Sutton Foster, Joshua Henry & Keala Settle to Lead VIOLET at City Center, 7/17

Sutton Foster, Joshua Henry, Van Hughes, Keala Settle, Christopher Sieber, Emerson Steele and Chris Sullivan have been cast in Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet, the second Encores! Off-Center presentation of the 2013 season, on July 17. Tickets for Violet, directed by Leigh Silverman, with music direction by Michael Rafter, sold out shortly after going on sale. Tickets for the rest of the Encores! Off-Center season are still available; the majority of tickets are $25.

Encores! Off-Center, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori, will open with Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Sam Gold andchoreographed by Chase Brock, July 10 - 13. The series will conclude with Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford's I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, July 24 - 27. Chris Fenwick will music direct Cradle and Getting My Act Together.

Violet, based on the short story "The Ugliest Pilgrim" by Doris Betts, has music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley. The show follows a young woman who embarks on a religious pilgrimage in hopes of being healed of her disfiguring scar and features a score filled with gospel, country, rock, rhythm and blues.Violet opened Off-Broadway for a limited run at Playwrights Horizons on March 11, 1997.

The complete cast of Violet includes Sutton Foster, Joshua Henry, Van Hughes, Austin Lesch, Anastacia McCleskey, Keala Settle, Christopher Sieber, Emerson Steele, Chris Sullivan, Rema Webb and Paul Whitty with the gospel choir, Songs of Solomon.

THE CRADLE WILL ROCK (July 10 - 13)
In an era of Occupy Wall Street-style rebellion against corporate greed, Marc Blitzstein's 1937 battle hymn to the proletariat feels remarkably fresh. Set against the backdrop of a steel strike and peopled with fat-cat capitalists, brutal policemen, heroic union organizers, and a warm-hearted prostitute, The Cradle Will Rock is a powerful political document, a funny, potent satire, and an extraordinary piece of theater history. The show opened at the Windsor Theater on January 3, 1938 and ran for 108 performances. It was revived at City Center in 1947, with Leonard Bernstein conducting.

I'M GETTING MY ACT TOGETHER AND TAKING IT ON THE ROAD (July 24 - 27)
I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, with book and lyrics by Gretchen Cryer and music by Nancy Ford, created a sensation when it premiered in the late 1970s. In it, a former pop star ditches the romantic songs of her past and attempts a comeback by performing personal songs that reflect women's changing roles and attitudes. The show stoked the fires of feminism, not only with its joyous rock score proclaiming empowerment for women, but because of its female songwriting team-a rarity in musical theater then and now. The show opened at The Public Theater on June 14, 1978 and ran for 1,165 performances.

New York City Center gratefully acknowledges the Founding Sponsors Stacey and Eric Mindich and Stacy Bash-Polley.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city for nearly 70 years. It was Manhattan's first performing arts center, dedicated by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1943 with a mission to make the best in music, theater and dance accessible to all audiences. Today, City Center is home to many distinguished companies, including City Center's Principal Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as New York City Opera and Manhattan Theatre Club; a roster of renowned national and international visiting artists; and its own critically acclaimed and popular programs. The Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series has been hailed as "one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York." Dance has been integral to the theater's mission from the start, and dance programs, including the annual Fall for Dance Festival, remain central to City Center's identity. City Center is dedicated to providing educational opportunities to New York City students and teachers with programs such as Encores! In Schools and the Young People's Dance Series. City Center completed an extensive renovation in October 2011 to revitalize and modernize its historic theater.

Tickets to Violet are sold out. Tickets for The Cradle Will Rock and I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road can be purchased online atwww.NYCityCenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212.581.1212, or at the City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues). The majority of tickets for all Encores! Off Center productions are $25. www.NYCityCenter.org