Jack Viertel Will Step Down as Encores! Artistic Director Following 2020 Season

New York City Center has announced that Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel will step down from his longtime role at the end of the 2020 series—after 20 seasons as the renowned leader of the Tony-honored musical-theater series. Viertel will continue to play an active role at City Center in the new position of consulting producer for musical theater.

Viertel began his relationship with the venerable series as a member of its founding advisory committee. He was appointed Encores! artistic director in 2000, and along with music directors Rob Fisher, Paul Gemignani and, for the last 12 seasons, Rob Berman, Viertel has overseen more than 60 productions, including gala presentations and the Encores! Summer Stars series.

Among the highlights of Viertel's tenure are the Summer Stars presentation of Gypsy (2007), starring Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines, which transferred to Broadway—winning Tony Awards for all three performers—as well as the Encores! productions of The Apple Tree (2005) and Finian's Rainbow (2009), which also moved to the Great White Way under Viertel's leadership. The Encores! revue Cotton Club Parade transferred to Broadway in 2013 under the title After Midnight, winning Warren Carlyle a Tony for his choreography.

Viertel said, "It has been a dream job for me. Having inherited the already thriving Encores! program built by my predecessors, I've been strongly supported by City Center's leaders over the years. We've made some unusual and risky choices, and I've been lucky to be dazzled by the productions that resulted. I've been grateful for every cheering fan and to every artist who has stepped on our stage or worked behind the curtain. I'm most especially grateful to the musicians of the inimitable Encores! Orchestra. But as musical theater itself evolves, so must we. It seems the most satisfying way to achieve that goal is to hand the baton to the next generation of creative artists and have them lead Encores! to its next chapter. I look forward to many more years in this great building, helping to celebrate its commitment to excellence in the performing arts and, especially for me, music theater of all kinds."

City Center plans to announce a successor before the end of 2019.

The previously announced 2020 Encores! season will include a new production of Throughly Modern Millie starring Ashley Park, as well as stagings of Mack and Mabel and Love Life.