The season will kick off Nov. 18 with the 1956 Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical Bells Are Ringing, which will be directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Performances will continue through Nov. 21. In Bells Are Ringing — with music by Styne and book and lyrics by Comden and Green — "a lonely girl who runs an answering service falls for a client she has met only by voice, and typical 1950s mayhem ensues."
The season will continue with Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the Stars, which runs Feb. 3-6, 2011. Gary Griffin will direct. The musical is based on Alan Paton's novel, "Cry, the Beloved Country."
The season will conclude March 17-20, 2011, with Frank Loesser and George Abbott's Where's Charley? under the direction of John Doyle. The musical, Abbott's adaptation of Brandon Thomas' college farce, Charley's Aunt, boasted Loesser's first Broadway score.
Music director Rob Berman will conduct all three musicals. Casting will be announced at a later date.
Jack Viertel is artistic director of the Encores! series. Kathleen Marshall returns to Encores!, where she has directed and choreographed Applause, Carnival, Hair and Babes in Arms, among others, and served as artistic director for four seasons. Her Broadway credits include The Pajama Game; Wonderful Town; Grease; Boeing, Boeing; Little Shop of Horrors; Follies; Seussical; Kiss Me, Kate; Ring Round the Moon; 1776 and Swinging on a Star. For ABC/Disney, she directed and choreographed “Once Upon a Mattress” and choreographed “The Music Man” (Emmy nomination). She has received two Tony awards, two Drama Desk awards and two Outer Critics Circle awards. Marshall will direct and choreograph the upcoming Broadway revival of Anything Goes.
Gary Griffin directed the Encores! productions of The New Moon, Pardon My English, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Apple Tree and Music in The Air. He directed The Color Purple and The Apple Tree on Broadway, Pacific Overtures in London (Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical Production; Olivier nomination, Best Director), and West Side Story and Evita at Stratford Festival of Canada. Griffin is associate artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
John Doyle will direct Wings at Second Stage Theatre. His Broadway credits include Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, Best Director of a Musical); Company (Tony Award, Best Revival) and A Catered Affair, and his Off-Broadway credits include Road Show (The Public). In London, he has directed Gondoliers, Sweeney Todd and Mack and Mabel.
Tickets for Encores! 2010-11 season are available 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. Tickets for the Orchestra, Grand Tier and Mid-Mezzanine are $100; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Front Gallery are $50; tickets for the Rear Gallery are $25.
