Andy Karl and Orfeh to Host 2018 Chita Rivera Awards
(© David Gordon)
Andy Karl (Groundhog Day) and Orfeh (Pretty Woman: The Musical) will host the 2018 Chita Rivera Awards, taking place at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, May 20, at 7:30pm.
The evening will include performances by Brittany Pollack and Andrei Chagas (Carousel), Ariana DeBose and the cast of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, who will perform "Hot Stuff", Evan Ruggiero and Marc Acito (Bastard Jones), and Tony Yazbeck and Irina Dvorovenko from The Beast in the Jungle.
There will also be performances by Stephanie Pope, Harvey Fierstein, Ben Crawford, Bryonha Marie Parham, Lindsey Croop, Georgina Pazcoguin and Calvin Royal III.
Presenters will include Joel Grey (Cabaret), Ben Vereen (Pippin), Maurice Hines (Tappin' Through Life), Lea Salonga (Once on This Island), Jessie Mueller (Carousel), Norbert Leo Butz (My Fair Lady), Gavin Creel (Hello, Dolly!), Patricia Birch (Grease), Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd), Laura Osnes (Bandstand), Robert Fairchild (An American in Paris), and Karen Ziemba (Prince of Broadway).
At this year's Chita Rivera Awards, actor, dancer, and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade will receive the second annual Lifetime Achievement Award, iconic composer John Kander will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theater as a Composer, and legendary theater director and producer Harold Prince will be presented with the SDC Director Award for Exemplary Collaboration with Choreographers.
Steven Hoggett, movement director for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and movement consultant for Angels in America, will receive the inaugural Douglas and Ethel Watt Critics' Choice Award.
The awards are produced by Nikki Feirt Atkins (founder and producing artistic director of American Dance Machine of the 21st Century) and Joe Lanteri (founder and executive director of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation), with Patricia Watt and Iris Smith.
