Directed by former Encores! artistic director Walter Bobbie, Nanette will feature the previously announced Rosie O'Donnell as Pauline and Tony winner Beth Leavel as Lucille Early. Joining the duo onstage will be Sandy Duncan as Sue Smith, Fred Willard as Jimmy Smith, Shonn Wiley as Tom and Mara Davi as Nanette.
Randy Skinner will choreograph the production with musical direction by Rob Fisher.
This mounting of Nanette will utilize the 1971 version of the musical. That production featured a book adapted by Burt Shevelove with the original Vincent Youmans (music) and Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach (lyrics) score. The show features such tunes as "Tea for Two" and "I Want to Be Happy."
No, No, Nanette is based on Frank Mandel and Emily Nyitray's comedy My Lady Friends. The musical, according to press notes, is a "light-hearted tale of millionaires, misunderstood wives, bathing beauties, wanton women and flappers. Nanette (Mara Davi), a young Manhattan heiress, tries to experience life by running away to the big, bad and bawdy town of Atlantic City, only to be followed by her straight-laced, tap-dancing fiancé (Shonn Wiley), her cook/chaperone (Rosie O'Donnell), her lawyer and his wife (Beth Leavel) and her legal guardians (Sandy Duncan and Fred Willard), who just want everyone to 'be happy.'"
Show times are May 8 at 8 PM, May 9 at 8 PM, May 10 at 2 and 8 PM, May 11 at 6:30 PM and a gala performance May 12 at 7 PM. City Center is located in Manhattan at West 55th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Tickets are available by calling (212) 581-1212 or by visiting www.nycitycenter.org.
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Applause will kick off the season running Feb. 7-10, 2008. Christine Ebersole will star in the role of Margo Channing, which was created onstage by Lauren Bacall. Applause, which is a musical version of "All About Eve," features a score by Charles Strouse (music) and Lee Adams (lyrics) and a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The original Broadway production played 4 previews and 896 regular performances at the Palace Theatre from March 1970-July 1972; Ron Field directed and choreographed.
Juno will follow, running March 27-30. The musical, based on Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, features a score by Marc Blitzstein and a book by Joseph Stein. The production will mark the musical directing debut of Garry Hynes, who won a Tony Award for her direction of The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Warren Carlyle will provide musical staging. The original Broadway mounting, staged by José Ferrer and choreographed by Agnes De Mille, opened March 9, 1959 and closed 16 performances later on March 21.
