Pittsburgh CLO's Richard Rodgers Award, previously adorned by such musical theater stars as Mary Martin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Julie Andrews and Stephen Sondheim, will go in 2008 to Pittsburgh natives Rob and Kathleen Marshall.

The brother and sister are the first dual winners of the award, first siblings, youngest (47 and 45, respectively) and most closely associated with the CLO. They made their professional debuts at the CLO in "The Sound of Music" in 1973, ages 12 and 10, and later earned their Equity cards there as performers.

The 10th Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theater will be celebrated May 10 as the highlight of the CLO Guild's Pink Frolic Ball at the Omni William Penn. Given in conjunction with the families of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, the award will be presented by Rodgers' daughter, Mary Rodgers Guettel, author, screenwriter and composer.

Reached Saturday by phone in New York, where he was preparing to return to work yesterday on the script for his upcoming film of the musical "Nine," Rob Marshall said that when he was read the list of previous winners, he thought, "Why are we on this list? It's unbelievably flattering."

Taking a brief break Monday from preparing to direct "Applause" for the Encores! series, Kathleen Marshall echoed her brother: "It's sort of stunning, like, 'Us? Really??'"

She continued, "I guess we get a lot of points in the year of Pittsburgh's 250th birthday for being the hometown kids, and also for having a real connection to the CLO, on many levels. And if you add our two ages together, maybe we do add up to a lifetime achievement award."

The award is the more meaningful, Rob Marshall said, because, "for our family, there's CLO and then there's Broadway and film. The CLO's where the dream began." When he was in Pittsburgh last spring at the Public Theater's AIDS benefit, he found he still got goose bumps walking by "the CLO stage door" -- the stage door to Heinz Hall, where the CLO performed in 1973.

"I love that I was able to grow up through the CLO," he says. "It's an iconic place for me."

CLO head Van Kaplan echoes that sentiment. Ted Chapin, president of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, notes that the Marshalls "have amassed Broadway, Hollywood and London credits between them, and have Pittsburgh and the CLO in their blood."

Rob Marshall divides his connection with the CLO into "three different incarnations." The first was as a child, when he also appeared in "The King and I." Second was as a dancer in the ensemble while in college at Carnegie Mellon University. Third was when the CLO gave him an early chance to choreograph ("Edwin Drood," 1988) and then direct, beginning with "Camelot" (1991), when he took over as director at the last minute, continuing with "Oliver!" and "Brigadoon" (both 1992) and "South Pacific" (1993).

He went on to perform in four Broadway musicals and choreograph and/or direct eight others, winning six Tony nominations. Then he moved into film, choreographing and directing several musicals for TV before scoring a huge silver-screen success, winning a Golden Globe and the Director's Guild Award for directing the Oscar-winning "Chicago," followed by "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Kathleen Marshall has the same three-level CLO experience, having performed for several years in the CLO ensemble and assisted on her brother's early CLO productions. She performed professionally and assisted her brother to choreograph four Broadway shows. She then became artistic director of New York's Encores! series of short-run musical revivals. She choreographed and eventually also directed seven Broadway musicals of her own, winning five Tony nominations, including Tony Awards for choreographing "Wonderful Town" and "The Pajama Game."

Last year, she became a TV personality as a judge on "Grease: You're the One That I Want," the reality show that chose the leads for her revival of "Grease," now playing on Broadway. She has also earned an Olivier Award nomination for "Kiss Me Kate" in London and choreographed two musicals for TV.

Currently she is deep in preparation for "Applause," which starts rehearsal next Monday. Since an Encores! production gets only about nine days of rehearsal, she said, "you have to go in like Schwarzkopf."

Originally, she was to accept the Rodgers Award alone, with her brother accepting by videotape, because he was to be filming "Nine" in May. Then the writers' strike hit, and work on the "Nine" script had to stop. It has just restarted (see separate story), but the projected shooting schedule should allow both Marshalls to return to the CLO in triumph in May.