PIPE DREAM Kicks Off at City Center Encores!

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, the second Encores! production of the 2011-12 season, begins performances today, running through April 1 at New York City Center. Pipe Dream is being directed by Marc Bruni with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Kelli Barclay.

The complete cast of Pipe Dream is Will Chase, James Clow, Philip Hernández, James Moye, Laura Osnes, Steve Routman, Leslie Uggams, Stephen Wallem and Tom Wopat, with Matthew Bauman, Jack Doyle, Lora Lee Gayer, James Harkness, Jessica Hershberg, Emily Hsu,Cara Kjellman, Denis Lambert, Analisa Leaming, Jay Lusteck, Linda Mugleston, Shannon M. O'Bryan, Monica L. Patton, Richard Pruitt, Vincent Rodriguez III, Kelly Sheehan, Martín Solá, Charlie Sutton, Nicholas Ward and Victor James Wisehart.

Outcasts living by their wits populate the bordellos and flophouses of a 1950s California seaside town in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, based on John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. The show features many of Steinbeck's Cannery Row characters and tells the story of the romance between Doc (Will Chase), a marine biologist, and Suzy (Laura Osnes), a young woman who hitchhikes into town looking for a better life. Doc's friends include Mac (Tom Wopat), Hazel (Stephen Wallem), and Fauna (Leslie Uggams), the owner of the local brothel. Pipe Dream opened at the Shubert Theatre on November 30, 1955, and ran for 246 performances. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Pipe Dream has been virtually absent from the American stage for more than two decades, owing to a technicality involving the underlying rights. The Encores! presentation will also include the first hearing of the newly restored Robert Russell Bennett orchestrations, meticulously reconstructed by the Rodgers & Hammerstein office and featuring such rarities as "All at Once You Love Her," "The Next Time It Happens," and the wistful ballad "Everybody's Got a Home but Me."

Tickets start at $25 and 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.