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Former ECW Ring Announcer and longtime casting director, producer and director Stephen DeAngelis directed one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies in the theater world earlier this week in NYC, the 2024 Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala, which took place on 11/11 at the Edison Ballroom
The event saw the legendary Bernadette Peters bestowed the 2024 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theater while Producer Ted Snowdon received the York Theatre Founders' Award.
The event and concert celebration was hosted by Michael Urie (currently starring in the Broadway production of Once Upon Mattress) and will featured live entertainment with special guest appearances from Alex Newell (Shucked), Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future), Klea Blackhurst, Victor Garber (Sweeney Todd), Julie Halston (Our Town), James Lapine, Marilyn Maye, Eva Noblezeda (Hadestown), Randy Rainbow, Elizabeth Stanley (_Jagged Little Pill)), among others.
The Oscar Hammerstein Award was named in honor of the legendary lyricist and librettist who helped shape American musical theater through his work and collaborations, including landmark musicals as Show Boat, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Carousel. Past recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Award have included Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Harold Prince, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, George S. Irving, Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick, Thomas Meehan, Barbara Cook, Paul Gemignani, Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Angela Lansbury, Joel Grey, Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt, Susan Stroman, André De Shields, Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire, Leslie Uggams and Patti LuPone.
In the wrestling circles, DeAngelis may be best known for ring announcing, but he has promoted international tours in the past. He regularly produces an ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway standbys, understudies titled At this Performance...as well as many other events across the country celebrating Broadway's musical theater. He has worked as a casting director for film, television, commercial and theater for decades, well before his ECW debut, having made connections in pro wrestling through charity events in the 1990s.
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