La Cage aux Folles, Starring Billy Porter, Bat Boy: The Musical and More Slated for City Center's 2025-26 Season

New York City Center has announced its musical theater programming for the 2025-26 season, including the lineup for its Encores! series. The annual gala production will be Bat Boy: The Musical, directed by Tony winner Alex Timbers, followed by Encores! presentations of High Spirits, directed by Jessica Stone; Michael John LaChiusa's The Wild Party, directed by Lili-Anne Brown; and La Cage aux Folles directed by Robert O’Hara, guest music directed by Joseph Joubert and starring Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner Billy Porter. This will be the first season planned by newly appointed VP & Artistic Director of Musical Theater Jenny Gersten.

“What I love about all four of this season’s productions is the diversity of eras and styles they bring to our stage—from the pop-rock sound of Bat Boy: The Musical to the glorious original orchestrations for La Cage aux Folles,” said Gersten in a statement. “These shows are all fun in very different ways, but they also all have narratives about understanding and respecting our differences. It feels like the right moment to offer stories about acceptance during these times.”

Bat Boy: The Musical features a story and book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, with music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe. Performances will run from October 29 through November 9. Part of City Center’s annual gala presentation, the opening-night performance will be followed by a gala dinner at the Ziegfeld Ballroom honoring Broadway producer Bee Carrozzini of Ambassador Theatre Group.

The Encores! series begins with High Spirits (February 4-15, 2026), based on Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit and featuring music, lyrics and book by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray. The Wild Party (March 18-29, 2026) is based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March and features music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and a book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe. La Cage aux Folles (June 17-28, 2026), based on the play by Jean Poiret, with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, will feature an all-Black cast for the first time. Billy Porter will star as Albin, reuniting with Fierstein after delivering a Tony-winning performance in his musical adaptation of Kinky Boots.