Hugh Panaro and NaTasha Yvette Williams to Headline A.R.T.'s 2026 Gala
The event will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at Harvard’s David Rubenstein Treehouse in Allston.
Broadway performers Hugh Panaro and NaTasha Yvette Williams and will headline American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.)'s annual gala honoring entrepreneur, activist, and former A.R.T. Board of Trustees Chair Steve Johnson. The annual fundraising event celebrating A.R.T.’s enduring legacy and exciting future in Allston will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at Harvard’s David Rubenstein Treehouse in Allston.
Hugh Panaro most recently played the Phantom in the immersive Masquerade directed by Diane Paulus after having played the role on Broadway over 2,500 times. Previous roles also include Marius in the original Broadway company of Les Misérables, Buddy in the original Side Show, Julian Craster in Jule Styne’s The Red Shoes, and the title role in the American premiere of Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s Martin Guerre. Hugh was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in the titular role of Elton John’s Lestat, based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. He made his West End debut in the original London company of Harold Prince’s Showboat as Gaylord Ravenal, the role he previously played in the Broadway and Toronto productions. Off-Broadway, he starred in the title role of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre.
A.R.T. favorite and Tony Award-nominated Broadway star NaTasha Yvette Williams returns having previously appeared in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess at A.R.T. and on Broadway and as a special guest at ExtraOrdinary, a celebration of ten years of musical theater at A.R.T. Other Broadway credits include Waitress (developed and premiered at A.R.T. in 2016) and Some Like It Hot (Tony Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical). This summer she will play Mama Rose in Gypsy at North Carolina’s Opera House Theatre Company. Harvard students Gabrielle Greene and Felicha Nicolas will also perform.
Steve Johnson served as Chair of the A.R.T.’s Board of Trustees from October 2013 through September 2017, during which time A.R.T. produced All the Way by Robert Schenkkan (transfer to Broadway, 2013 Tony Award for Best New Play); the opera Crossing by Matthew Aucoin; In the Body of the World by V (formerly Eve Ensler); Waitress (transfer to Broadway, national tours, international productions, and feature film); The Night of the Iguana with James Earl Jones; Notes From the Field: Doing Time in Education by Anna Deavere Smith, among many other productions.
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