November 19, 2014 - New York, New York

Colin Donnell, Danny Gardner, Erin Mackey, Patti Murin, Richard Poe, Jennifer Laura Thompson and Special Guest Tommy Tune will star in LADY, BE GOOD

Music by George Gershwin
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson

The Opening Production of the 2015 Encores! Season

Choreographed by Randy Skinner
Guest Music Director: Rob Fisher
Directed by Mark Brokaw

February 4 – 8, 2015

Tommy Tune, Colin Donnell, Danny Gardner, Jeff Hiller, Erin Mackey, Patti Murin, Richard Poe, Jennifer Laura Thompson and Kirsten Wyatt will star in George and Ira Gershwin’s Lady, Be Good, the opening production of New York City Center’s 2015 Encores! season, running for seven performances, February 4 – 8, 2015. Lady, Be Good will be directed by Mark Brokaw and choreographed by Randy Skinner. Founding Encores! Music Director Rob Fisher will return as Guest Music Director, and has supervised the restoration of the Gershwins’ original score.

Lady, Be Good tells the story of a penniless brother (Danny Gardner) and sister (Patti Murin) who crash a garden party in hopes of some quick nourishment. They resolve to marry for money, but love gets in the way, as it usually does. Before true love wins out, they encounter Mexican gangsters, crooked lawyers, wealthy socialites, and a song-and-dance man with fascinating rhythm (Tommy Tune).

The 1924 musical embodies the madcap spirit of the Roaring Twenties, when George and Ira Gershwin’s first hit collaboration ushered in the Golden Age of American musical comedy. Hot off the triumph of Rhapsody in Blue, George and his brother Ira delivered a jazz-age score that featured “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Lady, Be Good,” and “The Half of it, Dearie, Blues.” Lady, Be Good opened at the Liberty Theater on December 1, 1924 and ran for 330 performances. It has music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin with a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson. The original production starred Fred and Adele Astaire.

Most of Lady, Be Good’s original orchestrations disappeared long ago. Thanks to the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Broadway Musical Restoration Fund, Encores! will have the opportunity to reproduce an authentic score under the supervision of Encores! Founding Music Director Rob Fisher.

 

CAST

 Tommy Tune (Jeff), a nine-time Tony Award winner, is one of the country’s most prolific performer/director/choreographers. He began his career as a Broadway dancer in Baker Street, A Joyful Noise and How Now, Dow Jones. He has received Tony Awards for My One and Only (Actor and Choreography), Grand Hotel (Direction and Choreography), The Will Rogers Follies (Direction and Choreography), Nine (Direction), A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Choreography) and Seesaw (Featured Actor). In addition, Mr. Tune has been awarded eight Drama Desk Awards, three Astaire Awards and the Society of Directors and Choreographers’ George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is the recipient of The National Medal of Arts, has been honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was designated a Living Landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. He is currently touring the country in his one-man show Taps, Tunes and Tall Tales. www.tommytune.com

Colin Donnell (Jack Robinson) starred on Broadway in Violet, Anything Goes (Drama Desk nomination), and Jersey Boys, and in the national tours of Wicked and Mamma Mia! His Off-Broadway credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare in the Park), Meet Me in St. Louis, and Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver. Television work includes recurring roles on “The Affair” and “Pam Am,” as well as a series regular on “Arrow.” He appeared in Merrily We Roll Along and Follies at Encores!

Danny Gardner (Dick Trevor) is currently appearing in the national tour of White Christmas. National tours include Here to Stay: The Gershwin Experience and 42nd Street. Regionally, Danny has performed in four shows at Goodspeed Opera House, most recently Show Boat. He has performed in nine shows at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, most recently the world premiere of Neurosis; the world premiere of Noah Racey’s Pulse at Asolo Repertory Theatre; the world premiere of Swingtime Salute on the deck of the USS Wisconsin Battleship; and Bach at Leipzig at People’s Light and Theatre Company. Danny’s Off-Broadway work includes Room 17B at 59E59 Theaters (Drama Desk nom.), Dragons at The York Theatre, and Time Step at the New Victory Theater. He is a proud member of the physical comedy theater troupe Parallel Exit and of Noah Racey’s New York Song & Dance Company. www.dannyjgardner.com

Jeff Hiller (Bertie Bassett) has been seen in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (both Broadway and Off-Broadway), as Nathaniel in Love’s Labour’s Lost, as Trinculo in The Tempest (New York Shakespeare Festival), and in Silence! The Musical (both Off-Broadway and L.A. premiere). His regional credits include Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star at the Old Globe, Li’l Abner, and the premiere of Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Hiller has appeared in the films Ghost Town, The Little Tin Man, Adam, Gayby, and Morning Glory. His television credits include “30 Rock,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Ugly Betty,” “Community,” “Psych,” “The McCarthys,” “The Hotwives of Orlando,” “Go On,” “Partners,” “NTSF,” “Death Valley,” “Boiling Points,” and “Guiding Light.” Jeff is a frequent performer at the UCB Theatre in both New York and Los Angeles.

Erin Mackey (Shirley Vernon) appeared most recently as Mary Catlett in the world premiere production of Amazing Grace in Chicago. Her Broadway credits include Chaplin (Oona), Anything Goes (Hope), Sondheim on Sondheim, and Wicked (Glinda). She played Johanna in the New York Philharmonic’s concert production of Sweeney Todd at Lincoln Center, which aired on PBS this fall. Her film and television work includes “Gossip Girl,” “Blue Bloods,” The Parent Trap, and the upcoming film The Intern.

Patti Murin (Susie Trevor) created the title role of Lysistrata Jones, which she played at the Dallas Theater Center, Off-Broadway, and on Broadway. She has been seen in Broadway’s Xanadu and Off-Broadway in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Fly By Night. Regional credits include Holiday Inn at the Goodspeed Opera House, Emma at the Old Globe Theatre, and The Little Mermaid at MUNY.

Richard Poe (Rufus Parke/Manuel Estrada) has appeared on Broadway in All The Way, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Present Laughter, 1776, Moon Over Buffalo, M. Butterfly, Our Country’s Good, The Pajama Game and Journey’s End. Off-Broadway, he was seen in Jeffrey and Why Torture Is Wrong…and the People Who Love Them. His films include Born on the Fourth of July and Presumed Innocent; television includes “Frasier,” “The Five Mrs. Buchanans” and “Star Trek.” Richard has recorded over 100 audiobooks. www.richardpoenyc.com

Jennifer Laura Thompson (Josephine Vanderwater) has appeared on Broadway in Wicked, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Footloose, Lend Me a Tenor, and both the Broadway and Off-Broadway productions of Urinetown (Tony Award nomination). She has starred off Broadway in Little Fish and A Doll’s Life. Her Encores! credits include Pardon My English, Strike up the Band!, Of Thee I Sing and On the Town.

Kirsten Wyatt (Daisy Parke) was most recently on Broadway in the 2012 revival of Annie. Other Broadway credits include A Christmas Story, Elf, Shrek, Grease, High Fidelity, The Pajama Game, Urinetown, and You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Television work includes “Naked Brothers Band,” “As the World Turns,” and “All My Children.” Kirsten is also the host of the upcoming original web series “Broadway Nosh.” www.kirstenwyatt.net

CREATIVE TEAM

Mark Brokaw (Director) directed the Broadway productions of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Lyons, After Miss Julie, The Constant Wife, Reckless and Cry-Baby. He has directed the New York premieres of works by David Auburn, Douglas Carter Beane, Eric Bogosian, Charles Busch, Julia Cho, Lisa Kron, Kenneth Lonergan, Craig Lucas, Nicky Silver, Paula Vogel, and Wendy Wasserstein. His regional credits include Yale Rep, Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Steppenwolf, Hartford Stage, Berkeley Rep, Center Theatre Group, Sundance Theater Lab, and the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration. He has directed at London’s Donmar Warehouse and Menier Chocolate Factory, Dublin’s Gate Theatre, and the Sydney Opera House. Mark is the artistic director of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre and artistic associate of the Roundabout Theatre. His Encores! productions include Out Of This World and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

Rob Fisher (Guest Music Director) is the founding music director of the Encores! series. From 1994 to 2005, he conducted 30 Encores! shows, including the Encores!, Broadway and international productions of Chicago (1996). He returned to Encores! as music director of On Your Toes, Girl Crazy, Face the Music and No, No, Nanette. A guest conductor for major U.S. orchestras, he has conducted concert performances of Carousel and My Fair Lady with the New York Philharmonic; Sweeney Todd with the San Francisco Symphony; and The Sound of Music and Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall. Rob will be Score Supervisor for the upcoming Broadway premiere of An American in Paris.

Randy Skinner (Choreographer)’s many credits include 42nd Street (Tony nomination), State Fair, Ain’t Broadway Grand (Tony nomination), After The Night and the Music, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Tony nomination), Lone Star Love (Lucille Lortel nomination), Lend Me A Tenor: The Musical (West End), and Garry Marshall’s Happy Days (Los Angeles). He has received the LA Drama Critics, LA Dramalogue, Bay Area Critics, Connecticut Critics, and Cleveland Times Theatre Awards. Randy choreographed the Encores! productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Do Re Mi, Of Thee I Sing, Face the Music and No, No, Nanette. He performed the role of Phil Dolan II in the Encores! production of On Your Toes.

The 2015 Encores! season is made possible, in part, by Stacey and Eric Mindich, Nathalie and Pablo Salame, The Shubert Foundation, and the Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!. Support for Lady, Be Good is generously provided by the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Philanthropic Fund, and Roz and Jerry Meyer. The score restoration for Lady, Be Good is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Broadway Musical Restoration Fund.

New York City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. It was Manhattan’s first performing arts center, dedicated by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia with a mission to make the best in music, theater, and dance accessible to all audiences. Today, City Center is home to many distinguished companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, City Center’s Principal Dance Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club; a roster of renowned national and international visiting artists; and its own critically acclaimed and popular programs. The Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series has been hailed as “one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York.” In summer 2013, City Center launched Encores! Off-Center, a series that features landmark Off Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today’s most innovative artists. Dance has been integral to the theater’s mission from the start — and dance programs, including the annual Fall for Dance Festival, remain central to City Center’s identity. Vital partnerships with arts organizations including Jazz at Lincoln Center and London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre enhance City Center’s programmatic offerings. City Center is dedicated to providing educational opportunities to New York City students and teachers through programs such as Encores! In Schools and the Young People’s Dance Series. Special workshops cater to families, seniors, and other groups, while events such as the Fall for Dance DanceTalk series offer learning opportunities to the general public. In October 2011, City Center completed an extensive renovation project to revitalize and modernize its historic theater.

Lady, Be Good runs February 4– 8, 2015 according to the following schedule: Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm, Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 and 8 pm, and Sunday and 2 and 7 pm. Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online at www.NYCityCenter.org.