Kelli O’Hara will receive the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theater at The York Theatre’s 34th annual gala on November 16, and the company assembled to salute her already includes Brian d’Arcy James, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Arian Moayed, James Naughton and Patrick Wilson.
The evening is directed by Stephen Nachamie and takes place on Monday, November 16, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. at The Edison Ballroom, 240 West 47th Street. The York says more performers are still to be announced.
The award places O’Hara in a line of past honorees that runs from Harold Prince, Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury to Patti LuPone and André De Shields. She has been nominated for nine Tony Awards and won for The King and I, and her most recent Broadway appearance, in the revival of Fallen Angels, brought her nominations from the Tonys, the Drama League and the Outer Critics Circle. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2015.
The same night, Charles Wright receives The York Theatre Founders’ Award. It is named for the company’s founder, Janet Hayes Walker, and goes to people whose work has helped keep the arts on a sustainable footing. A former A&E Television executive and now co-president of the Drama Desk, Wright has written 107 program notes for the York’s Musicals in Mufti series over 28 years, and is finishing You Wonder How These Things Begin, an account of the company’s first 50 years.
The gala has been held since 1988 and supports The York’s twin purpose of developing new musicals and reviving notable older ones; the company is currently producing at The Theatre at St. Jean’s, at 76th Street and Lexington Avenue. Jim Kierstead and Riki Kane Larimer co-chair the gala committee.
Tickets start at $1,000 and cover pre-show cocktails, a seated dinner and the evening’s entertainment. They are sold through The York Theatre’s gala page.
