Encores! 2015 Season Will Include Lady, Be Good, Paint Your Wagon & Zorba

The 2015 season of New York City Center’s Encores! series will open with George and Ira Gershwin’s Lady, Be Good on February 4, 2015. Next up will be Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Paint Your Wagon, followed by John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Zorba!. Rob Berman will helm both Paint Your Wagon and Zorba!. No casting has been announced at this time.

Lady, Be Good! will run February 4, 2015 through February 8. The original production opened at the Liberty Theater on December 1, 1924 and ran for 330 performances. The stars of the show included Fred and Adele Astaire playing a penniless brother and sister who crash a garden party in hopes of some quick nourishment. With music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, songs include “Oh, Lady Be Good,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” and “The Half of it Dearie Blues.” Founding Encores! Music Director Rob Fisher will return as music director of Lady, Be Good, and will supervise the restoration of Gershwin’s original score.

Paint Your Wagon will play March 18, 2015 through March 22. The musical, set in a mining camp in Gold Rush–era California, is the story of a dreaming gold miner and his daughter whose world is changed when the daughter finds gold—and love—near their camp. The original production opened at the Shubert Theater on November 12, 1951 and ran for 289 performances. With a book and lyrics by Lerner and music by Loewe, the original production was directed by Daniel Mann and choreographed by Agnes De Mille. Songs include “They Call the Wind Maria,” “I Talk to the Trees” and “I’m On My Way."

Zorba! will run May 6, 2015 through May 10. The re-imagining of Nikos Kazantzakis’s best-selling tale of a larger than life Greek jack-of-all-trades features a book by Joseph Stein, music by Kander and lyrics by Ebb. Helmed by Hal Prince, the original production starred Herschel Bernardi and Maria Karnilova and opened at the Imperial Theater on November 16, 1968 and ran for 305 performances. Songs include “Life Is” and “Only Love.”