Patti LuPone, Vanessa Williams & Joshua Henry to Perform at New York City Ballet's 2023 Fall Gala

Patti LuPone, Vanessa Williams and Joshua Henry will perform at the New York City Ballet's 2023 Fall Gala on Thursday, October 5, at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. The evening, part of the Company’s 75th Anniversary season, will celebrate NYCB’s co-founding choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, fashion, and New York City.

For the one-time-only performance LuPone, Williams, and Henry will share the stage with NYCB’s dancers to perform songs by George Gershwin, which will be featured in excerpts from the Balanchine classic Who Cares?

Created for New York City Ballet in 1970, Who Cares? is set to such Gershwin standards as The Man I Love, I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise, Embraceable You, Fascinatin’ Rhythm, Who Cares?, My One and Only, Liza, and I Got Rhythm. The ballet includes sets designed by Jo Mielziner and lighting by Mark Stanley, and for the Fall Gala the ballet will also feature new costume designs by American fashion designer Wes Gordon, who serves as Creative Director for Carolina Herrera.

The gala evening will also feature a performance of Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces, set to the music of Philip Glass, with costumes by Ben Benson, production design by Jerome Robbins and Ronald Bates, and lighting by Ronald Bates.

NYCB’s annual Fall Gala celebration of ballet and fashion was conceived by NYCB Board Vice Chair Sarah Jessica Parker, and launched in 2012 with a gala celebration of the legendary designer Valentino. The Chairs for the 2023 edition of the event will include Parker and co-Chairs Georgina Bloomberg, Andy Cohen, Laverne Cox, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Jill Kargman, Diane Kruger, Mazdack and Zanna Rassi, Jordan Roth, Lizzie Tisch, Naomi Watts, Elaine Welteroth, and Scott Wittman.

New York City Ballet’s 2023 Fall Gala is generously sponsored by Vacheron Constantin and Wells Fargo, with additional support from The Macallan.

Benefit-priced tickets for the gala evening, which include the 7pm performance, a pre-performance reception, and black-tie supper ball following the performance, are available through the NYCB Special Events Office at 212-870-5585 and at nycballet.com/fallgala. Tickets for the performance only start at $40 and are available at nycballet.com, by calling 212-496-0600, or at the David H. Koch Theater box office, located at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue.

Patti LuPone

Patti LuPone returns to the New York City Ballet where she appeared as guest soloist in NYCB’s production of The Seven Deadly Sins in 2011. LuPone, who was most recently seen opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Ari Aster’s latest film Beau is Afraid, is a three-time Tony Award winner for her performances as Joanne in Marianne Elliott’s Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical Company, Madame Rose in the 2008 production of Gypsy, and Eva Peron in the original Broadway production of Evita.
Her New York stage credits also include War Paint (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Shows for Days; Company (NY Philharmonic); Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations); Noises Off; The Old Neighborhood; Master Class; Anything Goes (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award); Oliver!; Accidental Death of An Anarchist; The Water Engine; and The Robber Bridegroom (Tony nomination). Opera: The Ghosts of Versailles (LA Opera), To Hell and Back (SF Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra), The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (LA Opera-debut), Regina (Kennedy Center).

Soon to be seen in the upcoming Marvel series The Darkhold Diaries, LuPone’s recent television credits include the Netflix limited series Hollywood; Pose; Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; and Penny Dreadful (Critics Choice nomination). A graduate of the first class of the Drama Division of New York’s Juilliard School and a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company, she is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Patti LuPone: A Memoir.

Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in the entertainment industry today, selling millions of records worldwide. Her work in music, film, television, and the Broadway stage has been recognized with 4 Emmy nominations, 11 Grammy nominations, a Tony nomination, 3 SAG award nominations, and 7 NAACP Image Awards.

Her platinum single, "Colors of the Wind," from Disney’s Pocahontas, won the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Her 2012 autobiography, You Have No Idea, co-written with her mother Helen Williams, was a New York Times Best Seller and she released Bubble Kisses, her first picture book for children, in 2020.
In 2022, Vanessa starred in the World Premiere of Selina Fillinger’s new Broadway comedy, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, directed by Tony Award-winner Susan Stroman.

Most recently, she returned for a second season as part of the star-studded panel of judges for RuPaul’s Paramount+ competition series, Queen of the Universe, which debuted in June 2023.

Joshua Henry

Joshua Henry is a Grammy Award-winning performer and recording artist best known for his Tony- nominated leading roles in Carousel, The Scottsboro Boys, and Violet, as well as for his show-stopping performance as Aaron Burr in the cultural phenomenon Hamilton.
In December 2022, Henry gave a critically acclaimed performance as Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration (EP: Jon Chu) live on ABC.
Henry's debut album Grow is available worldwide on all streaming platforms, and his highly anticipated second studio album is set for release in 2023. He is a BMG recording artist and recently opened for Diana Ross at The Hollywood Bowl.
 
On screen he starred as Roger Bart in the Academy Award-nominated film tick, tick...BOOM! directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. He also starred as Jerlamarel opposite Jason Momoa in two seasons of Apple TV+’s show See. Most recently, Henry starred in the Broadway revival of Into The Woods, for which he won a Grammy Award for his performance as a principal vocalist on the 2022 Broadway revival cast recording. His other Broadway credits include In the Heights, Waitress, Shuffle Along, American Idiot, Porgy and Bess, Bring It On: The Musical. Off-Broadway: In the Heights, The Wrong Man.
NYCB’s 2023-24 Season is made possible in part by the generous commitments of the 75th Anniversary Leadership Committee led by Diamond supporters Emily and Len Blavatnik, Anne and Chris Flowers, Lynne and Richard Pasculano, Michael and Sue Steinberg, and The Travelers Companies, Inc. and Emerald supporters Gillian Attfield, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Karen and Thomas Murphy, and the Joseph and Slyvia Slifka Foundation.