Photo Coverage Exclusive: Signature Theatre's First Annual Stephen Sondheim Award Gala

The composer, who usually avoids the spotlight, thanked the Theatre for the tribute of the award following a musical salute by four outstanding interpreters of his work, Broadway stars Bernadette Peters and Michael Cerveris, and Signature favorites Will Gartshore and Eleasha Gamble.

More than 320 people attended the dinner and tribute raising $275,000 in support of artistic, education, and outreach programs of Signature Theatre. The Gala exceeded the company's goal and is the most successful fundraising gala in the Theatre's history. The Gala was chaired by Signature Trustee Bonnie Feld and her husband Kenneth, with Honorary Hosts His Excellency and Mrs. Giovanni Castellaneta, Ambassador of Italy to the United States, and The Honorable James Moran and LuAnn Bennett, Congressman from the 8th District of Virginia and his wife.

Eric Schaeffer, Signature's Artistic Director stated, "Signature is so proud to inaugurate the Stephen Sondheim Award with this special celebration in honor of our dear friend Stephen Sondheim. The success of this gala is a sure testament to our collaboration over the past 19 years and the many years to come. It will be an honor to reward an artist each year with this special award. Tonight's celebration featuring Bernadette Peters, Michael Cerveris, Elesha Gamble and Will Gartshore was a great evening toasting Stephen Sondheim. We look forward to next year when we will name the first recipient of this very special award."

Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Road Show (2008), earlier produced as Bounce (2003), Passion (1994), Assassins (1991), Into the Woods (1987), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sweeney Todd (1979), Pacific Overtures (1976), The Frogs (1974), A Little Night Music (1973), Follies (1971, revised in London 1987 and in New York 2001), Company (1970), Anyone Can Whistle (1964) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962); as well as lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Do I Hear a Waltz (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me a Little (1981), You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), and Putting it Together (1992, 2000) are anthologies of his work. For film he composed the scores for Stravinsky (1974) and Reds (1981) and songs for Dick Tracy (Academy Award, 1990). He wrote the songs for television's Evening Primrose (1966), co-authored the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and the play Getting Away With Murder (1966), and provided incidental music for the plays The Girls of Summer (1956), Invitation to a March (1961), Twigs (1971), and King Lear (2007). He won Tony® Awards for Best Score of a Musical for Passion, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Follies (1971 version), and Company. All of these shows won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, as did Pacific Overtures and Sunday in the Park with George, the latter also receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1985). Mr. Sondheim is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, having served as its president from 1973 to 1981, and in 1983 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1990, he was appointed the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University, and in 1993 was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland, Signature is a non-profit professional theater company dedicated to producing contemporary musicals and plays, reinventing classic musicals, and developing new work. To date, Signature has presented over 25 world premiere productions and is renowned for combining Broadway-quality productions with intimate playing spaces. In addition to the finest talent from the DC metropolitan area and New York, Signature has been a home to such theater luminaries as John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cameron Mackintosh, Terrence McNally, as well as Stephen Sondheim. Signature has been nominated for 234 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the professional theater and has been honored with 69 Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Musical in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2006, and 2008, and Outstanding Play in 1999.

Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.