Photo Coverage: The York Theatre Gala Honors Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt with 2017 Hammerstein Award

Last night The York Theatre Company honored the musical theatre writing team of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt in a "Fantastick" gala concert and award ceremony directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. The 2017 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre was presented to the legendary team (The Fantasticks, I Do, I Do!, 110 in the Shade, Celebration) at the event held at the Asia Society on Park Ave in NYC and BroadwayWorld was there. Check out photo coverage below!

The lengthy 2 1/2 hour concert wasn't long enough, and the RJ directed event helmed by music director Andrew Gerle probably should have been taped for a PBS or Netflix special.

The evening's entertainment featured a star-studded line-up of spectacular talent from Broadway and Beyond that included Samantha Bruce, Gretchen Cryer, Robert Cuccioli, Ava Della Pietra, Julian Fleisher, Nancy Ford, Andrea Frierson, Rita Gardner, Randy Harrison, Adam Kantor, Norm Lewis, Samantha Massell, Michele McConnell, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Randy Rainbow, Lee Roy Reams, Ben Rimalower, Frances Ruffelle, Christopher Sieber, Lesley Ann Warren, Susan Watson, Betsy Wolfe, The Hot Singing String Quartet Well-Strung, The Manhattan School of Music Musical Theatre Ensemble, and special guest Freddie Gershon. The York Theatre Company also bestowed the 2017 Founders Award upon Gerald Fisher and Robert Goldberg who have made distinguished contributions over the past 48-year history.

The Oscar Hammerstein Award is presented at an annual gala which benefits The York Theatre Company, and is presented with the endorsement of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and the Hammerstein Family. Past recipients include Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Harold Prince, C. Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, George S. Irving, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Tom Meehan, Barbara Cook, Paul Gemignani, Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Angela Lansbury, and Joel Grey.

The York Theatre Company, now in its 48th year, is the only company in New York, and one of the few in the world, whose two-fold mission is to produce new musical works and rediscover musical gems from the past. The York's credits include more than 70 fully staged productions, more than 100 Mufti semi-staged readings, 35 cast albums, and commercial transfers that include the Broadway productions of Sweeney Todd (1989-90), and Souvenir (2005-2006).

Copy & Photos by: Stephen Sorokoff