John Rando will mount the Encores! concert production of the Jule Styne Betty Comden-Adolph Green musical Do Re Mi, said William Craver, who represents the director. Craver said no casting decisions have been made as of yet. Do Re Mi is scheduled to play at City Center May 6-9.
It's been a busy year for Rando. He recently staged David Ives' new work Lives of the Saints in Philadelphia and will return to New York in April to direct Peter Ackerman's new comedy Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight at the Promenade Theater. After finishing work on Do Re Mi, he will travel to Los Angeles Merton of the Movies at the Geffen Playhouse. He will then restage Saints at the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
Do Re Mi, from 1960, introduced "Make Someone Happy" to the world, sung by John Reardon and Nancy Dussault, who played sub-plot lovers in the show business satire (about the record industry). Stars Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker played a low-rung showbiz schlemiel and his long suffering wife.
Also in the score are "It's Legitimate," "I Know About Love," "Fireworks" and "Adventure," a tour-de-force for Walker. In one number, a classic Comden-Green nightclub scene, Dussault was dressed as an animal, singing, "What's New At the Zoo."
* The popular series at City Center in New York City revisits neglected or seldom-revived musical theatre scores and scripts in a conceptual concert form, often with big-name stage talent. The current Broadway revival of Chicago began as an "Encores!" presentation.
Next in the Encores' series of concert revivals is The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936, featured music by Vernon Duke and lyrics by Ira Gershwin ("I Can't Get Started") and sets and costumes by Vincente Minnelli. It marked the Broadway debut of choreographer George Balanchine (his On Your Toes came later that year), and originally starred Josephine Baker, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Judy Canova, Eve Arden and others.
"Encores!" will offer it March 25-29. The final performance coincides with the annual City Center gala benefit, but show-only tickets are available.
--By Robert Simonson and Kenneth Jones
