002. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council, and President of The Edward F. Albee Foundation. Mr. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 received the Kennedy Center Honors and National Medal of Arts. In 2005, he received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Tickets for the evening range from $500 - $2500 and tables from $5000 - $25,000. For reservations and more information, please contact the development department at 212-353-3366 x242 or visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.

Eartha Kitt