Neil Patrick Harris Joins New York Philharmonic for COMPANY Concert, 4/7-4/9

The New York Philharmonic will present Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Company, with an all-star cast led by Neil Patrick Harris, star of the hit television series, How I Met Your Mother, on April 7-9, 2011. The award-winning musical will be produced and directed by Lonny Price, who directed and co-produced last season's SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert!, and will be conducted by Sondheim specialist Paul Gemignani, with the original orchestrations for a 35-piece orchestra by Jonathan Tunick. More details will be announced at a later date.

Set in New York, Company follows five married, once-married, and soon-to-be-married couples and their mutual friend, Robert (Mr. Harris), a bachelor who has been unable to connect in a long-term relationship. The relationships are presented in a series of vignettes, primarily through Robert's eyes. The show's songs include "Company," "Side by Side by Side," "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Another Hundred People," and "Being Alive."

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth, Company first opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on April 26, 1970, produced and directed by Harold Prince. The show ran for 705 performances and received 1971 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Lyrics, Best Set Design, and Best Direction of a Musical, among 14 nominations. It has had several revivals, most recently in 2006 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway, with Raúl Esparza as Robert, a production that was broadcast on Great Performances on PBS.

Neil Patrick Harris, who made his New York Philharmonic debut as Tobias Ragg in May 2000 in the Orchestra's production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, currently appears as Barney Stinson in the hit television series, How I Met Your Mother. He has starred in three Broadway productions, including the dual roles of The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the Tony Award-winning musical Assassins; in the Pulitzer Prizewinning production of Proof, opposite Anne Heche; and as the exuberant emcee in Cabaret at Studio 54. Additional theater credits include roles in the Geffen Playhouse production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons; Amadeus at the Hollywood Bowl, with the
music of Mozart performed live by the Los Angeles Philharmonic; The Paris Letter at the Kirk Douglas Theatre; tick, tick...BOOM! at London's Menier Chocolate Factory; Romeo and Juliet at The Old Globe Theater in San Diego; and the Los Angeles production of Rent, which garnered him a Drama Desk Award. He later made his musical directorial debut with the Hollywood Bowl's recent staging of Rent. He made his theatrical directing debut with the original comedic script I Am Grock at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, and he later mixed his love of magic and theater in directing The Expert at the Card Table at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. From his film debut opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Clara's Heart and his seminal role as the beloved titular character in television's Doogie Howser, M.D. to his recent turns in the Harold & Kumar films and Joss Whedon's online sensation, Dr. Horrible's SingAlong Blog, Neil Patrick Harris has enjoyed a successful career spanning more than 20 years in the industry. He recently won his first two Emmy Awards for his guest-starring role on Glee, in addition to serving as host of the 2009 Tony Awards. He also served as host of the 2009 Emmy Awards. His role on How I Met Your Mother has garnered him four consecutive Emmy Award nominations and two consecutive Golden Globe nominations.

Mr. Harris will soon be seen in three upcoming films -Beastly, a modern-day retelling of the fabled Beauty and the Beast story, co-starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer; The Smurfs, the live-action/animation feature based on the famous cartoon series; and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas, the third installment in the successful cult comedy film series. He will also soon make his feature film directorial debut with Aaron & Sara (Working Title), a romantic comedy starring Josh Hutcherson and Emma Roberts.

Paul Gemignani has been the music director of more than 40 Broadway and West End shows, including Follies, Pacific Overtures, Candide, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Dreamgirls, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, On the Twentieth Century, Sunday in the Park with George, Jerome Robbins's Broadway, Crazy for You, Passion, High Society, and Kiss Me, Kate. In 2004 he was the music director for Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, The Frogs, and the Japan National Theatre Company's production of Pacific Overtures. Mr. Gemignani has made recordings with the American Theatre Orchestra in addition to many cast albums; appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras; and is a regular guest conductor at the New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera Company, and the New York City Ballet. His film work has included Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp, Kramer vs. Kramer, Reds, and Eyewitness.
Mr. Gemignani received the 2001 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award (1994), as well as a special Drama Desk Award (1989) for "consistently outstanding musical direction and commitment to the theater." In 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of musical arts from the Manhattan School of Music; in 2006 he received a Prime Time Emmy Award for Best Musical Direction for a Great Performances presentation of South Pacific; and the Drama League of New York honored him for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre in 2008. Mr. Gemignani served as the music director of the New York Philharmonic's concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in September 1985; in May 2008 he was the conductor and music supervisor of the Orchestra's semi-staged performances of Camelot; and in March 2010 he conducted the Philharmonic's production of SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert!, which aired on PBS and was released on DVD in November 2010. On January 24, 2011, he will be inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Lonny Price recently finished shooting his first feature film, Master Harold...and the Boys, starring Freddie Highmore and Ving Rhames. This production marks his return to the New York Philharmonic, where he most recently directed and co-produced SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert! in March 2010. His previous Philharmonic collaborations include the semi-staged production and Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of Camelot, starring Gabriel Byrne in May 2008; Candide, starring Kristin Chenoweth and Patti LuPone in May 2004 (broadcast on Great Performances, Emmy nomination); and Sweeney Todd, starring Ms. LuPone and George Hearn in May 2000 (the recording of which received a Grammy nomination). He directed Sweeney Todd again with the San Francisco Symphony (broadcast on Great Performances; Emmy Award) and at the Ravinia Festival.
Mr. Price directed the Emmy Award-winning production of Sondheim's Passion, starring Ms. LuPone, Audra McDonald, and Michael Cerveris (Live From Lincoln Center), and filmed the acclaimed Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company, for which he received an Emmy nomination. On Broadway, he directed Audra McDonald in 110 in the Shade for the Roundabout Theatre Company; Danny Glover in Athol Fugard's Master Harold...and the Boys; Joan Rivers in Sally Marr and Her Escorts (which he cowrote with Ms. Rivers and Erin Sanders); Jenn Colella in Urban Cowboy; and himself in A Class Act, for which he also co-wrote the book (with Linda Kline) and was nominated for a Tony Award. Lonny Price's Off-Broadway directorial work includes Visiting Mr. Green, starring Eli Wallach; Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups; and Mary Pat Gleason's Stopping Traffic for the Vineyard Theatre. He made his opera directing debut at the Houston Grand Opera directing Audra McDonald in Poulenc's La Vox humaine and Michael John LaChiusa's Send. His association with Stephen Sondheim goes back to 1975, when he worked afternoons during his days at the High School of Performing Arts for Hal Prince on the Prince/Sondheim musical Pacific Overtures. Several years later, in 1981, Mr. Price originated the role of Charley Kringas in the Prince/Sondheim show Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway.

Single tickets for these performances start at $65, and go on sale for the general public on Friday, December 17, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. All tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office or the Alice Tully Hall Box Office at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th Street. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656.