As previously announced, James Lapine will direct the first Encores! show of the season, Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, opening Feb. 8, 2012.
Marc Bruni will direct Rodgers and Hammerstein’s rarely-seen Pipe Dream, opening March 28, and John Rando will direct Jule Styne and Leo Robin Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, opening May 9.
Music director Rob Berman will conduct all three musicals.
This year, the number of performances has been expanded: Pipe Dream and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes will play for seven performances each, and Merrily We Roll Along, extended for a two-week run, will play for 15 performances.
James Lapine wrote the books for and directed Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion and the recent multi-media revue Sondheim on Sondheim. He collaborated with William Finn on March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, later presented on Broadway as Falsettos, as well as A New Brain, Muscle and Little Miss Sunshine. Marc Bruni has directed Ordinary Days (Roundabout), Such Good Friends (NYMF Directing Award), The Sound of Music, The Music Man, My One And Only, Seven Brides... (all for St. Louis Muny), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Paper Mill/PTC), High Spirits (York Theater) and Glimpses Of The Moon (Oak Room). He was associate director of the Broadway, London and touring productions of Legally Blonde and appeared on MTV's “Search for Elle Woods.” He has been associated with Walter Bobbie, Kathleen Marshall, Jerry Mitchell and Jerry Zaks on 14 Broadway shows including Anything Goes, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, The Pajama Game, Grease, Wonderful Town, High Fidelity, Sweet Charity, La Cage Aux Folles and Little Shop Of Horrors, as well as on City Center Encores! productions of Finian's Rainbow; No, No, Nanette; Applause; 70, Girls, 70; and Bye Bye Birdie. He directed the Encores! production of Fanny.
John Rando’s Broadway credits include The Wedding Singer, Urinetown (Tony Award for Best Director), The Dinner Party and A Thousand Clowns. His other credits include The Toxic Avenger at New World Stages and Polish Joke at Manhattan Theatre Club. His previous Encores! credits include On the Town, Damn Yankees, Face the Music, Strike Up the Band, Do Re Mi, The Pajama Game and Of Thee I Sing.
New Encores! subscriptions are available for the first time in three years and can be purchased 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. Single tickets for Encores! 2012 go on sale Oct. 10. Tickets start at $25.
