The 2015 season of New York City Center’s Encores!
Lady, Be Good ! at Encores!
Feb 4 – 8, 2015
Lady, Be Good ! is a musical written by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson with music by George and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was first presented on Broadway in 1924; the West End production followed in 1926. The story of the musical is about a brother and sister who are out of money; both are eager to sacrifice themselves to help the other. This was the first Broadway collaboration of the Gershwin brothers, and the Astaire siblings play a brother-sister dance team.
The brother/sister dance team of Dick and Susie Trevor are so broke that they can’t pay the rent and have been evicted from their childhood home. They crash the garden party of wealthy Jo Vanderwater for a free meal. Dick loves Shirley Vernon but is ashamed to pursue her because of his financial situation. Jo is interested in Dick, and it turns out that she was behind the eviction, as a ploy to get his attention. Meanwhile Susie tries to talk herself into liking the affluent Jeff White, but she finds herself falling for Jack, a charming “hobo”; Jack leaves town.
Cast
Starring Colin Donnell, Danny Gardner, Jeff Hiller, Erin Mackey, Patti Murin, Richard Poe, Douglas Sills, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Kirsten Wyatt, and Special Guest Tommy Tune
Creative
Music and Lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin
Book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Choreographed by Randy Skinner
Guest Music Director Rob Fisher
Directed by Mark Brokaw
Starring Colin Donnell, Danny Gardner, Jeff Hiller, Erin Mackey, Patti Murin, Richard Poe, Douglas Sills, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Kirsten Wyatt, and Special Guest Tommy Tune
Paint Your Wagon
March 18 – 22, 2015
Paint Your Wagon is a Broadway musical comedy, with book and lyrics by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story centers on a miner and his daughter and follows the lives and loves of the people in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California. Popular songs from the show included “Wand’rin’ Star”, “I Talk to the Trees” and “They Call the Wind Maria”.
In the California Wilderness in May 1853, a crusty old miner, Ben Rumson, is conducting a makeshift funeral for a friend. Meanwhile his 16-year-old daughter Jennifer discovers gold dust. Ben claims the land, and prospectors start flocking to the brand new town of Rumson (“I’m On My Way”). Two months later Rumson has a population of 400, all of whom are men except for Jennifer. Prospector Jake Whippany is waiting to save enough money to send for Cherry and her Fandango girls (“Rumson”), while Jennifer senses the tension building in town (“What’s Going On Here?”). Julio Valveras, a handsome young miner forced to live and work outside of town because he is Mexican, comes to town with dirty laundry and runs into Jennifer, who volunteers to do his laundry. They also talk to each other (“I Talk to the Trees”). Steve Bulmarck and the other men ponder the lonely nomadic life they lead in the song “They Call the Wind Maria”.
Cast TBA
Creative
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Choreographed by Denis Jones
Music Director Rob Berman
Directed by Marc Bruni
Zorba
May 6 – 10, 2015
Zorba is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander. Adapted from the 1952 novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis and the subsequent 1964 film of the same name, it focuses on the friendship that evolves between Zorba and Nikos, a young American who has inherited an abandoned mine on Crete, and their romantic relationships with a local widow and a French woman, respectively.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 1968 in a production directed by Harold Prince. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical in a season that included Hair, Promises, Promises and 1776. The last of these won the award. The original production ran for 305 performances, but a 1983 Broadway revival ran for 362 performances with a cast starring Anthony Quinn.
Cast TBA
Creative
Book by Joseph Stein
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Adapted from Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Choreographed by Josh Rhodes
Music Director Rob Berman
Directed by Walter Bobbie
City Center’s Encores!
55th Street between 6th and 7th avenues New York (Theatre Entrance)
Accessibility
Wheelchair Seating
New York City Center Mainstage, Stage I, and Stage II are wheelchair accessible. Please advise us at the time of ticket purchase of your particular needs. Wheelchair seats are available through NYCityCenter.org; by calling CityTix® at 212.581.1212 or at the box office window.
For the Mainstage productions, locations are available on the left and right side of the Orchestra and row G of the Mezzanine.
For Manhattan Theatre Club and Women’s Project Theater productions, locations are available in the first row.
Assistive Listening Devices
Wireless FM assistive listening devices are available free of charge with the presentation of either a driver’s license or credit card.
For the Mainstage productions, assistive listening devices are distributed adjacent to the House Manager’s lectern on the right side of the orchestra level lobby.
For Manhattan Theatre Club and Women’s Project Theater productions, assistive listening devices are available at coat check on the first landing on the East side of the theatre.
Contact
New York City Center
130 West 56th Street
New York, NY 10019
t 212.581.1212
