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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

LINCOLN CENTER THEATER
TO HOST ANNUAL SPRING GALA
WITH STAGED CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF
“MAN OF LA MANCHA”
STARRING ACCLAIMED TENOR ROLANDO VILLAZÓN
DIRECTED BY LCT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER BARTLETT SHER

AT THE VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER
ONE NIGHT ONLY
ON MONDAY, MAY 18, 2026

New York, NY (January 28, 2026) – Lincoln Center Theater announced today that they will hold their annual spring Gala with a staged concert performance of Man of La Mancha starring internationally acclaimed tenor Rolando Villazón as “Cervantes / Don Quxiote” on Monday, May 18 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The one-night-only event will be directed by LCT Executive Producer and longtime visionary, Tony Award^® winner Bartlett Sher and will include a post-performance dinner with LCT Artists at the David H. Koch Theater. Additional casting for the evening will be announced at a later date.

Man of La Mancha was written by Dale Wasserman with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The original production was directed by Albert Marre. Featuring a score of enduring songs including “The Impossible Dream” and “Dulcinea,” the classic musical tells the story of one man’s unwavering pursuit of honor, love, and imagination. It reminds us of the necessity of dreaming and the courage to do so when hope feels out of reach.

Tables and gala-entry tickets are now on sale. Show-only tickets will be available later this spring. For more information, please visit lct.org/shows/ManOfLaManchaGala

To download headshots, please click here.

Casting is by The Telsey Office, Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

This year’s Gala co-chairs are Sandra and Howard Hoffren and Laura Speyer and Josef Goodman.

Man of La Mancha is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

BIOGRAPHIES

Rolando Villazón (Cervantes / Don Quxiote). Through his uniquely compelling performances, Rolando Villazón has firmly established himself among the music world’s most critically acclaimed and beloved stars and as one of the leading artistic voices of our day. Celebrated and loved by critics and audiences alike, Villazón’s versatility is unique: in addition to his 25 years in an elite international performance career, he is also a stage director, novelist, artistic director and television/radio presenter.

In the 2025-26 season, Rolando Villazón returns to the Vienna State Opera for his house debut as Pelléas in Marco Arturo Marelli’s production of Pelléas et Mélisande, conducted by Alain Altinoglu. The tenor then takes his portrayal of Eisenstein in Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus to the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich for performances conducted by Zubin Mehta. Villazón makes his directing debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, staging a new production of La sonnambula with Nadine Sierra in the title role. He further directs a new production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for the Salzburg Mozart Week Festival and returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin to direct a new production of L’Italiana in Algeri with Aigul Akhmetshina in the title role.

On the concert stage, Villazón celebrates Mozart’s 270th anniversary with a nine-city European tour alongside PRJCT Amsterdam and Maarten Engeltjes, bringing a programme of beloved Mozart arias to Zürich, Vienna, Munich, and Hamburg, among others. The tenor also reunites with lautten compagney BERLIN to present their programme Viaggio dell’anima in Fürth, Linz, and Iserlohn. Later in the season, Villazón appears with the Kammerakademie Potsdam and François Leleux in his inaugural season as music director and headlines a Zarzuela Gala directed by Christoph Loy at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. A highly sought-after recitalist, he can be heard with harpist Xavier de Maistre in Münster and Schloss Elmau, and in piano recitals in across Germany.

Born in Mexico City, he began his musical studies at the National Conservatory of his native country before becoming a member of the junior programs at the Pittsburgh Opera and San Francisco Opera. Rolando Villazón quickly made a name for himself on the international music scene after winning several prizes at Plácido Domingo’s “Operalia” competition in 1999 (including the Zarzuela Prize and the Audience Prize). This was followed in the same year by his European debut as Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon in Genoa and debuts as Alfredo in La traviata at the Opéra de Paris and as Macduff in Macbeth at the Staatsoper Berlin. Since then, Rolando Villazón has been a regular guest at the Staatsoper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Vienna State Oprera, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Salzburg Festival, working with leading orchestras and renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Antonio Pappano and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He has performed at venues including London’s Barbican Hall, the Philharmonie in Paris, Berlin and Cologne, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2011, Rolando Villazón made his debut as a stage director with an acclaimed production of Massenet’s Werther with the Opéra Lyon and has since directed at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, the Vienna Volksoper, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées and most recently at the 2022 Salzburg Festival.

In 2007, Rolando Villazón became an exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon and since then has sold over 2 million albums worldwide with a catalogue including over 20 CDs and DVDs which have received numerous prizes. His most recent album entitled Orfeo son io, recorded with Christina Pluhar and the acclaimed ensemble L’Arpeggiata, features music by Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries, is set for release in Fall 2025. He was awarded the title of Chévalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest honors in the field of art and literature in France, his permanent residence. Rolando Villazón is an ambassador for RED NOSES Clowndoctors International and a member of the Collège de Pataphysique de Paris. His first novel “Malabares” was published in 2013, followed by “Lebenskünstler” in 2017 and “Amadeus auf dem Fahrrad” in 2020, which was on Der Spiegel magazine’s bestseller list for several weeks. Rolando Villazón presented his own series “Stars of Tomorrow” on Arte, hosted on Radio Classique in France and can be heard daily on Klassik Radio with “Rolando furioso”.

In 2017, he was appointed ambassador of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. He is currently the artistic director of the foundation.

Bartlett Sher (Director) is a Tony award-winner who has been described by The New York Times as one of America’s “most original and exciting directors.” His production of Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird is the best-selling American play in Broadway history. His productions have been nominated for over 90 Tony Awards. His other work on Broadway and in the West End includes Pictures from Home, My Fair Lady, the 2017 Tony-winning Best Play Oslo, Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, The Bridges of Madison County, Golden Boy, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, South Pacific, Awake and Sing!, and The Light in the Piazza. He has been a resident director at Lincoln Center Theater since 2008, where he recently directed McNEAL, Lerner & Lowe’s Camelot and Corruption. Bart has also directed several operas, including Rigoletto (Berlin, Metropolitan Opera); Roméo et Juliette (Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg, Milan, Chicago); Faust (Baden Baden); Two Boys (ENO, Metropolitan Opera); Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Baden Baden, Metropolitan Opera), Otello, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Le Comte Ory, L’Elisir d’Amore (Metropolitan Opera); Mourning Becomes Electra (Seattle Opera, City Opera). He will direct the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay for the Met in their 2025-2026 season. His film of Oslo (HBO, 2021) was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a Critics Choice Award. Bart recently mounted a hit revival of Kiss Me, Kate at the Barbican in London. His upcoming work includes a stage adaptation of the movie-musical La La Land. 

ABOUT LINCOLN CENTER THEATER

LCT’s mission is to bring exceptional theater to life. Building on a legacy of artistic excellence, LCT strives to expand what is possible: to make the magic of theatre more palpable, empowering visionary artists and extending the invitation for the community to join in celebrating the power of live performance. To see that mission to fruition in a new era at the New York institution, commencing with the current 2025-2026 season, Lear deBessonet assumed the role of Kewsong Lee Artistic Director, alongside Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Barlett Sher, Stacey and Eric Mindich Producer Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Director of Development and Planning Naomi Grabel, and LCT3 Artistic Director and Producer Maria Manuela Goyanes.

Following the season launch on July 30, 2025 with the free Silent Disco Listening Party of the Warriors concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, deBessonet opened her inaugural season at the Vivian Beaumont Theater with a new production of her celebrated New York City Center Gala revival of Ragtime, the American premiere of the 2025 Olivier Award-nominated play Kyoto and the family opera Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, and The Comedy Series with LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater, and most recently An Evening with Kelli O’Hara in January at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The season also includes upcoming productions of The Whoopi Monologues at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater; Night Side Songs, A Woman Among Women and The Reading Series with LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater; as well one special gala concert presentation of Man of La Mancha at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

Founded in 1985 by Board Chair Hon. John V. Lindsay, Executive Producer Bernie Gersten and Director Gregory Mosher, and led for 33 years by André Bishop, LCT is one of the leading nonprofit theaters in the country, producing an annual season of plays and musicals that have been seen by millions around the globe. It is one of 11 autonomous constituents of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Each year, the three theaters that make up LCT welcome nearly 300,000 audience members to its home on the Lincoln Center campus.

Over the last 40 years, LCT and its outstanding productions have received many of the highest accolades, including 87 Tony Awards, 97 Drama Desk Awards, 79 Outer Critics Cricle Awards, 33 Obies, 11 NY Drama Critics Circle Awards, and one Pulitzer Prize, as well as two finalists.

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