A Chorus Line Set for New York City Center's 75th Season
(© Tricia Baron)
New York City Center has announced programming for its landmark 75th season.
The annual gala musical will be A Chorus Line (November 14-18), led by the show's original cochoreographer Bob Avian (who collaborated with Michael Bennett) and Baayork Lee, who played Connie in the original 1975 cast. Patrick Vaccariello will lend music direction.
The Encores! series will go on to include Rodgers and Hart's 1938 comedy I Married an Angel (March 20-24, 2019), originally choreographed by George Balanchine for his then wife, Vera Zorina, who starred in the title role. The Encores! production will star City Ballet principal Sara Mearns, with choreography by her fiancé, Tony nominee Joshua Bergasse.
The third Encores! show will be High Button Shoes, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, and a book by Stephen Longstreet. The show features a 10-minute dance number, choreographed by Jerome Robbins, known as "The Bathing Beauty Ballet."
MasterVoices will then celebrate City Center's rich musical theater history with a special tribute concert of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's Lady in the Dark (April 25 & 26, 2019), last presented in New York City as part of the inaugural Encores! season in 1994. Tony Award winner Victoria Clark will star.
The 2019 season will also revisit Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam, originally mounted for the second Encores! season in 1995. The production will be led by artistic director Jack Viertel, with music direction by Rob Berman.
The Encores! Off-Center series will return in summer 2019. Programming for the Off-Center season will be announced at a later date.
