Photo Coverage: Primary Stages 24th Anniversary Gala Honors Patti LuPone

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer;Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director), Off-Broadway's preeminent theater company, honored Tony Award-winning actress Patti LuPone and The Baruch-Routh-Frankel-Viertel Group at this year's Primary Stages 24th Anniversary Gala Benefit which was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Monday, October 27, 2008. The BroadwayWorld cameras were at the ready to bring you all the excitement of the very special event.

"Our Gala is a night to honor people who have made significant contributions to the theater. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to honor Patti LuPone and The Baruch-Routh-Frankel-Viertel Group. Patti is a phenomenal actor who consistently brings excitement and life to the productions she works on," stated Primary Stages Artistic Director Andrew Leynse. "And, The Baruch-Routh-Frankel-Viertel team, continue to champion and support new works both on and off-Broadway and throughout the world."

Patti LuPone swept the 2008 theatre awards winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance for her performance as Rose in the critically-acclaimed new Broadway production of the classic Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical Gypsy, directed by the show's author, Mr. Laurents, currently at the St. James Theatre.

The Baruch-Routh-Frankel-Viertel Group has produced and general managed a wide range of plays and musicals on and off Broadway, in London and on tour for the past 23 years. Their shows have been awarded 35 Tonys, 46 Drama Desk Awards, 37 Outer Critics Awards, 4 Grammys, 8 Olivier Awards and 2 Pulitzer Prizes and have been featured in The New York Times crossword puzzle ten times.

Past honorees have included Daryl Roth and Jack O'Brien (2007), Julie Harris (2006),Susan Stroman (2005), Horton Foote and Primary Stages Founder and Executive Producer Casey Childs (2004), Harvey Fierstein (2003), A.R. Gurney (2001), John Guare (2000), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1998), Stephen Sondheim (1997),Wendy Wasserstein (1996) and Terrence McNally (1995).

Primary Stages was founded in 1984 as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and nurturing the development of new playwrights.