Rando & Carlyle Set for 'On The Town' to Open Encores! Season

On the Town, the first Broadway musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, will open the 2008-2009 Encores! season at New York City Center, running November 19 - 23. It is part of the city-wide Leonard Bernstein 90th Birthday Celebration. On the Town will be directed by John Rando, with Music Direction by Todd Ellison. Warren Carlyle will choreograph the entire production and recreate Jerome Robbins'1944 choreography of "New York, New York," "You Got Me," and "Times Square Ballet."

On The Town, with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, based on an idea by Jerome Robbins, was inspired by Robbins' 1944 ballet, "Fancy Free." Set in wartime 1944, On the Town chronicles the adventures of three sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City. Their fabulous day-long journey is spurred by a search for sailor Gabey's dream girl, "Miss Turnstiles." Along the way, each sailor falls in love with a woman, and with New York City itself.

The original Broadway production of On the Town, directed by George Abbott and starring Nancy Walker, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, opened at the Adelphi Theatre on December 28, 1944, playing a total of 462 performances. It has since been revived at the Imperial Theatre in 1971 and the Gershwin Theatre in 1998. Songs from On the Town include "New York, New York," "Some Other Time," and "I Can Cook Too."

This production is part of Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, a partnership with Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic. For more information, visit bernsteinfestival.org. On the Town is made possible with major support from the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.

John Rando's Broadway credits include The Wedding Singer and Urinetown (Tony Award for Best Director), The Dinner Party and A Thousand Clowns. His other credits include Polish Joke at Manhattan Theatre Club. He was director of this past summers'Encores! Summer Stars production of Damn Yankees. His previous Encores! credits include, Face the Music, Strike Up the Band, Do Re Mi, The Pajama Game and Of Thee I Sing.

Warren Carlyle choreographed the Encores! productions of Juno and Stairway to Paradise, and is the director-choreographer of the current Broadway production of A Tale of Two Cities. His other New York credits include You Again for the NY Fringe Festival, Working and Slut! Regionally he has choreographed Mame at the Kennedy Center, The Pirates of Penzance at Goodspeed and Paper Mill Playhouse and The Baker's Wife at Goodspeed, among many others.

Newman's Own is a proud sponsor of Encores! Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation donate all profits and royalties after taxes for educational and charitable purposes. Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation have given over $200 million to thousands of charities worldwide since l982. For years, Paul Newman filled old wine bottles with his homemade salad dressing for Christmas gifts. One day, he reckoned that what was good enough for his pals was good enough for the public, and Newman's Own all-natural line of food products was born. It has grown to include pasta sauce, microwave popcorn, salsa, lemonade and steak sauce. For more information about Newman's Own, please visit www.newmansown.com.

The 2008-2009 Encores! season is made possible in part by the Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores! with additional support from Roz and Jerry Meyer.

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. 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.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President and CEO) has long been known and beloved by New York audiences not only as one of the City's preeminent performing art institutions but also as an accessible and welcoming venue for dance and theater. New York City Center produces the Tony-honored Encores!

musical theater series, and is home to some of the country's leading dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New York's leading theater companies. Continuing to fulfill its mission to make the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, in 2004 New York City Center launched the acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival. In 2006, New York City Center formed partnerships with both London's Sadler's Wells Theatre to facilitate the exchange of innovative dance works, and with Carnegie Hall to work together on exciting new programming initiatives between the two neighboring institutions. In 2007 New York City Center introduced the Encores! Summer Stars series with the critically-acclaimed production of Gypsy¸ currently enjoying a successful run on Broadway, which was followed by this past summer's Damn Yankees starring Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski.

Tickets for On the Town 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 tickets are $95; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Front Gallery are $50; tickets for the Rear Gallery are $25. 

NEW YORK CITY CENTER

2008/09 ENCORES! SEASON

ON THE TOWN (November 19 - 23, 2008)

Opened at the Adelphi Theatre on December 28, 1944, directed by George Abbott with choreography by Jerome Robbins, and played for 462 performances.
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Based on an idea by Jerome Robbins
Directed by John Rando
Choreographed by Warren Carlyle 

MUSIC IN THE AIR (February 5 - 8, 2009)

Opened at the Alvin Theatre on November 8, 1932, directed by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II and ran for 342 performances. It had a brief revival at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1951.

Music by Jerome Kern
Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Orchestrations by Robert Russel Bennett

FINIAN'S RAINBOW (March 26 - 29, 2009)

Opened at the 46th Street Theatre on January 10, 1949, directed by Bretaigne Windust and played a total of 725 performances.

Music by Burton Lane
Book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

Photo: John Rando by Walter McBride