Gary Griffin, John Rando and Warren Carlyle to Direct 2013 Encores! Season!
By: Robert Diamond Jan. 02, 2013
Jack Viertel, Artistic Director of New York City Center's Encores! series, today announced the directors and choreographers of the Encores! 20th Anniversary season, opening on January 30, 2013. The Tony Award-winning series welcomes back directors Gary Griffin, John Rando and Warren Carlyle, choreographers Alex Sanchez and Joshua Bergasse, and Guest Music Director Rob Fisher.
The anniversary season opens with Bock and Harnick's Fiorello! (January 30 - February 3), the story of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, the man singularly responsible for saving City Center from the wrecking ball and transforming it into Manhattan's first performing arts center. Fiorello! will be directed by Gary Griffin with choreography by Alex Sanchez and music direction by Rob Berman.
The season will continue with Strouse and Adams's It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (March 20 - 24) directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.
Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes (May 8 - 12) will be directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle with music direction by Rob Fisher. On Your Toes opened on Broadway in 1936, and was choreographed by George Balanchine. The Encores! production will feature Balanchine's original choreography for the legendary "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" ballet, staged by Susan Pilarre, who served as a Ballet Mistress of the show's 1983 Broadway revival.
Gary Griffin (Director, Fiorello!) directed the Encores! productions of The New Moon, Pardon My English, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Apple Tree, Music in the Air and Lost in the Stars. Gary directed the Broadway productions of The Color Purple and The Apple Tree as well as Pacific Overtures at London's Donmar Warehouse. His many credits for Chicago Shakespeare Theater include Sunday in the Park With George, Follies, As You Like It, Passion and A Little Night Music. Gary has won nine of Chicago's prestigious Joseph Jefferson Awards.
Alex Sanchez (Choreographer, Fiorello!) choreographed the Encores! production of Where's Charley? and appeared in Li'l Abner. He choreographed Michael John LaChiusa's Giant at The Public Theatre, Far From Heaven at Williamstown Theatre, and Follies at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, among others.
Rob Berman (Music Director, Fiorello! and Superman) is entering his sixth season as music director of Encores!, where he has conducted 13 productions and several gala concerts. Last season, Rob conducted the cast recordings of all three Encores! productions: Merrily We Roll Along, Pipe Dream, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Rob's Broadway conducting credits include Finian's Rainbow, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, The Pajama Game, The Apple Tree, Wonderful Town and Promises, Promises. He recently won an Emmy Award for his work as music director of the Kennedy Center Honors and he won a Helen Hayes Award for his musical direction of the Kennedy Center's production of Sunday in the Park with George. Rob recently conducted for Barbara Cook with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and he was also music director for the 2010 PBS presentation of A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House.
John Rando (Director, Superman) directed the Encores! productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, On the Town, Damn Yankees, Face the Music, Strike Up the Band, Do Re Mi, The Pajama Game and Of Thee I Sing. John's Broadway credits include, A Christmas Story, The Wedding Singer, Urinetown (Tony and Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Director), A Thousand Clowns and Neil Simon's The Dinner Party. Off Broadway credits include All In The Timing (revival) and The Toxic Avenger Musical among many others.
Joshua Bergasse (Choreographer, Superman) is the 2012 Emmy Award-winning choreographer for NBC's musical drama "Smash," now in its second season. Joshua has choreographed Fox-TV's "So You Think You Can Dance" as well as The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall. His choreography credits include the off-Broadway productions of Bomb-Itty of Errors and Captain Louie, as well as many national and international tours.
Warren Carlyle (Director and Choreographer, On Your Toes) directed and choreographed the world premiere of Cotton Club Parade as well as the Encores! productions of On the Town, Juno, Stairway to Paradise and Finian's Rainbow, along with its subsequent Broadway production. He directed and choreographed the Broadway productions of Chaplin, A Tale of Two Cities and Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway, and choreographed the recent Broadway and choreographed the recent Broadway productions of Follies, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and A Christmas Story.
Rob Fisher (Music Director, On Your Toes) was music director of Fiorello! (1994) and became the Encores! series music director the following year, continuing through 2005. He was music director of 33 productions, including the Encores!, Broadway and international productions of Chicago (1996), and returned to Encores! as music director of Girl Crazy and No, No Nanette. Rob's many credits include the recent Broadway revivals of Hair and Anything Goes, and The Sound of Music gala at Carnegie Hall.
The 2013 Encores! season is made possible, in part, by the Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!, Stacey and Eric Mindich, Newman's Own Foundation, Nathalie and Pablo Salame, The Joseph S. & Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust and Martin E. Segal. Additional support for Encores! is provided by Roz and Jerry Meyer.
Encores! subscriptions and single tickets can be purchased at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th avenues), through CityTix at 212-581-1212, or online at www.NYCityCenter.org.
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