Original 'Man in Chair' to Return to City Center in HEY, LOOK ME OVER!

Bob Martin, nominated for a Tony Award for his role in The Drowsy Chaperone (which he also co-wrote), will return to his chair in Hey, Look Me Over!, the original Encores! production that opens the 25th anniversary season.

New York City Center's Tony-honored Encores! series has brought classic American musicals back to life for 25 years. This is where Chicago, Wonderful Town, and Finian's Rainbow were reborn-but we're just getting started. Catch a glimpse of some of the overtures, opening numbers, grand finales, and other excerpts from the beloved shows that have not yet found a berth on the Encores! stage in this original production, Hey, Look Me Over! Man in Chair, a somewhat woebegone musical theater geek, will lead audiences through these sequences from actual American musicals, as opposed to the fictional sequences he extolled upon in The Drowsy Chaperone.

"We are delighted that Man in Chair has agreed to appear," said Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel. "We're proud and humbled that he's going to sit on the City Center stage and provide some perspective on shows like Greenwillow, Mack & Mabel, Milk and Honey, and Wildcat. His viewpoint is unique and-lest we forget-hilarious!"

Man in Chair said, "I'm doing this as my little private way of registering a complaint that in 24 years of service to the world of musical theater, Encores! has not done a single show by Gable and Stein-the authors of The Drowsy Chaperone and six other mid-'20s musicals."

"In all honesty, I'm looking forward to being on the City Center stage as it will provide me the opportunity to loan my Encores! subscription seat in the balcony to my aunt Millicent who is flying in from the town of Gander in Newfoundland," he added. "They have a very good airport there."

Hey, Look Me Over! opens February 7, 2018 (through February 11) and will feature Encores! Music Director Rob Berman and The Encores! Orchestra. The creative team and additional casting will be announced at a later date.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. For nearly 25 years, City Center's Tony-honored Encores! series has been "an essential New York institution" (The New York Times). In 2013, City Center launched the Encores! Off-Center series, which features seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's innovative artists. Dance has also been integral to the theater's mission from the start and programs like the annual Fall for Dance Festival remain central to City Center's identity. Home to a roster of renowned national and international companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (City Center's Principal Dance Company) and Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center was Manhattan's first performing arts center, founded with the mission of making the best in music, theater, and dance accessible to all audiences. That mission continues today through robust education and community engagement programs which bring the performing arts to over 9,000 New York City students each year and the expansion of the theatrical experience to include pre-show talks, master classes, and art exhibitions that offer an up-close look at the work of the great theater and dance artists of our time. Visit www.NYCityCenter.org for more information.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride