2024 Encores! Series

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This series of concert stagings revisits the archives of American musical theater. Centered around The Encores! Orchestra, these revivals are produced with limited runs and rehearsal schedules, spotlighting the vocal talents of star-studded ensembles.

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
Jan 24 – Feb 4, 2024

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Week One | Jan 24 – 28
Wed – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 8pm
Sun 2 & 7pm

Week Two | Jan 30 – Feb 4
Tue – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 8pm
Sun 2pm

Music by Mary Rodgers
Lyrics by Marshall Barer
Book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller & Marshall Barer 
Concert Adaptation by Amy Sherman-Palladino
Scenic Designer David Zinn 
Costume Designer Andrea Hood
Lighting Designer Amith Chandrashaker
Sound Designer Kai Harada 
Production Stage Manager Cody Renard Richard 
Casting by The Telsey Office 
Choreography by Lorin Latarro
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell
Directed by Lear deBessonet

Musical theater legend Sutton Foster (The Music Man) returns to the City Center stage as Princess Winifred the Woebegone alongside Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) as Prince Dauntless in this beloved musical fairytale. Full of gloriously catchy melodies like “Shy” and “In a Little While,” this uproarious update of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea” also features Nikki Renée Daniels (Lady Larken), J. Harrison Ghee (Jester), Harriet Sansom Harris (Queen Aggravain), Cheyenne Jackson (Sir Harry), Francis Jue (Wizard), and David Patrick Kelly (King Sextimus the Silent).

Led by Tony-nominated Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet (Into the Woods, Lionel Bart’s Oliver!) and with a new concert adaptation by Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Once Upon a Mattress sets an unapologetic free spirit loose in a repressed kingdom, reveling in Winifred’s ability to charm and transform with willpower, honesty, and a little bit of help from her friends.

JELLY’S LAST JAM
Feb 21 – Mar 3, 2024

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Week One | Feb 21 – 25
Wed – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 8pm
Sun 2 & 7pm

Week Two | Feb 27 – Mar 3
Tue – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 8pm
Sun 2pm

Book by George C. Wolfe
Music by Jelly Roll Morton
Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead
Musical Adaptation and Additional Music Composed by Luther Henderson
Arrangements & Orchestrations by Luther Henderson
Additional Orchestrations by Daryl Waters & William David Brohn 
Scenic Designer Clint Ramos  
Costume Designer Dede Ayite 
Lighting Designer Adam Honoré
Sound Designer Megumi Katayama
Production Stage Manager Karen Moore 
Casting by The Telsey Office 
Tap Choreography by Dormeshia
Choreography by Edgar Godineaux
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb
Directed by Robert O’Hara

Take your seat at the legendary Jungle Inn nightclub for an electrifying musical telling the story of jazz through its self-proclaimed inventor: Jelly Roll Morton. Returning to the New York stage for just two weeks, Jelly’s Last Jam features Nicholas Christopher (Sweeney Todd) as Jelly, John Clay III (Choir Boy) as Jack the Bear, Joaquina Kalukango (Paradise Square) as Anita, Tiffany Mann (Be More Chill) as Miss Mamie, Billy Porter (Pose) as Chimney Man, Leslie Uggams (American Fiction) as Gran Mimi, as well as original Broadway cast members Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Allison M. Williams who reprise their roles as the Hunnies.

Encores! Jelly’s Last Jam is led by visionary director Robert O’Hara (X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X) with Tap Choreography by tap icon Dormeshia, Choreography by Edgar Godineaux, and Guest Music Director Jason Michael Webb (MJ, Choir Boy) leading the iconic Encores! Orchestra, who perform onstage in this engagement.

Written by Tony-winner George C. Wolfe (Rustin, Shuffle Along), the original 1992 Broadway production secured eight Tony nominations, three wins, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book. Crafting showstopping numbers and piercing ballads alike from Morton’s own music, lyricist Susan Birkenhead (BOOP!) and composer Luther Henderson create a uniquely compelling musical backdrop for a show that brilliantly utilizes two of this country’s most potent forms of storytelling—jazz and musical theater.

TITANIC
Jun 11 – 23, 2024

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Week One | Jun 11 – 16
Tues – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 8pm
Sun 2pm

Week Two | Jun 18 – 23
Tue – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 8pm
Sun 2 & 7pm

Story & Book by Peter Stone
Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Original Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick 
Scenic Designer Paul Tate dePoo III
Costume Designer Márion Talán de la Rosa
Lighting Designer David Weiner
Sound Designer Megumi Katayama
Production Stage Manager Cynthia Cahill
Casting by The Telsey Office
Choreography by Danny Mefford
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Guest Music Director Rob Berman
Directed by Anne Kauffman

Directed by Anne Kauffman (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window) and featuring Tony winner Chuck Cooper (Trouble in Mind), Eddie Cooper (Parade), Andrew Durand (Shucked), Drew Gehling (Waitress), Ramin Karimloo (Funny Girl), Judy Kuhn (Fun Home), Jose Llana (Here Lies Love), Tony winner Bonnie Milligan (Kimberly Akimbo), Tony winner Brandon Uranowitz (Leopoldstadt), and Chip Zien (Harmony), Titanic is an epic musical theater event. This nearly sung-through show from creators  Maury Yeston (Grand Hotel) and Peter Stone (1776) remains a musical theater revelation, painting a heartrending portrait of the individuals whose dreams of America were dashed in the Atlantic.

Operatic in its style, historical inspiration, and ambition, Titanic may have seemed unlikely material for musical drama when Yeston and Stone began work. But by the time the show premiered on Broadway in 1997, cultural fascination with the “ship of dreams” had reached a fever pitch, and Titanic received critical and audience acclaim, as well as five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Pared down to its essence and highlighting the majestic score, our Encores! production meditates on the nature of ambition and the human scale of this epic tragedy, focusing on the class divides both illuminated and transcended by the ship’s inexorable sinking.

Artistic Leadership

Lear deBessonet | Artistic Director
Mary-Mitchell Campbell | Music Director
Clint Ramos | Producing Creative Director
Josh Clayton | Director of Music Administration & Score Restoration

Creative Advisors
Camille A. Brown, Eisa Davis, and Robert O'Hara

VP & Producer of Musical Theater
Jenny Gersten

Art by Ben Wiseman

Casting and programming subject to change.

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, JELLY'S LAST JAM, and TITANIC are presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com

Sponsors

LEADERSHIP SUPPORT FOR ENCORES!
Stacey and Eric Mindich Fund for Musical Theater

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR NEW YORK CITY CENTER
Ford Foundation
Howard Gilman Foundation

ENCORES! SEASON SPONSORS
The Shubert Foundation
Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!
Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust 

SUPPORT FOR THE ANN REINKING ENCORES! CHOREOGRAPHY FELLOWSHIP IS PROVIDED BY
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Peter Talbert in honor of Ann Reinking

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR ONCE UPON A MATTRESS IS PROVIDED BY
Tom and Maren Hood
Robbie Moray and Scott Dunn
Eleanor and Howard Morgan

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR ENCORES! IS PROVIDED BY
Margo and John Ernst
The Kaplen Brothers Fund
The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation
The Frederick Loewe Foundation
Daryl and Steven Roth
The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.
The SHS Foundation
The Ted Snowdon Foundation
Marta Heflin Foundation

Photos

For 30 years we’ve watched our Encores! series bring a community together through a shared love of song and dance. Help us celebrate this milestone by making a gift with your subscription order today, and ensure another 30 years of musical theater magic.