Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-winning composer Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked," "Pippin," Disney's "Pocahontas", DreamWorks's "The Prince of Egypt") performed "For Good" from Wicked at "And the Tony Award Goes to...Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50," paying tribute to TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley.
Stars of stage and screen, playwrights, composers, and supporters of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley came together Saturday, November 2, 2019 to celebrate the acclaimed regional theatre at And the Tony Award Goes To...Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50, a once-in-a-lifetime event honoring the company's half-century and its 2019 Regional Theatre Tony® Award. Some 480 guests attended extraordinary event which raised nearly $800,000 for TheatreWorks marking it the most attended and most successful fundraiser in the company's history. Guests appropriately gathered in the heart of Silicon Valley at Mountain View's Computer History Museum for cocktails, dinner, and a lively auction, then proceeded to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, where a stellar array of TheatreWorks alumni returned to pay tribute to its history through words and music.
Also on hand were Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and American Theatre Wing chair David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Aida, Soft Power), and Drama Desk and Emmy Award winner, multiple Tony nominee Željko Ivanek (Damages, Madam Secretary, Cloud Nine, The Pillowman), who offered heartfelt remarks highlighting their long relationships with TheatreWorks. Tony nominated Broadway composer Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party, The Addams Family, Big Fish) also received an ovation as he performed selections from his musicals developed at TheatreWorks. Broadway composer Paul Gordon, another Tony nominee (Jane Eyre, Daddy Long Legs, Jane Austen's EMMA, Being Earnest) who has debuted several hit productions at TheatreWorks, introduced a song from the upcoming holiday production of his Pride and Prejudice-which will mark TheatreWorks's 70th world premiere-performed by its leading lady, Mary Mattison.