Lansbury, LuPone, Esparza and More Set for City Center's Starry Sondheim Birthday Gala

Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook and Raul Esparza have joined the cast of New York City Center's Stephen Sondheim tribute concert, which will be held in honor of the famed composer/lyricist's 80th birthday. The concert, directed by John Doyle, will take place at City Center on April 26 and will be followed by a post-performance dinner at the Plaza Hotel.

Lansbury (Sweeney Todd, original cast, currently starring in the Broadway revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music), Peters (Into the Woods, original cast), LuPone (Sweeney Todd, revival cast), Cook (Sondheim on Sondheim) and Esparza (Company, revival cast) join Michael Cerveris (Sweeney Todd, revival cast), Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Victor Garber (Sweeney Todd, original cast), Joanna Gleason (Into the Woods, original cast), Donna Murphy (Passion), Claybourne Elder (Road Show), Alexander Gemignani (Assassins, revival cast), Mark Jacoby (Sweeney Todd, revival cast), Jim Walton (Merrily We Roll Along), B.D. Wong (Pacific Overtures, revival cast) and Chip Zien (Into the Woods, original cast) in a night of song music directed by Rob Berman. The gala event, comprised of music from works in which Sondheim wrote both the music and lyrics, will help fund New York City Center's artistic and education programs.

Sondheim celebrates his 80th birthday on March 22. His numerous accolades include Tony Awards for Passion, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Follies, Company and Sunday in the Park with George, which also received the 1985 Pulitzer Prize.