Patti LuPone to Receive 2012 Stephen Sondheim Award from Signature Theatre

Two-time Tony winner Patti LuPone will receive the third annual Stephen Sondheim Award from the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. The award, given annually to an individual for his or her career contributions to interpreting, supporting and collaborating on the works of Stephen Sondheim, will be presented at a black-tie Gala Benefit on April 16, 2012, at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC. Previous recipients are Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters.

Legendary composer/lyricist Sondheim praised the latest honoree in a statement, saying, “There are few performers who can play both Mrs. Lovett and Fosca, Evita and Reno Sweeney, Nancy in Oliver! and Cora Hoover Hooper in Anyone Can Whistle, and still create roles for David Mamet. In fact, there’s only one. Versatility of such a high caliber is rare indeed, and therefore it couldn’t be more appropriate that the recipient of this year’s Signature Theatre Sondheim Award is going to the best tuba player on Broadway: Patti LuPone.”

LuPone, a Tony winner for Gypsy and Evita, was most recently seen on Broadway in a Tony-nominated performance in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. She will soon be back on the Great White Way in An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, alongside her Evita co-star. She also received Tony nominations for Sweeney Todd, Anything Goes and The Robber Bridegroom, and is the author of the best-selling Patti LuPone: A Memoir.