Theater News

Leslie Odom Jr., Jeanine Tesori, and More Set for New Encores! Discussion Series

”Encores! Unscripted” will be a new collaboration between New York City Center and WNYC radio.

Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. will take part in the new Encores! Unscripted discussion series.
Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr. will take part in the new Encores! Unscripted discussion series.
(© David Gordon)

New York City Center will team up with the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC to launch a series of live-streamed conversations focusing on the popular Encores! series. Encores! artistic director Jack Viertel hosts.

Encores! Unscripted kicks off on December 14 with Sexism. Racism. Show Tunes. Discuss., a conversation about the sexist and racist attitudes embedded in classic musicals. On hand for the discussion will be Fiddler on the Roof lyricist Sheldon Harnick, actor and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Fun Home composer Jeanine Tesori, who serves as artistic director of the annual summer Encores! Off-Center series.

On February 1, Encores! musical director Rob Berman, legendary orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, and composer, lyricist, and orchestrator Jason Robert Brown (The Bridges of Madison County) will take part in Keeping Score, a look at the art of orchestration and score restoration.

The series concludes on March 14 with Who Tells Their Stories?: Historical Narratives on Broadway, a discussion with Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson composer Michael Friedman and Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr.

Additional guests for the conversations will be announced.