Anika Noni Rose on the Joy of Encores! Wonderful Town, Where the Only Goal is Laughter

Even for Broadway veteran and Tony winner Anika Noni Rose, the lightning-fast rehearsal process for Encores! Wonderful Town presents an exciting challenge. Rose, alongside an impressive cast of 30 and an epic 28-piece orchestra, brings this delightful Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical comedy directed by Zhailon Levingston to vivid new life.

Perhaps best known for originating the role of Emmie Thibodeaux in the original Broadway production of Caroline, or Change, which earned her a Tony Award in 2004, and voicing Tiana in Disney’s animated The Princess and the Frog, Anika Noni Rose now leads the 2025 Encores! production of Wonderful Town as the quick-witted Ruth Sherwood, singing “One Hundred Easy Ways” and “Quiet Ruth,” among many more. Before the close of the show’s first week of performances at City Center, a down-to-earth Rose shared what makes this lighthearted production so made-for-this-moment.

Is there any part of the Wonderful Town premise—sisters Ruth and Eileen coming to the city to pursue their artistic dreams—that takes you back to your own NYC origin story?

Absolutely. I came with the intent to be on Broadway, and it happened faster than I anticipated, and it was a wonderful, thrilling thing. I lived in Hell’s Kitchen when I first got here so I could actually walk to work! I love the city. I mean, I'm from Connecticut, so I'm a tri-state person, but coming to live directly in Midtown to pursue that type of dream—there's really nothing like New York.

There is a bit of serendipity in the timing as Wonderful Town was last on Broadway in 2004, the same year you won your Tony for Caroline, or Change. Does this time of year bring fond memories from that nomination?

You know, somebody’s not gonna believe me, but I never know when the nominations are gonna be! The first time, I was completely shocked. I was actually in the shower, and I came out wrapped in my towel, and NY1 was on—‘cause I was trying to make sure the trains weren't crazy—and I stepped into the bedroom in time to hear “Anika Noni Rose,” and I was like, what? It was stunning to me.

It’s special to see a show that focuses on sisters. What has it been like to share this onstage relationship with Aisha Jackson, who plays Eileen?

I love Aisha. I love spending time on stage with her. We're always catching each other's eye. We have a really amazing blend, and that doesn't always happen. The other day, we were singing and I realized I’d gone up to her note, and I was like why am I doing that? That's not something I usually do—slide up to somebody else's note—but I realize sometimes when I'm listening, she sounds like me to me! So, I’m gravitating toward the tone that feels like home. And in the show, I'm singing much lower than people are used to hearing me sing, which I actually enjoy. But it's really beautiful to be able to build with a voice like that. She truly has a phenomenal instrument.

It puts me in the mind of when I did the Encores! production of Purlie in 2005 and Lillias White and I had a song together, and the blend was so nasty fabulous that while we were singing, a third note popped up. It was like our voices caught and then a harmonic came in, and we both looked at each other like whoa, what did we do? I had never experienced that before. Sometimes you get with the right voice and those two instruments come together and it's just delicious!

How important is it to you to be part of a joyful production right now?

Good God, it's really great to be able to go to work and know I’m gonna have a good time, and I can go home, and I don’t have to strip it off and wash it away. The goal is laughter. And silliness. We laugh a whole lot on stage, backstage—everybody. Every single person in this cast is pretty amazing and wonderful to watch. Real technicians, but the amount of heart and joy and passion supersedes that. That precision is amazing to watch, but precision without heart is math. Who wants to watch that?

How has the experience been working with director Zhailon Levingston?

He's different in his way of approaching things, and I think this is the fresh blood, the fresh air, that we have been looking and hoping for, and I'm just glad to see it. He doesn’t come with preconceived notions. He comes having done his work, but he's ready for what blooms. All of that makes for a really great work environment. And thank God, because we had 10 days of rehearsal! That's insane because this show is mammoth. We’re just back there with our eyes crossed, holding scripts, doing choreography.

Is there anything in particular that you’d like audiences to know?

Mary-Mitchell Campbell and that orchestra, my goodness, they are stunning! It’s harkening back to a different age, an age that was golden in the space of theater and art. What was prioritized was really the beauty of the music, the journey of allowing the music to take you where you needed to go with these sweeping orchestrations. You sit in that theater before anybody steps on stage to act and get this amazing intro. You can look up at the ceiling in the City Center theater and feel transported to another time.

One other beautiful thing about this production: This cast looks like New York City. You’ve got different colors, different sizes, different ages—as it should be. It's really representing who we are as New Yorkers and who we are as Americans, and I think that's awesome.