Congratulations to City Center's Encores! series of rarely-heard musicals in concert. The series won the 1997 Jujamcyn Theatres Award, given by Jujamcyn chairman James Binger and president Rocco Landesman. The official ceremony takes place Jan. 12 at NYC's Tavern on the Green restaurant.

Overseen by artistic director Kathleen Marshall and musical director Rob Fisher, Encores! Has brought such long-neglected shows as Promises, Promises and, of course, Chicago back into the mainstream. Landesman said in a statement, "In the five short years since its inception, Encores! Has not only become a significant producer of musical theatre, but an important part of the cultural landscape in New York... By scrupulously remounting the work of our greatest composers and lyricists with full original orchestrations and large casts, the organization has given us the opportunity to hear these shows as they were originally meant to be heard."

Accepting the award, City Center president Judith Daykin said, "The tremendous support of the theatre community to this series ahs been one of the most rewarding aspects of our work."

Since 1984, the Jujamcyn Theatre Award has gone to "a resident theatre that has made an outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent for the theatre." Recent recipients include the American Conservatory Theatre, Yale School of Drama and MN's Guthrie Theatre.

Jujamcyn owns and operates five Broadway theatres (the St. James, Martin Beck, Virginia, Walter Kerr and Eugene O'Neill) and runs a Broadway series in several cities across the country. -- By David Lefkowitz