STEVE Director Cynthia Nixon Reveals Her Pick For City Center Encores!

She's been a favorite on Broadway and off ever since, at age 18, she appeared simultaneously in the Mike Nichols-directed Broadway productions of THE REAL THING and HURLYBURLY, scooting her way from the Barrymore to the Plymouth and back again eight times a week.

After finding national fame as Miranda Hobbes on TV's SEX AND THE CITY, she remains a frequently appearing face on New York stages, winning a 2006 Tony Award for David Lindsay-Abaire's RABBIT HOLE.

And even though her sophomore directorial effort, The New Group's production of Mark Gerrard's STEVE, which opened last night, is about characters who just naturally quote musicals as part of everyday conversation, Nixon has never appeared in one herself.

She does have a musical theatre dream role, though.

"I'm too old now, but I always really wanted to do Gooch," she says, referring to Agnes Gooch, the comical nanny in MAME. "Because if she sings badly, it's fine, you know?"

Broadway playgoers nearly got to see Nixon in another, more demanding musical role.

"I was offered to replace Catherine Zeta-Jones in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, which is a part that I could ostensibly sing. Desiree. And it just didn't seem like the right fit. My agents were not excited about the idea, and I said to my agents, 'I just want you to understand that I may not be able to say no to Stephen Sondheim. I may not be physically capable of it.' But they got Bernadette Peters, which was such a better idea."

Musical theatre was a big part of Cynthia Nixon's upbringing, she explains in an interview with New York City Center, having a mother who loved playing Broadway cast albums.

One show in particular they both loved was Jerome Moross and John Latouche's THE GOLDEN APPLE, which would be her pick if she got to choose a City Center Encores! concert revival.

Described as an "exquisite, brainy 'opera for Broadway,'" THE GOLDEN APPLE tells the Greek myths of Helen, Paris, Ulysses, and Penelope through the lens of American folklore. Opening in 1954 and closing after only four months, its cast album has always been a favorite among connoisseurs of under-appreciated musicals.

"There's so much wit in it," she says of her selection. "The music is terrific, and it spans such a range, from jaunty songs like 'Store-Bought Suit' to sexy songs like 'Lazy Afternoon,' which is like an instant classic. There's also 'Windflowers,' Penelope's tragic song of longing and devotion. I used to listen to that and just cry and cry when I was a kid. It's such a beautiful love song."

As a highly regarded actor, her explanation as to why she prefers musical theatre songs over more popular fare makes sense. "You have some [pop] songwriters who are sort of doing character studies, but musicals are very emotional experiences for me. I just invest so much in the characters from song to song, and through the end of the show. I still listen to musicals almost as much as I did when I was a kid. I think it was part of becoming a performer, because when I was a kid, I had all these cast recordings, and the level of performance was so high. I really learned a lot about building a character and conveying a character from those records. Just listening to them over and over helped me understand characterization."

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The Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series has been hailed as "one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York." In the summer of 2013, City Center launched Encores! Off-Center, a new series featuring seminal Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's most innovative artists. The Encores! 2016 season will include CABIN IN THE SKY (Feb 10 - 14, 2016), 1776 (Mar 30 - Apr 3, 2016) and DO I HEAR A WALTZ? (May 11 - 15 , 2016). Visit http://www.nycitycenter.org.

The New Group presents the world premiere of STEVE, a new play by Mark Gerrard. Directed by Cynthia Nixon, this production features Ashlie Atkinson and Francisco Pryor Garat, and as announced, Mario Cantone, Jerry Dixon,Malcolm Gets and Matt McGrath. A limited Off-Broadway engagement plays now through December 27 at The Pershing Square Signature Center (The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, 480 West 42nd Street).

As Steven, a failed Broadway chorus boy turned stay-at-home dad, celebrates yet another birthday, he finds himself filled with fear and uncertainty. Is Stephen, his partner of 14 years, cheating on him? Why is one of his best friends dying of cancer? And what, exactly, has he done with his life? A portrait of a group of longtime, theater-loving friends as they navigate the many facets of midlife and mortality, Mark Gerrard's STEVE is a biting and bittersweet comedy about relationships and the unavoidable consequences of aging and the passage of time.

STEVE features Matt McGrath as Steven, Malcolm Gets as his partner Stephen, Mario Cantone as Steven's best friend Matt, Jerry Dixon as Matt's partner Brian, Ashlie Atkinson as Steven's best friend Carrie, and Francisco Pryor Garat as Esteban.

Photo by Erik Carter