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| New York City Center Encores! | |
|---|---|
| Name | Encores! |
| Location | New York City Center |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | New York City Center; Encores! artistic initiative |
| Genre | Musical theatre |
New York City Center Encores! is a staged concert series presenting rarely revived musical theatre works in semi-staged productions. Founded in the mid-1990s at New York City Center, the series emphasizes music preservation, historical context, and revival of scores by major composers and lyricists. Encores! draws performers and creative teams from Broadway, Lincoln Center, and regional theaters, influencing revival practices at institutions such as Roundabout Theatre Company and The Public Theater.
Encores! originated as an initiative at New York City Center under leadership from figures associated with City Center Encores! programming, responding to a tradition of concert revivals exemplified by New York Philharmonic's historical series and efforts like The American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University. Early seasons featured works by composers and book writers linked to Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, and Jerome Kern. The series grew amid a 1990s revival movement alongside productions at Manhattan Theatre Club and Second Stage Theatre, establishing Encores! as a laboratory that bridged scholarship from institutions like The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts with commercial transfers to Broadway and tours to venues including Kennedy Center and Avery Fisher Hall.
Encores! employs a semi-staged concert model combining full orchestration with minimal sets and selective choreography, echoing formats used by City Center's Fall for Dance and orchestral programs at Carnegie Hall. Music directors and conductors connected to American Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic lead ensembles, often featuring orchestrations by names associated with Orchestrations (stage) such as Don Walker and Travis Preston. Casting frequently includes performers with credits at Broadway, West End, Metropolitan Opera, and regional institutions like Goodman Theatre and Arena Stage. Collaborations with directors from Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, and choreographers affiliated with New York City Ballet shape presentation. Rehearsal schedules and production values allow for transfers that have moved to St. James Theatre, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, and other Broadway houses.
The series has mounted notable revivals of works by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen. Landmark Encores! productions that transferred included revivals leading to acclaimed runs on Broadway originating from Encores! stagings, featuring performers such as Kelli O'Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Randy Graff, Kristin Chenoweth, and Patti LuPone. Encores! presentations have resurrected titles connected to Merrily We Roll Along, Of Thee I Sing, Babes in Arms, and lesser-known works by George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, drawing creative teams with links to Stephen Sondheim Theatre alumni and collaborators from American Conservatory Theater and The Guthrie Theater.
Artistic leadership has included producers and musical directors with histories at New York City Center, Lincoln Center Theater, and institutions like Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. Music direction often sourced talent from Juilliard School alumni and conductors associated with New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera. Directors and choreographers who participated have held credits with Broadway, West End, The Old Vic, Royal Shakespeare Company, and dance companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The creative teams frequently incorporate dramaturgs and historians from The Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution for archival research, working with orchestrators, arrangers, and vocal coaches connected to The Juilliard School and New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Critics from publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Time, and The New Yorker have generally praised Encores! for musical fidelity, performance quality, and scholarly rehabilitation of neglected works. The series influenced institutional programming at Roundabout Theatre Company, The Public Theater, and Lincoln Center Theater, and affected commercial revivals on Broadway, contributing to scholarship at Yale School of Drama and archival projects at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Some reviewers debated the merits of semi-staged presentation versus fully staged reimaginations, invoking comparisons to revival practices at Shakespeare in the Park and historical reconstructions by English National Opera.
Encores! productions and personnel have earned citations and nominations from organizations such as the Tony Award committee when productions transferred to Broadway, along with acknowledgments from Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and specialty honors from The Drama League. Individual artists associated with Encores! have received Tony Awards, Obie Awards, and Grammy Awards for cast recordings and for later productions developed through the series.
Several Encores! productions produced cast recordings and concert albums released on labels linked to Broadway and classical crossover catalogs, involving engineers and producers with credits at Sony Classical and Nonesuch Records. Recordings have documented music by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and others, featuring soloists with discographies under Decca Records and Atlantic Records. Select performances have been recorded for broadcast or archival streaming in partnerships with media outlets and cultural institutions like PBS, WFMT, and archives at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Category:Musical theatre