2025 Encores! Series

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Thanks to you, 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.

Encores subscription info

Subscribe to secure your seats at the lowest price, plus save on handling fees and enjoy one free ticket exchange per show.

Subscriptions are only available for the first week of performances. To request a ticket exchange for another date during the run, please email Info@NYCityCenter.org. For additional questions, call 212.581.1212. Learn more about our ticket policies.

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Urinetown Overview

ENCORES!
URINETOWN
Feb 5 – 16, 2025

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Subscription week: Feb 5 – 9
Week 2: Feb 11 – 16
Tue – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 7:30pm*
Sun 2 & 7pm (Feb 16, 2pm only)
*note new time

Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann
Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis
Orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin
Choreographer Mayte Natalio
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell
Director Teddy Bergman

Urinetown Review

Simply the most gripping and galvanizing theater experience in town

The New York Times

In this side-splitting satire directed by Teddy Bergman (KPOP), a young hero played by Jordan Fisher (Hadestown, Dear Evan Hansen) leads his community in a fight against oppression. Set in a dystopian world where water is scarce and “Hope” is even scarcer, all citizens must now pay a fee for “The Privilege to Pee” at one of the public facilities controlled by a selfish tycoon and monitored by authorities like Officer Lockstock (Taran Killam of Spamalot). But the citizens can only hold it in so much longer, and soon the poorest, filthiest of these facilities, run by the formidable Penelope Pennywise (Keala Settle of The Greatest Showman), becomes a “number one” site for major change.

With an incisive score by Tony winner Mark Hollmann, fourth-wall-breaking humor by Hollman and Tony winner Greg Kotis, and a plot with thrilling twists and turns, Urinetown is an “audacious and exhilarating” (The New York Times) take on the classic story of a ragtag group of underdogs coming together to try to oust a corrupt corporation. In this Tony-winning musical, nothing is safe from criticism — capitalism, politics, the establishment, the anti-establishment, and even musical theater itself!

Artists

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Love Life Overview

ENCORES!
LOVE LIFE
Mar 26 – 30, 2025

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Subscription week: Mar 26 – 30
Wed – Fri 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 7:30pm* | Sun 2 & 7pm
*note new time

Music and Lyrics by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner
Book by Alan Jay Lerner
Orchestrations by Kurt Weill and Irving Schlein
Choreographer JoAnn Hunter
Featuring The Encores! Orchestra
Guest Music Director Rob Berman
Director Victoria Clark

Love Life Review

Hot, comic, blue, satiric, and romantic

The New York Times

Love Life, the only collaboration between Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner, depicts a love story that takes place over 200 years of American history, through the eyes of a couple who never ages, played by Kate Baldwin (Hello, Dolly!) and Nicholas Christopher (Encores! Jelly’s Last Jam). This rarely staged production is directed by Tony winner Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo) and explores the epic and intimate aspects of a marriage through a juxtaposition of heartfelt scenes and satirical vaudeville acts.

Considered by some to be the first concept musical, Love Life is an inspiration for musical theater favorites such as Cabaret, Chicago, and Company. The show features some of Weill’s most delightful, biting, and melodic numbers, such as “Mr. Right” and “Here I’ll Stay,” which evoke his iconic work with Bertold Brecht on The Threepenny Opera.

Love Life was originally scheduled as part of the 2020 season of Encores! but the performances were cancelled just before the Covid-19 shutdown. We are thrilled to welcome it back this season!

Artists

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Wild Party Overview

ENCORES!
THE WILD PARTY
Apr 30 – May 11, 2025

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Subscription week: Apr 30 – May 4
Week 2: May 6 – 11
Tue – Fri | 7:30pm
Sat 2 & 7:30pm* | Sun 2 & 7pm (May 11 2pm only)
*note new time

Music & Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa
Book by Michael John LaChiusa & George C. Wolfe
Based on the poem by Joseph Mocure March
Orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin
Featuring The Encores! Orhcestra

Wild Party Review

I don’t think I’ve ever loved a show more.

— The Observer

Queenie is throwing a party—and you’re invited! Don your best flapper outfit and visit Queenie & Burrs’s apartment in 1920s New York City for a night like no other. The Wild Party is a jazz-age tragedy about a gin-soaked party tinged with danger and desire. What happens when a night of debauchery leads to a morning of sobering truths?

Michael John LaChiusa (The Gardens of Anuncia) and George C. Wolfe (Jelly’s Last Jam) bring Joseph Moncure March’s notorious narrative poem to life in their vivid musical adaptation. This “dangerous, seedy, fantastic” (The Observer) party is full of jazz-age indulgence and Vaudeville stars letting loose off-the-clock.

Patron Member ACQ

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Artistic Leadership

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.

Encores! Urinetown is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com

Encores! Love Life is presented under license from European American Music Distributors Company, on behalf of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc., and the Alan Jay Lerner Testamentary Trust.

Encores! The Wild Party is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com

Sponsors

Sponsors

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

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

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR NEW YORK CITY CENTER
Howard Gilman Foundation

ENCORES! SEASON SPONSORS
The Shubert Foundation
Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!

MAJOR SUPPORT FOR LOVE LIFE
Robbie Moray and Scott Dunn
Eleanor and Howard Morgan
Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust


ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR ENCORES!
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

COMMUNITY NIGHTS ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY
JL Greene Arts Access Fund logo

SUPPORT FOR ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES IS PROVIDED BY
Howard Gilman Foundation logo

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Past Productions

Annual Gala Presentation

Ragtime

Oct 30 – Nov 10, 2024

Ragtime is a sweeping, powerful musical led by Tony-nominated Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet, featuring Colin Donnell (Father), Joshua Henry (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Nichelle Lewis (Sarah), Caissie Levy (Mother), Ben Levi Ross (Younger Brother), Shaina Taub (Emma Goldman), and Brandon Uranowitz (Tateh).

Best availability for tickets is on Oct 31 at 7:30pm; Nov 3 & 10 at 7pm.

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