The 2010-2011 lineup for New York City Center’s Encores! will include Bells Are Ringing (November 18-21), Lost in the Stars (February 3-6, 2011) and Where’s Charley? (March 17-20). No casting or directors for the three shows have been set.
Bells Are Ringing features music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and a score that includes “Just in Time,” “The Party’s Over,” “I Met a Girl” and “Long Before I Knew You.” The show centers on a lonely girl who runs an answering service and falls for a client she has met only by voice; in typical 1950s fashion, mayhem ensues. Bells Are Ringing debuted at the Shubert Theatre on November 29, 1956, starring Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin, and played 924 performances.
Lost in the Stars , with music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, is a musical tragedy based on Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country. This story of life in South Africa under apartheid includes the title song and a score that pulses with the life of a people. It opened at the Music Box Theatre on October 30, 1949, and played 273 performances.
Where’s Charley? is George Abbott’s adaptation of the classic farce Charley’s Aunt, featuring the first score by Frank Loesser, including hits such as “Once in Love With Amy,” “My Darling, My Darling” and “The New Ashmolean Marching Song.” Abbott’s production opened at the St. James Theatre on October 11, 1948, starring Tony winner Ray Bolger, and played 792 performances.