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Anika Noni Rose and Aisha Jackson to Star in WONDERFUL TOWN at Encores!
Performances will run from Apr 30 – May 11.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 12, 2025
Click Here for More on ENCORES!
Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose and Aisha Jackson will lead New York City CenterEncores! Wonderful Town (Apr 30 – May 11) as sisters Ruth and Eileen. Directed by Zhailon Levingston (Cats: “The Jellicle Ball) with Encores! Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell leading The Encores! Orchestra, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical features music by the great Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by legendary musical-comedy duo Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Encores! Wonderful Town features choreography by Lorin Latarro and tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, scenic design by Clint Ramos, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by Ben Stanton, and sound design by Megumi Katayama.
In 1935, sisters Ruth, an aspiring writer, and Eileen, an aspiring actress, move from Ohio to Greenwich Village to pursue their artistic ambitions, overcome heartbreak, encounter an assortment of colorful characters, and ultimately find love. Featuring memorable tunes like “Ohio” and “One Hundred Easy Ways,” Wonderful Town is a celebration of what makes New York the greatest city in the world—welcoming people from all over who come to fulfill their dreams. The show shares a unique history with New York City Center with previous productions in 1958, 1963, 1966, and the 2000 Encores! production which transferred to Broadway in 2003.
Anika Noni Rose
is known around the world for having voiced Princess Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and The Frog. Broadway & Off-Broadway: Uncle Vanya; Caroline, Or Change (Tony Award); A Raisin in the Sun (Tony nomination); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Footloose; Carmen Jones (Lucille Lortel and Audelco awards). Her Film/TV credits include Mufasa: The Lion King; Let The Right One In; Maid; Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey; Them; Little Fires Everywhere; The Quad; Everything, Everything; Dreamgirls; Roots; Power; The Good Wife; The Simpsons; The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency; For Colored Girls; Half of A Yellow Sun; Assassination Nation. A ten-time NAACP Image Award nominee, Rose has voiced many audiobooks and has performed concerts around the world, including Carnegie Hall and the Vatican. She is the author of the children’s book Princess Tiana’s Perfect Plan.
Aisha Jackson
was most recently at City Center as Linda in the Annual Gala Presentation Pal Joey directed Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover. Broadway credits include The Notebook, Once Upon A One More Time, Paradise Square, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Waitress, and Frozen, where she made history as the first Black woman to portray Anna on Broadway. Jackson desires to continue creating roles for Black women to lead and shine bright, onstage and on-screen, because representation matters! Her other credits include Up Here (Hulu) and Harlem (Amazon Prime).
