Jennifer Bowles & Rob McClure Set to Lead Encores! IRMA LA DOUCE; Runs May 7-11

Jennifer Bowles will play the title role opposite Rob McClure in New York City Center Encores! production of Irma La Douce, running for seven performances, May 7 - 11, 2014. The final production of the 2014 Encores! season will also feature Sam Bolen, Allan Corduner, Ben Crawford, Stephen DeRosa, Ken Krugman, Zachary James and Chris Sullivan. Irma La Douce will be directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Chase Brock, with music direction by Rob Berman.

Encores! breaks the mold with its first musical not written on American soil with Irma La Douce, the tale of a Parisian lady of the evening (Jen Bowles) and the law student (Rob McClure) who falls in love with her. It has music by Marguerite Monnot and English book and lyrics by Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman, with original book and lyrics by Alexandre Breffort.

After a three-year run in Paris, an English-language version of Irma La Douce, directed by Peter Brook, enjoyed tremendous success first in London and then on Broadway. It opened at the Plymouth Theatre on September 29, 1960 and ran for 524 performances. The score produced one standard, "Our Language of Love," and also features "The Valse Millieu" and "Dis Donc."

The complete cast includes Jennifer Bowles, Sam Bolen, Allan Corduner, Ben Crawford, Stephen DeRosa, Ken Krugman, Zachary James, Rob McClure and Chris Sullivan with Kurt Froman, Joseph Medeiros, Joseph Simeone and Manuel Stark.

Sam Bolen (Frangipane) has appeared Off-Broadway in 1927 and Beyond the iChatter at the Ars Nova ANT Festival as well as Brenda at the New York Fringe Festival. His previous Encores!credits include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and It's a Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman.

Jennifer Bowles (Irma) currently plays The Acrobat in Matilda on Broadway. She was in the Broadway company of American Idiot, Minsky's at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, and the first national tours of American Idiot and The Drowsy Chaperone. She was a backup dancer for Kanye West on "Saturday Night Live" and has appeared in three seasons of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire."

Allan Corduner (Bob) appeared on Broadway in The Comedians, The Heart of Art, Titanic and Serious Money. He has worked extensively in theater in London's West End and on television and his many film credits include Yentl and as Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's Topsy-turvy.

Ben Crawford (Mec) appeared on Broadway in Big Fish, Shrek the Musical (as Shrek) and LES MISERABLES. Ben was seen in the Encores! production of Merrily We Roll Along.

Stephen DeRosa (Police Inspector) can currently be seen as singer Eddie Canter in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire." His many credits include the Broadway productions of The Nance, Hairspray, On the Twentieth Century, Henry IV, Into the Woods and The Man Who Came to Dinner. His previous Encores! credits include Wonderful Town and Do Re Mi.

Zachary James (Mec) created the role of Lurch in the Broadway musical The Addams Family, and has been seen in South Pacific and Coram Boy. He has performed with opera companies all over the world, and created the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass's The Perfect American in the U.K. with the English National Opera. Zach is the founding and Artistic Director of Metropolis Opera Project, a NYC based company dedicated to the development and presentation of new opera.

Ken Krugman (Mec) was seen in Passion at CSC, Jersey Boys in Las Vegas, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on national tour, Assassins, Candide and LES MISERABLES on Broadway.

Rob McClure (Nestor) received Tony, Drama League, Astaire and Outer Critics Circle nominations and won Theatre World and Clive Barnes awards for his performance as Chaplin in Chaplin: The Musical on Broadway last season. Rob's other Broadway credits include the 2002 revival of I'm Not Rappaport, opposite Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen, and the roles of Princeton and Rod in Avenue Q; he later received a Helen Hayes nomination for his performance on the Avenue Q national tour. He recently starred opposite Tony Danza in the Paper Mill Playhouse world-premiere production of Jason Robert Brown's Honeymoon In Vegas which is scheduled to move to Broadway later this year. In Philadelphia, Rob has won two Barrymore Awards for best actor in a musical, and starred as Mozart in Amadeus at the Walnut Street Theatre. He starred in the title role of the Encores! production of Where's Charley?

Chris Sullivan (Polyte) has appeared on Broadway in Nice Work if You Can Get It, Chicago and Lombardi. His film credits include North Starr, Sugar and The Normal Heart. Chris is a regular cast member of "The Electric Company" and his many voiceover credits include the talking Hump Day camel in a recent Geico commercial.

Chase Brock (Choreographer)'s Broadway credits include Picnic and SPIDER-MAN Turn Off the Dark . His Off-Broadway credits include Venice, The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing for The Public Theater; The Blue Flower at Second Stage; and The Mysteries at The Flea Theater. His television credits include "Late Show with David Letterman," and "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." He choreographed the video game Dance on Broadway (Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Move); the opera Roméo et Juliette at Salzburger Festspiele and London Rocks at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. As artistic director of The Chase Brock Experience, a Brooklyn-based dance company, Brock has choreographed 25 dances (including American Sadness, The Four Seasons andWhoa, Nellie!) and commissioned six original scores (including Mirror Mirror by Michael John LaChiusa). Chase choreographed the Encores! productions of Lost in the Stars and The Cradle Will Rock.

John Doyle (Director, Irma La Douce) most recently directed Stephen Sondheim's Passion at Classic Stage Company. His Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Director of a Musical); Company (Tony Award, Best Revival) and A Catered Affair, and his Off-Broadway credits include Wings and Road Show. He directed the London productions of Gondoliers, Sweeney Todd and Mack and Mabel. John directed the Encores! productions of Where's Charley? and A Bed and A Chair: A New York Love Affair.

Support for Irma La Douce is generously provided in part by The Florence Gould Foundation and the Grand Marnier Foundation.

The 2014 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 and The Shubert Foundation.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO). now in its 70th year, has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. It was Manhattan's first performing arts center, dedicated by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia 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, City Center's Principal Dance Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club a; 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 launched 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, remain central to City Center's identity. Vital partnerships with arts organizations including Jazz at Lincoln Center and London's Sadler's Wells Theatre enhance City Center's programmatic offerings. City Center is dedicated to providing educational opportunities to New York City students and teachers with programs offering four levels of involvement across any performing arts discipline presented each season. Committed to drawing inspiration from works on the mainstage, New York City Center Education strives to provide innovative, accessible arts education to schools and communities across New York City. 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. In October 2011, City Center completed an extensive renovation project to revitalize and modernize its historic theater.

Irma La Douce runs May 7 - 11, 2014 according to the following schedule: Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 and 8 pm, and Sunday and 2 and 7 pm. Encores!tickets start at $30 and can be purchased online and at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online atwww.NYCityCenter.org.