American Theatre Wing Gala Honoring Andrew Lloyd Webber Raises Record-Breaking $1.6+ Million

The American Theatre Wing announced today that its annual Gala, which honored newly minted EGOT recipient Andrew Lloyd Webber last night at Cipriani 42nd Street, raised a record breaking total of $1,652,502 in support of the Wing's programs and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative Legacy Fund, breaking all previous records.

The sold-out, black-tie event was held at Cipriani 42nd Street and celebrated the Wing's 101 years of supporting strong and fearless voices in the American Theatre, as well as a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber's unrivaled body of work amassed over five decades. The evening's program began with a salute to the Wing's Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative, which has provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships for schools and students, and included scholarship recipients Nena Daniels, Daelin Elzie, Marcus Gladney, Amara McNeil, and Jaqueline Cabrero. The evening's performances included Norm Lewis and Sierra Boggess performing the title song from The Phantom of the Opera; Sierra Boggess performing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from The Phantom of the Opera in English and French, showcasing Andrew Lloyd Webber's global influence; Katrina Lenk performing "Song and Dance: Tell Me on a Sunday" from Tell Me on Sunday; Brandon Victor Dixon performing "Heaven on Their Minds" from Jesus Christ Superstar; Alex Newell performing "As If We've Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard; Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative scholar Sydney Lopes performing the title song from Whistle Down the Wind; with a mega-band that included School of Rock alumni Evie Dolan, Ethan Khusidman, Raghav Mehrotra, and Brandon Niederauer.

Among the glittering attendees were Al Roker, Michael Urie, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Pauletta Washington, Harold Prince, Robert Lopez & Kristin Anderson-Lopez, Christine Ebersole, Rachel Bay Jones & Benim Foster, Ashley Park, Laura Osnes & Nathan Johnson, Pia Lindström, Rachel York, George C. Wolfe, Walter Bobbie, David Rockwell, Jeanine Tesori, Lia Vollack & Derek McLane, Jordan Roth & Richie Jackson, Cameron Mackintosh, Randi Zuckerberg, David Leveaux, Neil Meron, Laurence Connor, Sara Chase, Patrick Pacheco, Jim Dale, Jeanna de Waal, Michael Hsu Rosen, Jack DiFalco, Ward & Alexa Horton, Ken Davenport & Tracy Weiler, Roxanna Hope Radja, Charlie Semine, Corice Arman, Joe Benincasa, and Charles Blow. Pamela Barbey, CeCe Black, Anki Leeds, Evan Shapiro, Marva A. Smalls, and Nadine Wong serve as Gala Chairs.

Additional revenue for the American Theatre Wing is being generated by a group of online auctions, hosted by Charitybuzz.com, including two VIP tickets to the 2019 Olivier Awards in London (including round-trip airfare and other accommodations), two VIP tickets and pre-show meet-and-greet at a John Legend concert, a meet-and-greet with Christian Siriano including tickets to his New York Fashion Week show, four VIP tickets to a taping of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," four VIP tickets to a taping of "The Late Late Show with James Corden," two VIP tickets to Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway including a backstage tour, dinner for two with food critic Adam Platt and actor Oliver Platt, and more. Bidding on these items is open until Thursday, September 27th at 3:00pm ET. For the complete details on these auction items and to place a bid, please visit https://www.charitybuzz.com/thewing

In 2016, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation gave the American Theatre Wing a $1.3 million, three-year grant to support theatre education opportunities for diverse and underserved young people and public schools across the U.S. Since then, the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative has provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships for schools wishing to enhance their theater programs and students wishing to further their theater training, reaching over twenty-two thousand students nationwide.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of some of the world's best-known musicals including Cats, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary on Broadway, and Sunset Boulevard. When Sunset Boulevard joined School of Rock - The Musical, Cats and Phantom on Broadway in February 2017, he became the only person to equal the record set in 1953 by Rodgers and Hammerstein with four shows running concurrently. As well as The Phantom Of The Opera and Cats, his productions include the groundbreaking Bombay Dreams which introduced the double Oscar winning Bollywood composer AR Rahman to the Western stage. As a composer and producer, Lloyd Webber is one of an elite group of artists to have achieved EGOT status by receiving an Emmy, four Grammys, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best-known compositions, Pie Jesu, an Oscar, and eight Tony Awards, including the 2018 Special Tony for Lifetime Achievement. Additionally, he has been honored with seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship, and the Kennedy Center Honor. He owns seven London theatres including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Palladium. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 and created a life peer in 1997. He is passionate about the importance of music in education and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has become one of Britain's leading charities supporting the arts and music. In 2016, the Foundation funded a major new national initiative which endowed the American Theatre Wing with a $1.3 million, three-year grant to support theatre education opportunities for underserved young people and public schools across the U.S. To mark his 70th, birthday his autobiography Unmasked was published by HarperCollins in March.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation was set up by Andrew in 1992 to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit; since inception Andrew has been the principal provider of funding for all its charitable activities. In 2010, the Foundation embarked on an active grant giving programme and has now awarded grants of over US$25 million to support high quality training and personal development as well as other projects that make a real difference to enrich the quality of life both for individuals and within local communities. Significant grants include $4.5m to Arts Educational Schools, London to create a state of the art professional theatre, $3m to the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, $1.3m to the American Theatre Wing and over $450,000 annually to fund 30 performing arts scholarships for talented students in financial need. www.andrewlloydwebberfoundation.com

One hundred years ago, on the eve of America's entry into World War I, seven suffragettes-all women of the theatre-came together to form The Stage Women's War Relief. A century later, the spirit and vision behind the founding of American Theatre Wing remains a touchstone for all we do. The Wing continues to champion bravery, with a focus on developing the next generation of brave artists. We envision an American Theatre that is as vital, multi-faceted, and diverse as the American people.

The Wing's programs span the nation to invest in the growth and evolution of American Theatre. We provide theatre education opportunities for underserved students through the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative, develop the next generation of theatre professionals through the SpringboardNYC, Theatre Intern Network, and SwingSeats programs, incubate innovative theatre across the country through the National Theatre Company Grants, support emerging musical theatre songwriters through the Musical Theatre Songwriting Challenge (co-presented with the NEA) and the Jonathan Larson Grants, and illuminate the creative process through the Emmy-nominated "Working in the Theatre" documentary series. In addition to founding the Tony Awards, which are co-presented with The Broadway League, the American Theatre Wing co-presents the Obie Awards, Off Broadway's Highest Honor, with The Village Voice.