Matthew Broderick, Kelli O’Hara, David Hyde Pierce Pay Tribute to Abe Burrows at Williamstown Theatre Festival Benefit

Burrows, who died in 1985, was the co-author of such musicals as Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, for which he received a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His son, television and theater director James Burrows, serves on the board of Williamstown Theatre Festival and was one of the evening’s Honorary Chairs.

The benefit was hosted by two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick (Nice Work if You Can Get It) and featured performances by such Williamstown Festival veterans as Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce, who directed this past summer’s staging of The Importance of Being Earnest; Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara and Drama Desk Award nominee Steven Pasquale, both of whom recently appeared in the Festival’s production of the musical Far From Heaven; and Broadway star Lauren Molina, who co-starred in the musical Ten Cents a Dance.

Additional guests and performers included Festival alumni Dylan Baker, Kate Burton, Patricia Clarkson, Tyne Daly, and Greg Naughton, Tony Award winner Laura Benanti, and Laurie Burrows Grad, the daughter of honoree Abe Burrows.

Williamstown Theatre Festival, which takes place on the campus of Williams College in Massachusetts, was founded in the mid 1950s as a way of forming a resident summer theater company. Since then, the festival has brought well-known actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires to present new and classic plays and musicals for residents and visitors.

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