Benanti joins previously announced F. Murray Abraham, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Raúl Esparza, Norm Lewis, Bonnie Milligan, Debra Monk, and Lillias White for “The Best Is Yet to Come” benefit.

Westport Country Playhouse announces that Tony® Award winner and five-time Tony® Award nominee Laura Benanti has been added to the talent lineup for the fundraising concert, “The Best Is Yet to Come,” on Saturday, September 14. She joins previously announced Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham, who will host; Tony nominee Raúl Esparza; Tony nominee Norm Lewis; Tony Award winner Bonnie Milligan; Emmy and Tony Award winner Debra Monk; and Tony Award winner Lillias White. Emmy and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth and Drama Desk Award-winning conductor and music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell will be saluted for their past work at the Playhouse, in addition to performing.  

Laura Benanti is a highly celebrated stage and screen actress. In the theater, Benanti took Broadway by storm at the age of 18 as Maria in “The Sound of Music,” and has subsequently starred in 10 more Broadway shows including “Gypsy,” for which she won a Tony Award, “Into the Woods,” “Nine,” “She Loves Me,” “My Fair Lady,” and “Meteor Shower.”

Benanti’s impressive television credits include widely acclaimed appearances as Melania Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Also, “Younger,” “Gossip Girl” reboot, and the upcoming second season of “The Gilded Age.” In film, she starred in Netflix’s “Worth,” “Here Today,” and was featured in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Tick,Tick…Boom!” and “No Hard Feelings” opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Matthew Broderick.

The Playhouse’s biggest fundraiser of the year will celebrate the music of multi-Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning composer Cy Coleman, with the artists performing Coleman’s hits, including “The Best Is Yet to Come,” which is the evening’s theme, and music from his Broadway shows “Sweet Charity,” “Barnum,” “On the Twentieth Century,” and more.

The 2024 Westport Country Playhouse Leadership Award will be presented to Westporters Harold Bailey, Jr. and Bernicestine McLeod Bailey.

Tickets for prime seating at the performance and post-show reception are $1,000; performance-only tickets are $300 and $500. A portion of ticket prices is tax deductible. Tickets may be reserved by contacting the Playhouse box office at 203-227-4177; or online at https://tickets.westportplayhouse.org/6581

The fundraiser will feature a raffle for pair of diamond and mother of pearl earrings and a mother of pearl and bead necklace by Marco Bicego, valued at $5,300 and donated by Lux Bond and Green. Raffle participants may purchase the chance to select at the event a raffle box containing the prize.

Raffle boxes are now on sale at $100 each. Only 100 boxes are available.

More information on the event and raffle at: https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/gala2024/

All proceeds from this fundraiser will support Westport Country Playhouse, a non-profit performing arts center and professional, producing theater, its work on stage and throughout the community.

2024 Programming and Season Sponsor is Barbara Streicker. Media sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio. Westport Country Playhouse is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

A complete schedule of Playhouse events is available at www.westportplayhouse.org. All play titles, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.

For Westport Country Playhouse information and tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529.