New York City Center has announced its 2017–2018 season, including the three productions that will comprise its Tony‐honored Encores! series.
Led by Artistic Director Jack Viertel and Music Director Rob Berman, Encores! will celebrate its 25th anniversary season beginning with Hey, Look Me Over!, a showcase of songs and scenes from musicals that Encores! has yet to produce.
Grand Hotel, which explores the comings and goings of the patrons of post‐war Berlin’s most prestigious hotel, follows, as well as the award-winning Me and My Girl—the first Encores! show to have originated on London’s West End rather than Broadway.
Details for each of the three productions follow:
Hey, Look Me Over!
February 7—11, 2018
Conceived by Jack Viertel
“For 25 years, City Center's Encores! series has been bringing classic American musicals back to life. This is where Chicago, Wonderful Town, and Finian’s Rainbow were reborn—but we’re just getting started. Catch a glimpse at the future of Encores! in this original production Hey, Look Me Over!, a cavalcade of overtures, opening numbers, grand finales, and other excerpts from beloved shows that Encores! hasn’t gotten to— yet. Look for the likes of Mack & Mabel, Greenwillow, Wildcat, and others of their ilk. It’s a lot of numbers that add up to one exciting celebration: Encores! at 25.”
Grand Hotel
March 21–25, 2018
Book by Luther Davis
Music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest
Based on Vicki Baum’s Grand Hotel
By arrangement with Turner Broadcasting Co., owner of the motion picture Grand Hotel
Additional Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
“Inspired by Vicki Baum's 1929 novel, Grand Hotel follows the post‐war comings and goings of the artists, businessmen, jewel thieves, and ambitious young secretaries whose lives intersect in the opulent lobby of Berlin’s most prestigious hotel.”
Me and My Girl
May 9–13, 2018
Book and lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber
With contributions by Mike Ockrent
Music by Noel Gay
Book revised by Stephen Fry
“The toast of 1930s London, Me and My Girl is a delightfully old‐fashioned musical about a Cockney everyman who wreaks havoc on high society after being unexpectedly elevated to the lofty position of Earl of Hereford. Part music hall frolic, part class‐warfare comedy, Noel Gay’s infectious score includes ’The Lambeth Walk,’ a dance routine that swept the continent in 1937. In the 1980s, Me and My Girl was revived and became a completely unexpected smash all over again. Now, for the first time in nearly 30 years, it’s back in New York.”
The upcoming City Center season will also include the previously announced November 15–19, 2017, presentations of Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon starring Kelli O'Hara, Steven Pasquale, and Robert Fairchild. Joining them are Heidi Blickenstaff, Sara Esty, and Ross Lekites. Christopher Wheeldon will direct and choreograph.
Read: KELLI O'HARA AND STEVEN PASQUALE WILL HEADLINE BRIGADOON AT CITY CENTER
