Tony winners Laura Benanti and Celia Keenan-Bolger will host the New 42 Virtual Gala June 1. Freely available online, the gala will feature performances by Erika Henningsen (Mean Girls), Adrianna Hicks (Six), and Emmy Raver-Lampman and Solea Pfeiffer (Gun & Powder), as well as guest appearances from John Lithgow, Raúl Esparza, Elizabeth Stanley, Rebecca Taichman, and Sonya Tayeh.
Premiering at new42.org/gala-2020, the stream will kick off at 5:30 PM ET.
The online evening will help raise funds for New 42's arts and education programming and its signature projects: New 42 Studios and New Victory Theater. Throughout the New Victory's closure, the theatre has stayed engaged with families and audiences through the pandemic via its New Victory Arts Breaks, a series of digital performing arts curriculum for families and teachers to adapt to kids' learning spaces at home.
The New 42 Virtual Gala will also honor philanthropist Marc Spilker with the Marian Heiskell Award.
"Marc is deeply committed to the health and humanity of his fellow New Yorkers, and I'm delighted to honor a leader who gives so generously without asking for anything in return," says New 42 Board Chair Fiona Rudin.
The gala is directed by Jonathan Bernstein with music direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell.
