The O’Neill annually bestows its Monte Cristo Award on a prominent theater artist whose work has had an extraordinary impact on American theater, in memory of its namesake.
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center honored multi-discipline creative artist Lin-Manuel Miranda with the 18th Monte Cristo Award, at a private dinner at the Edison Ballroom in New York City on April 30th. An alumnus of the O’Neill, Miranda’s first professional production was at the O’Neill’s National Music Theater Conference with In The Heights in 2005. The gala dinner featured a conversation with the honoree and raised $575,000 to support the Center’s commitment to developing new work and new artists for the stage.
The evening featured performances of some of Miranda’s work – including a performance of “It Won’t Be Long Now,” from In the Heights, by Karen Olivo, Perry Young, and Mateo Ferro as well as a performance of “I’m Out,” by Anthony Ramos. Hamilton stars and O’Neill alumni Javier Munoz and Christopher Jackson performed “One Last Time.” Alex Lacamoire was the evening’s music director and lead a band of musicians from the Broadway orchestras of In the Heights and Hamilton. The highlight of the evening was when actress Lindsay Menez led an “In Conversation” with Miranda who discussed his time at the O’Neill, how theatre will always be close to his heart, hir writing process, his continued work with Puerto Rico and the importance of “finding your crew.”