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Dec. 6--Actress Shirley Jones will receive the ninth Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theater at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's 2007 Pink Frolic Ball in June.
A joint presentation of The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, the families of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, the award recognizes the lifetime contribution of outstanding talents in musical theater.
Jones, 72, a native of Charleroi and a former Smithton resident, will join the eight recipients who have received the award since its beginning in 1988: Mary Martin (1988), Julie Andrews (1989), Harold Prince (1991), Cameron Mackintosh (1992), Stephen Sondheim (1993), Andrew Lloyd Webber (1996), Gwen Verdon (2000) and Bernadette Peters (2002).
After winning the Miss Pittsburgh Pageant in 1952, Jones came in as first runner-up for Miss Pennsylvania and won an apprenticeship to the Pittsburgh Playhouse. In 1953, she went to New York City where Rodgers and Hammerstein cast her as a replacement in the chorus of the Broadway production of "South Pacific."
In a career that has spanned five decades, Jones has starred in the film versions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals "Oklahoma" and "Carousel," and the long-running 1970s television series "The Partridge Family." In 2004, she returned to Broadway where she played Dorothy Brock in "42nd Street" at the same time her son, Patrick Cassidy, appeared as Julian Marsh.
"This event is especially meaningful because of Ms. Jones' close ties to the Pittsburgh region, her role as a CLO alumnus (1953, "Lady in the Dark" at Pitt Stadium; 1972, "The Shirley Jones Show at Heinz Hall;" 1996, co-host of the CLO 50th Anniversary gala) and the special relationship she enjoys with The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization," says Van Kaplan, the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's executive producer.
Jones also is the first true Pennsylvanian to receive the award, says Ted Chapin, president of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. "She is also someone whose career was encouraged and supported by Richard Rodgers from the day she -- literally -- stepped off the bus in New York."
Mary Rodgers Guettel, an author, screenwriter and composer and daughter of the late Richard Rodgers, will present the Richard Rodgers Award to Jones at the Pink Frolic Ball on June 2 at the Hilton Pittsburgh, 600 Commonwealth Drive, Downtown.
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