PhotosPhotos: See the Original Cast of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Reunite for Lincoln Center Theater Benefit Reading
Special guests Steve Carell and William Jackson Harper of LCT's Uncle Vanya were also on hand for the gala celebration.
By
Molly Higgins, Logan Culwell-Block
May 10, 2024
The original Off-Broadway cast of the late Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike reunited for a special benefit reading of the play, the headline event of Lincoln Center Theater's 2024 gala, May 7. The reading was held at LCT's Vivian Beaumont Theater and followed by a cocktail party at Spike's Lounge. Special guests included Steve Carell and 2024 Tony nominee William Jackson Harper, both currently starring in LCT's Uncle Vanya on Broadway.
Additional guests included Candice Bergen, Ayad Akhtar, Karolina Kurkova, Peggy Siegel, Molly Jong-Fast, Kamilah Forbes, Michael R. Jackson, J. T. Rogers, Maria Tash, Electra Toub, Linda LeRoy Janklow, Stellene Volandes, Scott Mills, and Tristen Snell.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a riff on the plays and characters of Chekhov, opened at LCT’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater November 12, 2012, and subsequently transferred to Broadway's Golden March 14, 2013, going on to win both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play.
Gala co-chairs included Brooke Garber Neidich, Daniel Neidich, Sarah Long, and David Solomon. Vice-chairs include Katherine Farley and Jerry I. Speyer, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Judy and Will Hiltz, Sandra and Howard I. Hoffen, Kewsong Lee and Zita J. Ezpeleta, and Elyse and Michael Newhouse.
The play comes on the heels of a broader cultural conversation about Dahl's work and the prejudice that was embedded in many of his most beloved stories.