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Of Thee I Sing Added to Encores! Season, May 11-15

By: Sep. 17, 2005
LIZA MINNELLI
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The Gershwins' 1931 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Of Thee I Sing has been chosen for the third slot of Encores!' 2006 roster of shows. Running from May 11th to 15th, 2006, it will follow Kismet (Feb. 9th-12th) and 70, Girls, 70 (March 30th-April 12th).

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With music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, the satiric show uses an operetta-like score to recount the presidential campaign (and win) of John P. Wintergreen and the bumbling Alexander Throttlebottom. Along the way, they are sidetracked with a scandal involving beauty queen Diana Devereaux. Opening on December 26th, 1931, it was the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize. The show ran for 441 performances with William Gaxton, Victor Moore and Lois Moran in its cast; Let 'Em Eat Cake was a sequel by the same team.

Of Thee I Sing's score includes such songs as the title number, "Love is Sweeping the Country," "Who Cares?" and "Wintergreen for President."

Kismet is a lush operetta set in an Arabian Nights-esque Baghdad; it features a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest (adapted from themes by Alexander Borodin) and a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis. Kismet won the 1954 Tony Award for Best Musical. The show will feature frequent co-stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie, with more casting to be announced. Songs from Kismet include "Stranger in Paradise," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "Rhymes Have I," and "Not Since Nineveh."

John Kander and Fred Ebb's 70, Girls, 70 follows a group of crafty senior citizens who steal from the young to give to the less well-off elderly. In addition to music by Kander and lyrics by Ebb, the show features a book by Ebb and Norman L. Martin (first adapted by Joe Masteroff from Peter Coke's play Breath of Spring). A 1971 commercial failure on Broadway, it's score contains a number of songs that have become popular Kander and Ebb numbers, such as "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup" and "Yes," which was later performed by Liza Minnelli.

A three-show subscription package to the Encores! season is available at $270 for the Orchestra, Grand Tier, and Mid-mezzanine; and $120 for the Rear Mezzanine and Front Gallery. Single tickets can be purchased at $90 (Orchestra, Grand Tier, Mid-mezzanine), $50 (Rear Mezzanine, Front Gallery) and $25 (Rear Gallery).

Visit www.citycenter.org for more information.




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