Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire and Elisa Loti Stein to be Honored at the 29th Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala

The York Theatre Company will honor musical theater legends Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire (Baby, Big, Starting Here, Starting Now, Closer Than Ever) with the 2021 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theater and Elisa Loti Stein with The York Theatre Company Founders' Award at the 29th Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala, to be held on Monday evening, November 1, 2021 at The Edison Ballroom(240 West 47th Street).

A cocktail reception at 6:00pm and an elegant seated dinner at 7:00pm is followed by a concert and award ceremony at 8:00 p.m. Guests with VIP tickets will have the opportunity to take photos with the honorees and enjoy other perks during the evening. Michael Unger (The York's former Associate Artistic Director and current Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre in Wisconsin) is set to direct the evening's celebration. Another York regular, Deniz Cordell is the music director. For additional information, pricing and reservations, please visit https://yorktheatre.org/support/oscar-hammerstein or contact Director of Development Alana Graber at agraber@yorktheatre.org.

"This celebration of two favorite people of mine-and The York's-was put on hold several times over the past year and a half," said James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director. "We are so excited that we can schedule it now in the beautiful venue for many of our OH Galas, The Edison Ballroom. We can't wait to share this spectacular evening with everyone and to witness this incredible line-up of performers honor one of the longest collaborations in musical theater history. That we are honoring another wonderful friend, Elisa Loti Stein, with the York Theatre Founders' Award, puts the icing on the cake. (All three honorees are members of The York's Honorary Board.) We hope you can join us!"

The Oscar Hammerstein Award is named in honor of the legendary lyricist and librettist who helped shape American musical theatre through his collaborations with a number of different composers and writers. His contributions to such landmark musicals as Show Boat, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Carousel are a legacy for all time. The award was created in 1988 by Janet Hayes Walker, Founding Artistic Director of The York Theatre Company, and is presented with the endorsement of the Hammerstein family and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. Its purpose is to recognize significant lifetime achievement in musical theatre and is presented at a gala evening held for the benefit of The York Theatre Company.

Past recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Award include Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Harold Prince, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, George S. Irving, Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick, Thomas Meehan, Barbara Cook, Paul Gemignani, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Angela Lansbury, Joel Grey, Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt, Susan Stroman and, most recently, André De Shields.

Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire (2021 Oscar Hammerstein Award Recipients) have been writing together since 1958, making theirs the longest-running collaboration in musical theater history. They've written the scores for more than a dozen musicals, including Broadway's Baby (Best Musical and Score Tony nominations) and Big (Tony nomination for Best Score.) Two landmark revues played Off-Broadway: 1977's Starting Here, Starting Now (Grammy nomination) and 1989's Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical and Score; The York's five-month 2012 revival won the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Revival). Other musicals include The Sap of Life, Love Match, How Do You Do? I Love You!, Take Flight, Sousatzka, and the forthcoming The Country Wife and Dancers at a Waterfall. Their songs have been recorded by artists ranging from Barbra Streisand and Melissa Manchester to Billy Preston and Syreeta. Maltby conceived and directed two Tony-winning Best Musicals: Ain't Misbehavin' (also Tony for Best Director) and Fosse, as well as Ring of Fire. He cowrote the lyrics for both Miss Saigon (Tony nomination for Best Score) and The Pirate Queen and the lyrics for Nick and Nora (Tony Nomination for Best Score). Shire's more than 150 film and television scores include Norma Rae (Oscar for the song "It Goes Like It Goes"), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, All the President's Men, The Conversation, Zodiac, Return to Oz, Farewell, My Lovely, and Saturday Night Fever (two Grammy nominations.) His television scores have earned five Emmy nominations.

The York Theatre Company Founders' Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on the sustainability of the company.

Past recipients of the award include Janet Hayes Walker, the Founding Artistic Director of the York, W. David McCoy, Sarah Tod Smith, Molly Grose, Robert Goldberg, Gerald F. Fisher, Betty Cooper Wallerstein and Riki Kane Larimer.

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