Danny Burstein, Raúl Esparza, Judy Kuhn, & More Set for THE CRADLE WILL ROCK at Encores! Off- Center; Runs 7/10-13

Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raúl Esparza, Peter Friedman, Judy Kuhn, Martin Moran, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose and Henry Stram will star in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores! Off-Center series, playing for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The show will be directed bySam Gold and choreographed by Chase Brock; Jeanine Tesori is the Encores! Off Center artistic director. Chris Fenwick is the music director. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all and to younger audiences, the majority of tickets are $25.

The cast of The Cradle Will Rock (as of June 10) includes Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raúl Esparza, Peter Friedman, Judy Kuhn, Martin Moran, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose and Henry Stram. Four additional cast members TBA.

The Cradle Will Rock, with music, lyrics and book by Marc Blitzstein, is a powerful political satire and an extraordinary piece of theater history. Set against the backdrop of a steel strike and peopled with fat-cat capitalists, brutal policemen, heroic union organizers, and a warm-hearted prostitute, Blitzstein's 1937 battle hymn to the proletariat feels remarkably fresh.

The show was developed in 1937 with funds from the Federal Theater Project, a branch of the WPA. The original production, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down four days before opening. Officially, it was shut down due to WPA budget cuts, but many cited the show's pro-union themes as the government's impetus for its closing. The remarkable, true story of The Cradle Will Rock's historic 1937 opening, as told by the great John Houseman, can be heard here: http://youtu.be/_LDb0fn4Uek.

The show finally opened Off-Broadway at the Venice Theatre in June of 1937 with private funding. It next opened on Broadway at the Windsor Theater on January 3, 1938 and ran 108 performances.

Danny Burstein (Mr. Mister) was nominated for Tony Awards for his performances in Clifford Odets' Golden Boy, Follies, South Pacific and The Drowsy Chaperone. His Broadway credits also includeWomen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Company, A Class Act and Titanic. Burstein's Off-Broadway credits include Talley's Folly, the world premieres of A. R. Gurney's Mrs. Farnsworth and Psychat Playwrights Horizons, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. He appeared in the Encores! productions of DuBarry Was a Lady, Li'l Abner and The Boys from Syracuse.

Eisa Davis (Reporter/Prof Scoot/Clerk/Dr. Specialist) is an actor, playwright and singer-songwriter who made her Broadway debut in Passing Strange. Her plays include Bulrusher, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Warriors Don't Cry, Hip Hop Anansi and The History of Light. She is the winner of numerous writing awards and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Cave Canem, and the Van Lier and Mellon Foundations.

Raúl Esparza (Larry Foreman) was nominated for Tony Awards for his performances in Speed-the-Plow, The Homecoming, Company and Taboo. His other Broadway credits include Leap of Faith,Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Arcadia, Chess, The Rocky Horror Show and Cabaret. He starred in the Encores! production of Anyone Can Whistle.

Peter Friedman (Harry Druggist) made his Broadway debut in The Great God Brown in 1972 and has appeared in The Visit, Piaf, A Soldier's Play, The Heidi Chronicles, The Tenth Man, Ragtime (Tony nomination) and Twelve Angry Men. On television, Friedman starred as patriarch George Silver in "Brooklyn Bridge." His many film credits include Prince of the City and Daniel.

Judy Kuhn (Sadie/Editor Daily) has been nominated for three Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards for her work in She Loves Me, Chess, Les Miserables and Rags. Her credits include Two Shakespearean Actors, King David, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Fosca in Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine's Passion, Olga in a new adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters by Craig Lucas, the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's The Highest Yellow and Ricky Ian Gordan's Sycamore Tree. Her latest solo recording, "Judy Kuhn: All This Happiness," was recently released on the PS Classics label. She appeared in the Encores! production of Strike Up the Band.

Martin Moran (Yasha/Sister Mister) is an actor and writer. He has appeared in many Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Titanic, Cabaret, Bells Are Ringing, and Floyd Collins. He has written two plays: All the Rage and the 2004 Obie Award-winning one-man play, The Tricky Part.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Ella Hammer) has been nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical, which marked her West End and Broadway debuts. Her opera credits include Madame Butterfly and Hansel and Gretel. She recently appeared in the independent film Ma'George.

Anika Noni Rose (Moll/Mrs. Mister) won the Tony Award for her performance in Caroline or Change and starred as Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in Footloose, was the voice of the princess in Disney's The Princess and the Frog, and starred in the film Dream Girls.

Henry Stram (Dauber/Junior Mister) has appeared on Broadway in Inherit the Wind, The Crucible and Titanic. His Off-Broadway credits include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Rag and Bone, See What I Wanna See, A Bright Room Called Day. The Mind King and Eddie Goes to Poetry City. He appeared in the Tim Robbin's film Cradle Will Rock as well as the films The Grey Zone and Illuminata. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the recipient of a 1996 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence.

Sam Gold (Director) directed the Broadway productions of Picnic and Seminar, and the Off-Broadway productions of The Flick, Look Back in Anger, Uncle Vanya, Kin, The Aliens and Circle Mirror Transformation. He is a recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director, the OBIE Award for Outstanding Direction, and the Princess Grace Award, among others.

Chris Fenwick (Music Director) musical directed the original productions of Michael John LaChiusa's Giant, Los Otros, Queen of the Mist and See What I Wanna See. Broadway credits include Grease, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town, and Elaine Stritch at Liberty. His credits include the Off-Broadway productions of Hello Again, Here Lies Jenny, Road Show, Happiness, and Mother Courage and concerts with Patti LuPone at Carnegie Hall, Ravinia Festival, and many more.

Jeanine Tesori (Artistic Director, composer, Violet) composed the scores to the Broadway productions of Caroline, or Change (2004 Tony nomination for Best Original Score), Shrek the Musical (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations for her music), Violet, (Obie Award, New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, and Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (2000). Tesori arranged the music for the Broadway productions of the Johnny Mercer revue Dream, the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music and the 1999 revue Swing!. She also served as associate conductor for the Broadway productions of The Secret Garden and The Who's Tommy. She has written music for several plays, including Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center and Bertolt Brecht'sMother Courage and Her Children, which was produced as part of the 2006 Shakespeare in the Park season. Tesori is currently working on commissions for the Washington National Opera and a joint initiative of the Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center. She is a lecturer in music at Yale University.

New York City Center gratefully acknowledges the Founding Sponsors Stacey and Eric Mindich and Stacy Bash-Polley.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city for nearly 70 years. It was Manhattan's first performing arts center, dedicated by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1943 with a mission to make the best in music, theater and dance accessible to all audiences. Today, City Center is home to many distinguished companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and New York City Opera; a roster of renowned national and international visiting artists; and its own critically acclaimed and popular programs. The Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series has been hailed as "one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York." This summer City Center is launching Encores! Off-Center, a new series featuring seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's most innovative artists. Dance has been integral to the theater's mission from the start, and dance programs, including the annual Fall for Dance Festival and a partnership with London's Sadler's Wells Theatre and Jazz at Lincoln Center, remain central to City Center's identity. City Center is dedicated to providing educational opportunities to New York City students and teachers with programs such as Encores! In Schools and the Young People's Dance Series. Special workshops cater to families, seniors and other groups, while events such as the Fall for Dance DanceTalk series offer learning opportunities to the general public. City Center completed an extensive renovation project in October 2011 to revitalize and modernize its historic theater.

The Cradle Will Rock will run Wednesday, July 10 and Thursday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, July 12 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, July 13 at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. The majority of tickets for all Encores! Off-Center productions are $25. All tickets can be purchased online at www.NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212.581.1212, or at the City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7thAvenues).

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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