Jonathan Groff Signs on for SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM at The Hollywood Bowl; Cast Complete!

The Hollywood Bowl has announced that Sarah Uriarte Berry, Philip Boykin, and Jonathan Groff will complete the cast for a benefit performance of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, conceived and directed on Broadway by James Lapine.

The production also features previously announced Lewis Cleale, Carmen Cusack, Claybourne Elder, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ruthie Ann Miles, Matthew Morrison, Solea Pfeiffer, and Vanessa Williams, and will have one performance only, on Sunday, July 23, 2017 at 7:30pm. The Hollywood Bowl production benefits the LA Phil's flagship program, Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), and other LA Phil educational initiatives.

SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM will be directed by Sarna Lapine with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and YOLA, who will join the show to perform "Children Will Listen" alongside the LA Phil. The production will be choreographed by Michele Lynch with lighting design by Ken Billington, in addition to new orchestrations by Michael Starobin, arrangements by David Loud and video created and designed by Peter Flaherty.

From Follies and Into the Woods to A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim's umpteen Broadway masterpieces assure him a permanent spot among the very top creators of the American musical. Audiences will not want to miss this "funny, affectionate and revealing tribute to musical theater's greatest living composer and lyricist" (USA Today), a musical revue-style journey through the extraordinary life and career of Stephen Sondheim.

SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM will have one performance only at the Hollywood Bowl this summer - Sunday, July 23, at 7:30 PM.

Sarah Uriarte Berry Broadway: The Light in the Piazza - Lincoln Center Theater - OBC recording (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), End of the Rainbow, Next to Normal, Taboo - OBC recording, Beauty and the Beast, Les Miserables. Other NY includes Cinderella (NYC Opera); Encores! The Boys from Syracuse, Encores! Tenderloin - (cast recordings). National Tours: Carousel (Drama-Logue Award, Ovation nom.), Sunset Boulevard, Les Miserables. Regional includes Show Boat (Goodspeed), Master Class (Paper Mill), A Little Night Music (Kennedy Center and Baltimore CenterStage), Bernstein's Mass at Carnegie Hall - cast recording (Baltimore Symphony) and with Philadelphia Orchestra, My Fair Lady (Symphony Silicon Valley), Just Judy(Cape Symphony). Soloist with symphonies across the U.S. Film/TV: Frontera, Pretty Bird, The David Letterman Show, Six Degrees, Law and Order Criminal Intent, The Light in the Piazza (PBS Live from Lincoln Center).

Phillip Boykin is a 2012 Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards Nominee for his work in The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. He is the 2012 Winner of a Theatre World Award as well as the International Reviewers of New England Awards and The Distinguished Alumni Award from The Hartt School. Phillip is a native of Greenville, SC who now resides in NJ. Other performances include the Broadway Revivals of On the Town and Sunday in the Park with George, the roles of Joe in the National Tour of Show Boat and at several Regional theaters including Sacramento Music Theater, The Pirate King/Samuel in Pirates of Penzance NY City Center and Barrington Stage, Ken in Ain't Misbehavin', Crown/Jake in the opera Porgy and Bess, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, Caiaphas in JCS, and Jesus Christ Superstar Gospel, the Harlem Gospel Singers, Fred in Smokey Joe's Cafe?, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, to name a few. Phillip performed as Booker T. Washington in the Anniversary Concert of Ragtime at Lincoln Center. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut in Broadway Classics. Boykin portrayed the role of Big Hand in the movie Freedom starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sharon Leal. Recently The Driver in Top Five, a movie starring, written, and directed by Chris Rock, Caiaphas in John O'Boyle's Easter Mysteries, and he was featured as the cover story of Classical Singer magazine. He's a graduate of the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music in CT; he also studied Jazz and Vocal Performance at SC State University, Howard University, and the NC School of the Arts. Phillip has toured throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Russia, Poland, and North America.

Jonathan Groff Since Jonathan Groff's award-winning breakout out performance in Broadway's Spring Awakening in 2006 (Theatre World Award winner; Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award nominee), his resume has not only expanded in theater, but also memorable performances in film and television.

This fall, Groff will star in David Fincher's highly anticipated new series Mindhunter, which will launch on Netflix in October. Last July, Groff reprised his starring role as Patrick in HBO's Looking: The Movie, alongside Murray Bartlett, Russell Tovey, and Derek Phillips. In the summer of 2015, Groff originated the role of King George III in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of Hamilton on Broadway. He received a Tony Award nomination in the category of "Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical" for his performance. The musical, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, won 11 Tony Awards that year, including "Best Musical," and also won the "Best Musical Theatre Album" Grammy for the original cast recording.

On screen, Groff voiced Kristoff, the male lead in the Disney animated film Frozen. The film won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for "Best Animated Feature Film." He also appeared in American Sniper alongside Bradley Cooper. The film earned an Academy Award Nomination for "Best Picture."

In 2010, Groff appeared as the recurring character Jesse St. James on the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning show Glee, created and produced by Ryan Murphy.

Groff's additional theater credits include: Encores! Off-Center: A New Brain(City Center), The Bacchae (Delacorte Theatre); Hair (The Public Theatre); The Submission (MCC Theatre); Craig Lucas' The Singing Forest (The Public Theatre) and Prayer for my Enemy at Playwrights Horizons (Obie Award winner); Deathtrap (West End); and Red (James Bridges Theatre, Los Angeles). Other film credits include: C.O.G., The Conspirator, Twelve Thirty, and Taking Woodstock. Other television credits include: Boss, The Good Wife, The Normal Heart, and Looking.

James Lapine has collaborated with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Passion. Along with creating Sondheim on Sondheim he also directed the HBO documentary Six by Sondheim. He has been the recipient of the Obie, Drama Desk, Tony, Olivier, Evening Standard, and Peabody Award, as well as the Pulitzer Prize.

Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Assassins (1991), Passion (1994), and Bounce (2003), as well as lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me a Little (1981), You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), Putting It Together (1993/99), and Moving On (2001) are anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist.

For films, he composed the scores of Stavisky (1974) and co-composed Reds(1981), as well as songs for Dick Tracy (1990). He also wrote the songs for the television production Evening Primrose (1966), co-authored the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and the play Getting Away with Murder (1996), and provided incidental music for the plays The Girls of Summer (1956), Invitation to a March(1961), Twigs (1971), and The Enclave (1973). Saturday Night (1954), his first professional musical, finally had its New York premiere in 1999. Sondheim is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, the national association of playwrights, composers, and lyricists, having served as its President from 1973 to 1981.

Subscriptions and single tickets for performances during the Hollywood Bowl 2017 summer season are available at HollywoodBowl.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000, and in person at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office. For further details or questions, call 323.850.2000 from 10am - 6pm daily, or visit LAPhil.com.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and plays host to the finest artists from all genres of music, offering something for everyone. It remains one of the best deals anywhere in Los Angeles; to this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many classical and jazz performances. In February 2017, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the thirteenth year in a row at the 28th Annual Pollstar Awards. For millions of music lovers across Southern California, the Hollywood Bowl is synonymous with summer.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride