Photo Flash: Michael Cerveris, Karen Ziemba & More Honor Librettist John Weidman at Signature's Sondheim Gala

On April 4, 2016, Virginia's Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre honored the Broadway librettist John Weidman(Assassins, Pacific Overtures, Road Show) with the company's seventh Stephen Sondheim Award. The award, established in 2009 in honor of America's most influential musical theater writer and composer, was presented at a black-tie Gala Benefit at the Embassy of Italy. The Sondheim Award Gala benefited Signature Theatre's artistic, education, and community programs. Check out photos below!

Tony® Award-winners Michael Cerveris (Fun Home, Assassins, Road Show), Richard Maltby Jr. (Miss Saigon, Ain't Misbehaven', Big),Marsha Norman ('night, Mother, The Color Purple) and Karen Ziemba (Contact, Steel Pier) joined Helen Hayes Award-winner Donna Migliaccio (Signature's Sunday in the Park with George) along with Austin Colby, Christopher Mueller, Bobby Smith, Stephen Gregory Smith, and Paul Scanlan to honor the renowned Stephen Sondheim collaborator.

John Weidman's collaboration with Stephen Sondheim began in 1976 with Pacific Overtures and continued with Assassins in 1990 andRoad Show in 2008. Mr. Weidman also collaborated with Susan Stroman on the Tony Award-winning musical Contact. From 1999 to 2009 he served as President of the Dramatists Guild of America and has won over a dozen Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Children's Program for his work on Sesame Street since 1986.

William Yanesh, a Washington DC based composer (Adventure Theatre MTC's Caps for Sale), orchestrator (Shakespeare Theatre's Man of La Mancha) and musical director (Signature's The Last Five Years) was honored with the Stephen Sondheim Young Artist Citation.This special honor was made part of the Stephen Sondheim Award Gala in 2009 at the request of Sondheim, to encourage exceptional young talent in the field of musical theater.

Photos by Margot Schulman