New York City Center, which is currently closed through April 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic, is posting daily highlights from its musical theatre vault, including selections from Encores!, Encores! Off-Center, and Gala productions.
The famed Manhattan venue launched the series March 22, Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday, with two songs from the Encores! production of Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies: Tony winner Donna Murphy singing "Could I Leave You?" and Tony winner Victoria Clark singing "Losing My Mind." Also offered: Sutton Foster and Murphy from the 2010 City Center Encores! production of Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle.
Continuing the Sondheim celebration, the series now presents "Opening Doors" from the 2012 City Center Encores! production of Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along with Lin-Manuel Miranda as lyricist Charley Kringas, Colin Donnell as songwriter Franklin Shepard, Celia Keenan-Bolger as magazine writer Mary Flynn, and Betsy Wolfe as Franklin's wife Beth. The cast also included Elizabeth Stanley as Gussie Carnegie, Adam Grupper as producer Joe Josephson, and Zachary Unger as Frank Jr.
Watch the performance below.
: @colindonnell, @celiakb, @Lin_Manuel & @BetsyWolfe "Opening Doors"
— New York City Center (@NYCityCenter) March 25, 2020
Encores! Merrily We Roll Along 2012 #EncoresArchives pic.twitter.com/lcwE4ijVOO
"Even in a cautious world of social distancing, City Center wants to make sure you still get your musical theatre fix while our theatre is closed," the New York institution posted on Instagram. "We’ll choose a different theme each week, maybe focused on a composer or an era, or a performer who selects their favorite moments or…well, why not wait and see? We’ve done more than 80 Broadway shows and over a dozen from Off-Broadway."
