Photo Coverage: Barbara Cook Honored with York Theatre Company's 2011 Oscar Hammerstein Award

The award-winning York Theatre Company just honored Tony and Grammy Award winner Barbara Cook with the 20th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at the Edison Ballroom.

Attendees included: Jason Danieley (Next to Normal, Curtains, The Full Monty), Cheyenne Jackson ("Glee," "30 Rock," Finian's Rainbow, Xanadu), Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid), Tony nominee Marin Mazzie (Next to Normal, Ragtime, Passion), Tony nominee Euan Morton (Sondheim on Sondheim, Taboo), Tony nominee Emily Skinner (Billy Elliot, Side Show, The Full Monty), multiple Emmy, Tony and Grammy nominee Vanessa Williams ("Desperate Housewives," "Ugly Betty," Sondheim on Sondheim, Into the Woods) and Tony nominee Tom Wopat (Catch Me If You Can, Sondheim on Sondheim, Annie Get Your Gun, "The Dukes of Hazzard").

The evening was directed by Philip Wm. McKinley (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Boy from Oz) with music direction by Patrick Vaccariello (Gypsy, West Side Story).

Barbara Cook most recently received rave reviews and a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the Roundabout Theater Company's production of Sondheim on Sondheim. Ms. Cook's recent appearances include her sold out 80th birthday celebration concerts with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, and critically acclaimed appearances at Feinstein's at Loews Regency. In the past few years, Ms. Cook also returned to Carnegie Hall for her sixth solo appearance and made an historic solo concert debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, where she became the first female solo pop singer to be presented in concert by the MET. Ms. Cook won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her concert Barbara Cook's Broadway and was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her previous concert, Mostly Sondheim. She also received a Tony nomination for her performance in last season's Sondheim on Sondheim.

The Oscar Hammerstein Award is named in honor of the legendary lyricist who helped shape the American musical theatre through his collaborations with a number of different composers and writers. The Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala is the major fundraising event of 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 & Adolph Green; Harold Prince; Cy Coleman; Charles Strouse; Arthur Laurents; Jerry Herman; Stephen Schwartz; Peter Stone; David Merrick; John Kander & Fred Ebb; Terrence McNally; Cameron Mackintosh; Carol Channing; Tony Walton; Joseph Stein; George S. Irving; Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick and Thomas Meehan.

The York Theatre Company is the only theater in New York City-and one of very few in the world-dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals and preserving neglected, notable shows from the past. Over the past two seasons, York productions and artists have been nominated for a combined 19 Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Off Broadway Alliance, AUDELCO and Callaway Awards (and its productions of Yank! A WWII Love Story and Enter Laughing, The Musical have both been announced for Broadway). For over four decades, York's intimate, imaginative style of producing both original and neglected classic musicals has resulted in critical acclaim and recognition from artists and audiences alike. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director James Morgan since 1997, the York has focused exclusively on new musicals in its Mainstage Series-most of them world, American, or New York premieres-by some of the field's most esteemed creators, and has also helped launch the careers of many talented new writers. Over 35 cast recordings from York Theatre Companyproductions are now available on CD, and commercial transfers of such York premieres as The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), Souvenir, Jolson & Company, and its acclaimed revivals of Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures have all showcased the importance of the York and its programs.