Mara Davi is 'Nanette' in Encores! with O'Donnell, Leavel & Duncan

Sandy Duncan, Fred Willard, Shonn Wiley and Mara Davi will join previously announced cast members Rosie O'Donnell and Beth Leavel in No, No, Nanette, the final 2008 Encores! presentation of the New York City Center season.

Directed by former Encores! Artistic Director Walter Bobbie, Nanette will have Music Direction by Encores! founding music director Rob Fisher and choreography by Randy Skinner, and will play six performances, from May 8-12, 2008 at New York City Center (W. 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues). Monday, May 12 is a special gala benefit performance for New York City Center.

"Based on the comedy My Lady Friends by Frank Mandel and Emily Nyitray, No, No, Nanette is a light-hearted tale of millionaires, misunderstood wives, bathing beauties, wanton women and flappers.  Nanette (Mara Davi), a young Manhattan heiress, tries to experience life by running away to the big, bad and bawdy town of Atlantic City, only to be followed by her straight-laced, tap-dancing fiancé (Shonn Wiley), her cook/chaperone (Rosie O'Donnell), her lawyer and his wife (Beth Leavel) and her legal guardians (Sandy Duncan and Fred Willard), who just want everyone to 'be happy,'" explain press notes.

Performances are Thursday May 8 at 8PM; Friday May 9 at 8PM; Saturday May 10 at 2PM & 8PM; Sunday May 11 at 6:30PM; and Monday May 12 at 7PM (Gala Performance).

Tickets for the 2008 Encores! season are available 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.  Tickets for the Orchestra, Grand Tier and Mid-Mezzanine are $95; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Front Gallery are $50; tickets for the Rear Gallery are $25.

No, No, Nanette, which has music by Vincent Youmans, lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, and book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel  has had two major Broadway productions: the show originally opened in 1925, and then was revived and reconceived in 1971 in a production supervised by Busby Berkeley and adapted and directed by Bert Shevelove. Encores! will present the 1971 version of Nanette. The show features such classic songs as "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy."

Rosie O'Donnell (Pauline) started her career as a stand-up comedian and has transitioned deftly between the worlds of television, film and theater. She is well known as the Emmy Award-winning host and producer of 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show' and her year as moderator on "The View." Ms. O'Donnell's first Broadway role was Rizzo in the 1994 revival of Grease. She returned to Broadway in 2001 as the Cat in the Hat in Seussical and since then has starred in Fiddler on the Roof. Film and television credits include Field of Dreams, Now and Then, Matilda, Sleepless in Seattle, Exit to Eden, Tarzan, "Queer as Folk," "Will and Grace" and "Nip/Tuck.".

Sandy Duncan (Sue Smith) was nominated for her first Tony Award for her performance in Canterbury Tales. Other notable performances include The Boy Friend (for which she earned Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations), Chicago, My One and Only, and her Tony and Drama Desk-nominated performance in the title role in Peter Pan. Among her most prominent television roles were Sandy Hogan on the sitcom "The Hogan Family" and her starring role in "Funny Face" (later renamed "The Sandy Duncan Show").

Beth Leavel (Lucille Early) won the 2006 Tony, Drama Critics, and Outer Circle Critics Awards for her performance in the title role of The Drowsy Chaperone. Other Broadway credits include two productions of 42nd Street (Dorothy Brock and Anytime Annie), The Civil War, Showboat and Crazy For You.

Fred Willard (Jimmy Smith) is currently starring alongside Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton in the Fox television comedy "Back to You." He is well known for his roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, most notably A Mighty Wind and Best in Show. Willard co-founded the comedy group Ace Trucking Company, which appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson over 50 times. Mr. Willard's Off-Broadway credits include Little Murders, Arf! and The Great Airplane Snatch.

Shonn Wiley (Tom) made his Broadway debut in the hit revival of 42nd Street and was recently seen on Broadway as Dr. Jack Seward in Dracula: The Musical. He stars in two upcoming films: Tiny Dancer and Red Hook. Other Off-Broadway credits include The View From Here and Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story. His previous Encores! credits include On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and last season's Stairway to Paradise.

Mara Davi (Nanette) made her Broadway debut as Maggie in the revival of A Chorus Line. Davi is currently appearing in The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway in the lead role of Janet Van De Graaff. She starred in the international tour of 42nd Street. Regional credits include White Christmas, Singin' in the Rain and Dames at Sea and the Encores! production of Of Thee I Sing.

Walter Bobbie (Director) is a Tony Award-winning director and actor.  Bobbie directed Fiorello!, the premiere production of City Center's Encores! series, and served as Encores! artistic director from 1995-1996. He directed the Encores!, Broadway and international productions of Chicago, winning Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Other Broadway directing credits include High Fidelity, Sweet Charity, Twentieth Century and A Grand Night for Singing, for which he also co-authored the book.  He has also directed the Encores! productions of Tenderloin and Golden Boy, and as an actor starred in Bye, Bye, Birdie and Face the Music.

Rob Fisher (Music Director) was the music director and conductor of Encores! from its inception in 1994 until 2005. In 1997 he won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Special Achievement for his work on Encores! He also served as conductor and music director for Chicago and its Grammy Award-winning cast album. Mr. Fisher was music director for four seasons of Garrison Keillor's radio broadcasts, performed twice in one year on PBS' "In Performance at the White House" for President and Mrs. Clinton, was Artistic Advisor for Carnegie Hall's two year Gershwin Centennial Celebration, and has conducted over 20 recordings.

The Newman's Own Foundation is the Season Sponsor for the 2008 Encores! season. The Newman's Own Foundation is an independent private foundation which derives its grant making income from royalty payments received in conjunction with the sale of Newman's Own food products.  Since the inception of Newman's Own in the early 1980s, over $200 million has been donated to thousands of charitable organizations worldwide.

New York City Center Encores! (Jack Viertel, Artistic Director; Rob Berman, Music Director) has, since 1994, celebrated the rarely-heard works of America's most important composers and lyricists.  Conceived as "concert versions," each Encores! season gives three scores the chance to be heard as originally intended by their creators.  Encores! Summer Stars? a new annual series launched in 2007 with an acclaimed production of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone, presents more fully-realized productions of memorable shows, providing leading actors the chance to play roles they were born to play. Over the years, Encores! has presented the works of the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Bock and Harnick, Burt Bacharach, Kander and Ebb, Comden and Green, and many more.  The program is the recipient of a special 2000 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award and Jujamcyn Theaters Award.

The landmark not-for-profit New York City Center was founded in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as Manhattan's first performing arts center, and is now the annual New York City home to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre's fall season, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and Manhattan Theatre Club. New York City Center is host to some of America's and the world's most acclaimed performers and productions, and the producer of the Tony-honored Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert and Summer Stars series, and the annual Fall for Dance Festival.

Photos from top: Mara Davi; Rosie O'Donnell; Beth Leavel