Westport Country Playhouse gala stars

Many of Broadway’s best and brightest talents will perform in Westport Country Playhouse’s one-night-only fundraising gala, “Playing Our Songs: Celebrating 80 Years of Musical Theater,” a fully orchestrated and choreographed retrospective of musicals that have been produced at the Playhouse since its founding in 1931, on Monday evening, September 19.



Taking the stage in “Playing Our Songs” will be many performers who have a close affiliation with the Playhouse and are alumni of previous productions or galas. The cast, in alphabetical order, includes Tony Award nominee Tituss Burgess (“Jersey Boys,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Guys and Dolls”); Tony Award nominee Melissa Errico (“My Fair Lady,” “Anna Karenina,” “High Society”); Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley (“Oklahoma!,” “Young Frankenstein”); Dirk Lumbard (“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “Imaginary Friends,” “The Music Man”); Neil McCaffrey (“Mary Poppins,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Billy Elliot”); Jessica Patty (“The Addams Family,” “Evita” in 2012); Tony Award nominee Andrew Rannells (“The Book of Mormon,” “Jersey Boys,” “Hairspray”); Max Von Essen (“Evita” in 2012, “Les Misérables,” “Jesus Christ Superstar”); and Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (“Contact,” “Curtains,” “Chicago”).

Gala chairs are Kim and Niv Harizman of Westport.