New Dramatists, Tony® Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, invites you to join us as we honor a duo of multi-hyphenate generative artists: Tina Landau, an award-winning playwright, lyricist, and director (Redwood, Floyd Collins, SpongeBob SquarePants), and Tony Award winner Idina Menzel (Redwood, Wicked, Rent) at our Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute on Tuesday, May 27 at the New York Marriott Marquis.
Tina Landau and Idina Menzel are two galvanizing artists who have created some of the most memorable productions/performances in theatre history. Now, with Tina's and Idina's creative paths converging on Broadway, the intertwining of their vision and presence to build—and bring to life—a wholly original new musical is cause for much attention and celebration. New Dramatists looks forward to honoring them as iconoclastic individual artists and uplifting their powerful collaboration. Menzel is currently starring in Broadway's newest musical, Redwood, which she co-conceived alongside Landau, the musical's director, book writer and co-lyricist. Landau makes history this Spring as she becomes the first woman to direct and write two Broadway productions in the same season, next as director and book writer of Floyd Collins, for which she also provides additional lyrics, opening at Lincoln Center Theater in April.
About the Honorees
Tina Landau is an acclaimed Tony Award-nominated theater director and writer. She is set for an auspicious 2025 with two major musicals debuting on Broadway: as director, book writer, and co-lyricist of the original musical Redwood, starring Tony Award winner Idina Menzel; and as director, book writer and additional lyrics for the long-awaited Broadway debut of the cult-favorite musical Floyd Collins featuring Tony Award winning-composer Adam Guettel’s iconic score, which first premiered Off-Broadway in 1996, winning the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. Her previous Broadway credits include Paula Vogel’s Mother Play, receiving four Tony nominations, and starring Jessica Lange, Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger and the musical SpongeBob SquarePants, which she also conceived, receiving 12 Tony nominations, including Best Direction. For her wildly imaginative staging on SpongeBob, she also won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Director of a Musical. Landau made her Broadway directorial debut with the Tony-nominated revival of Bells Are Ringing. She has directed over 20 productions at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she’s an ensemble member, including Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts, which transferred to Broadway in 2009. Her extensive credits include many Off-Broadway and regional triumphs, with her work presented at The Public, Mark Taper Forum, Vineyard Theater, Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizon, Seattle Rep, ACT and many more. She also co-authored, with Anne Bogart, The Viewpoints Book, an influential text on performance and movement.
Idina Menzel is a Tony Award-winning, powerhouse multi-hyphenate: a singer, an actress in film and TV, a songwriter, a Broadway star, and a philanthropist. She rose to fame for her role as ‘Maureen’ in the popular Broadway musical Rent, and her career took off when she won a Tony Award for her role as ‘Elphaba,’ the Wicked Witch of the West, in the smash musical Wicked. Her voice can be heard as ‘Elsa’ in Disney’s Oscar® winning Frozen, the second highest grossing animated films of all time, with more than $1.2 billion in worldwide box office revenue. The film’s song “Let It Go”, voiced by Menzel, became an instant international phenomenon, winning the Oscar® for Best Original Song – where Menzel performed it at the ceremony – and the Grammy® Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The track reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Menzel the first artist with both a Billboard Top 10 hit and a Tony Award for acting. This February, Idina will be returning to Broadway to star in Redwood, which she co-conceived with Tina Landau. In a true full circle moment, the show will play the Nederlander Theatre, where Menzel made her Broadway debut in Rent. In August 2023, Menzel released her electrifying dance project Drama Queen via BMG. The project is a departure from what she’s released in the past, as Menzel showcases her powerhouse vocals through disco-infused beats and soaring anthems. For Drama Queen, Idina worked with award-winning collaborators including Nile Rodgers (Chic, Diana Ross, Beyonce), Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez), Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters), Sir Nolan (Shawn Mendes, Carly Rae Jepsen), Jim Eliot (Elie Goulding, Kylie Minogue) and more. Menzel was most recently seen in the Netflix film You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah alongside Adam Sandler. She can also be seen in the sequel to Enchanted, Enchanted 2: Disenchanted, alongside Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, and Maya Rudolph. In late 2022 she released the personal Disney+ documentary Which Way to the Stage?, which followed her on a national tour over the course of 16 shows as she juggled the challenges of being a working mom and a grueling schedule, all while preparing to finally realize her lifelong dream of headlining Madison Square Garden. Menzel is consistently lauded for her strong yet emotional live performances. Accompanied by world-renowned symphony orchestras, Menzel has played to sold-out audiences and demonstrated why she is one of the great performers of her time. The Denver Post dubbed her “The Streisand of her generation,” while The New York Times praised Menzel as “an entertainer with a phenomenal voice… Diana Ross with ten times the stamina and lung power.” Philanthropy is also important to Menzel, who co-founded the A BroaderWay Foundation in 2010. The organization is dedicated to offering girls from underserved communities an outlet for self-expression and creativity through arts-centered programs. The emphasis is on building self-esteem, developing leadership qualities and striving for personal and social achievement. In 2014, Menzel was recognized as one of Variety’s Power of Women honorees for her work with the organization.
HOW CAN I ATTEND OR SHOW MY SUPPORT?
For more information or to reserve your seat, contact Sofie Wasserman-Smith, Development Director, via phone at (646) 381-4694 or email her at @email.
In addition to helping us pay tribute to our honorees, your presence at this celebratory luncheon supports New Dramatists' extraordinary company of playwrights and their work. Your options include a Premium Sponsorship, a table of ten, an ad in our Tribute Journal, or single seats. Premium Sponsors receive preferred table placement and are included in Honorary Committee lists.
PROCEEDS FROM THE LUNCHEON SUPPORT NEW DRAMATISTS’ RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHTS AND THEIR WORK.
