Kelli O'Hara, Rebecca Luker, Jason Robert Brown & More to Perform at 2014 Lilly Awards, 6/2

This year the Lilly Awards will celebrate women of distinction in musical theater in a special cabaret at West Bank Cafe (407 W 42nd Street, NYC), following the awards ceremony, which is set for Monday, June 2, at Playwrights Horizons. The cabaret will feature Kelli O'Hara, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Rebecca Luker, Kate Baldwin, Kenita Miller, The Broadway Boys, Graham Rowat, Katie Thompson, Lauren Pritchard, Taylor Noble, Jay Armstrong Jonson, The Skivvies (Lauren Molina & Nick Cearley) and Jason Robert Brown.

The evening will feature songs written by influential female composers including songs by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon, Georgia Stitt and Marcy Heisler, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Kristin Anderson Lopez and Bobby Lopez, Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley, Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash, Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio, Kristen Childs, Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk, Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich, Katie Thompson, Zoe Sarnak, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Carole King, and Carolyn Leigh. Songs from The Secret Garden, Murder Ballad, Frozen, Violet, Hands on a Hardbody and Do Re Mi will be performed.

The cabaret will be produced and musically directed by composer Georgia Stitt, with direction by Daisy Prince.

The Lilly Awards were started in the Spring of 2010 as a way to honor the work of women in the American Theater. The founders of The Lilly Awards, or The Lillys as they affectionately refer to them, are Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Theresa Rebeck. The awards are named for Lillian Hellman, a pioneering American playwright who famously said "You need to write like the devil and act like one when necessary." The awards continue in the tradition of her spirit and annually honor the work of women in the American Theater.

As previously announced, the 2014 Lilly Award winners include Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Susan Bernfield, Johanna Day, Winnie Holzman, Joyce Ketay, Mary Mitchell Campbell, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Dominique Morrisseau, Kelli O'Hara, Jen Silverman, Jeanine Tesori and Liesl Tommy. The 2014 Lilly Award presenters include Neena Beber, John Doyle, Branden Jacobs Jenkins, Julia Jordan, Anne Kaufman, Lisa Kron, Tony Kushner, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Justin Levine, Audra McDonald, Marsha Norman, Steven Pasquale, Stephen Schwartz and Stacey Mindich.

The Lilly Award winners were chosen by the Lilly Awards Foundation Board of Directors.

Previous Lilly Award winners include Mary Rodgers, Pam MacKinnon, Leigh Silverman, Anne Kauffman, Sarah Ruhl, Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Baker, Susan Stroman, Lynn Ahrens, Tina Fallon, Amy Herzog, Lisa Kron, Nina Arianda, Diane Paulus, Katori Hall, Tina Howe, Estella Parsons, Lynne Meadow, Ntozake Shange, Jessica Hecht and Lois Smith.

For additional information about the Lilly Awards (including a list of all past recipients), visit www.thelillyawards.org.

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