ENCORES!

For the second time in Encores! history-and to honor City Center's 75th Anniversary Season-the series is reviving one of its own revivals. A highlight of the second season of Encores! (1995) and featuring a memorable score by Irving Berlin and book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, Call Me Madam centers around a brassy ambassador to the fictional European nation of Lichtenberg. The show pokes fun at a far more polite and benign political world and includes standards such as 'It's a Lovely Day Today' and 'Something to Dance About,' along with Berlin's most famous counterpoint duet, 'You're Just in Love.' Directed by Casey Hushion with music direction by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman and choreography by Denis Jones, Call Me Madam will run for seven performances only February 6 through 10 at New York City Center. 

Final casting for the Encores! production of Call Me Madam as part of City Center's 75th Anniversary Season has been announced. Jason Gotay (Kenneth Gibson), Darrell Hammond (Grand Duke Otto), and Randy Rainbow(Sebastian Sebastian), join the previously announced cast featuring Carmen Cusack, Ben Davis, Adam Heller, Carol Kane, Stanley Wayne Mathis, Brad Oscar, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Lauren Worsham.

Encores! today announced that Lear deBessonet would join the artistic team at City Center as the first-ever Encores! Resident Director.

Encores! Off-Center today announced programming for the 2019 season of New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series which concludes the landmark 75th Anniversary Season.

New York City Center President & CEO Arlene Shuler today announced Anne Kauffman as Artistic Director of Encores! Off-Center for the 2019 season. Founding Artistic Director Jeanine Tesori will maintain her relationship with the popular summer series as Creative Advisor - working with Kauffman to curate programming which will conclude City Center's 75th Anniversary Season. Kauffman and Tesori served as Co-Artistic Directors for the 2018 series which included Jason Robert Brown's Songs for A New World, Michael Friedman's Gone Missing, and Micki Grant's Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope.

Coming in at the heels of landmark musicals like AIN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH and INNER CITY, composer/lyricist Micki Grant's DON'T BOTHER ME, I CAN'T COPE was an important part of the early 1970s surge of Broadway musicals that were not only about African-American experiences but were written and directed by African-Americans as well.

Encores! Off-Center will close out its 2018 season this week (July 25 - 28) at New York City Center with Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, starring Rheaume Crenshaw, Dayna Dantzler, Aisha de Haas, James T. Lane, and Wayne Pretlow. The ensemble includes Alexandria Bradley, Marshall L. Davis Jr., CK Edwards, Jeffry Foote, Shonica Gooden, Nina Hudson, Marla McReynolds, and Amber Barbee Pickens.

Encores! Off-Center will close out its 2018 season at New York City Center with Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, starring Rheaume Crenshaw, Dayna Dantzler, Aisha de Haas, James T. Lane, and Wayne Pretlow. The ensemble includes Alexandria Bradley, Marshall L. Davis Jr., CK Edwards, Jeffry Foote, Shonica Gooden, Nina Hudson, Marla McReynolds, and Amber Barbee Pickens.

Encores! Off-Center Co-Artistic Directors Anne Kauffman and Jeanine Tesori today announced final casting for Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, the third production of the Encores! Off-Center season at New York City Center. Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope will star Rheaume Crenshaw, Dayna Dantzler, Aisha de Haas, James T. Lane, and Wayne Pretlow.

The person seated in the back of the orchestra section on opening night of the Encores! Off-Center concert mounting of GONE MISSING, who was loudly sobbing during the closing song, was by no means causing a disturbance. In fact, the choked-up moans of heartbreak being emitted throughout New York City Center's auditorium many times during the performance were simply bringing to the surface the sadness that served as the evening's subtext, even for those who did not know the clever and touching revue's late composer/lyricist personally.

Encores! Off-Center, New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series, continues tonight with Gone Missing. John Behlmann, Susan Blackwell, Aysan Celik, Deborah S. Craig, Taylor Mac, and David Ryan Smithwill star in the special two-night-only engagement, presented in honor of composer and 2017 Encores! Artistic Director Michael Friedman.

Encores! Off-Center, New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series, continues tonight with Gone Missing. John Behlmann, Susan Blackwell, Aysan Celik, Deborah S. Craig, Taylor Mac, and David Ryan Smith will star in the special two-night-only engagement, presented in honor of composer and 2017 Encores! Artistic Director Michael Friedman.

Encores! Off-Center, New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series, continues next week with Gone Missing. John Behlmann, Susan Blackwell, Aysan Celik, Deborah S. Craig, Taylor Mac, and David Ryan Smith will star in the special two-night-only engagement, presented in honor of composer and 2017 Encores! Artistic Director Michael Friedman.

Jason Robert Brown was just 25 years old when his SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD took the stage of Off-Broadway's intimate WPA Theatre. As he played piano and led the handful of musicians in director Daisy Prince's production, a quartet of actors who all had big things ahead of them (Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Jessica Molaskey and Billy Porter) revealed the vivid collection of complex and approachable emotions expressed by the extraordinarily relatable collection of characters created by this young man's music and lyrics.

Opening the 2018 Off-Center season (running through June 30), is Songs for a New World- the first musical from three-time Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown. This powerful collection of songs examines life, love, and the choices ordinary people make when faced with extraordinary moments. From the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to the ledge of a Fifth Avenue high-rise, each character faces a new world which follows the unique challenge they encounter.

Opening the 2018 Off-Center season on June 27 (through 30), Songs for a New World was the first musical from three-time Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown. This powerful collection of songs examines life, love, and the choices ordinary people make when faced with extraordinary moments. From the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to the ledge of a Fifth Avenue high-rise, each character faces a new world which follows the unique challenge they encounter.

Opening the 2018 Off-Center season on June 27 (through 30), Songs for A New World was the first musical from three-time Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown. This powerful collection of songs examines life, love, and the choices ordinary people make when faced with extraordinary moments. From the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to the ledge of a Fifth Avenue high-rise, each character faces a new world which follows the unique challenge they encounter.

Encores! Off-Center Co-Artistic Directors Anne Kauffman and Jeanine Tesori today announced casting for New York City Center's popular summer musical theater series Encores! Off-Center.

New York City Center is sure to be a singular sensation this fall!

Playgoers in the know will arrive at any production of the 1937 West End smash ME AND MY GIRL already humming a bit of its legendary Act I closer 'The Lambeth Walk,' looking forward to a rousing showstopper where composer Noel Gay's peppy earworm is matched with co-bookwriter/lyricists L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber's jaunty lyric celebrating that part of London where 'everything's bright and breezy' and you can 'do as you darn well please-y.'

Encores! presents Me and My Girl as the final production of the Encores! at 25 season at New York City Center, beginning tonight! Check out photos of the cast in action below!

Though the songwriting team of Robert Wright and George Forrest is best remembered by Broadway enthusiasts for adapting the music of Edvard Grieg into SONG OF NORWAY and similarly using the melodies of Alexander Borodin to create their score for KISMET, their greatest success came when director/choreographer Tommy Tune took interest in a musical of theirs that fizzled into obscurity on its way to Broadway, then known as AT THE GRAND.

Encores! is back for round two! The second production of this season is Grand Hotel, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, featuring music direction by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. Grand Hotel, The Musicalwill run for seven performances at New York City Center from March 21 - 25. The Encores! at 25 season concludes with Me and My Girl (May 9 - 13). Check out a first look at the cast in action below!

William Ryall has been around for all of it. Not only was he a member of the original 1989 cast, but he will star as Colonel Doctor Otternschlag when the Encores! run begins tonight. We checked in with Ryall to get the scoop on Grand Hotel then and now...

Encores! is back for round two! The second production of this season is Grand Hotel, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, featuring music direction by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. Grand Hotel, The Musicalwill run for seven performances at New York City Center from March 21 - 25. The Encores! at 25 season concludes with Me and My Girl (May 9 - 13).