Casting Complete for Encores! Production of Follies

Final casting has been announced for New York City Center's Encores! production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies, to be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, with music direction by Eric Stern. Follies will have six performances from February 8-12.

The final roles cast were the younger parts: Colin Donnell will play Young Ben, and Natalie King Smith will play Young Dee Dee. Donnell is currently appearing as John Truitt in the Irish Repertory Theatre's production of Meet Me in St. Louis and has appeared off-Broadway in Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver. Smith has appeared on Broadway in 42nd Street. In addition, Katie Klaus and Jenny Powers were recently announced as Young Sally and Young Phyllis, respectively. Klaus made her Broadway debut as the standby for Cleo in The Times They Are A-Changin'. Powers' credits include Little Women on Broadway, A Little Night Music, Bounce and Everything's Ducky.

The Follies cast also includes Lucine Amara Heidi Schiller, Christine Baranski Carlotta Campion, Philip Bosco Dimitri Weismann, Leena Chopra Young Heidi, Victoria Clark Sally Durant Plummer, Yvonne Constant Solange, Diane J. Findlay Sandra Cranes, Robert Fitch Theodore Whitman, Victor Garber Benjamin Stone, Mimi Hines Hattie Walker, Curtis Holbrook Young Buddy, Michael McGrath Buddy Plummer, Donna Murphy Phyllis Rogers Stone, Anne Rogers Emily Whitman, Arthur Rubin Roscoe, Dorothy Stanley Dee Dee West, Gerry Vichi Max Deems and JoAnne Worley Stella Deems.

In addition to Smith, the ensemble includes Cameron Adams, Clyde Alves, Ashlee Fife, Andrew Fitch, Emily Fletcher, Jenifer Foote, Ben Hartley, Brian Marcum, Barrett Martin, Jennifer Mathie, Shannon Marie O'Bryan, Denise Payne, Matt Wall, JD Webster and Kristen Ben Williams.

Follies, with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by Goldman, opened on Broadway on April 4, 1971, winning eight Tony Awards, including one for Outstanding Score, which includes "Broadway Baby," "Losing My Mind" and "I'm Still Here."

Follies takes place in the present and the past simultaneously. On the eve of its destruction, the once-glorious Weissman Theatre is filled with the ghosts of its past, as veteran showgirls from the Weismann's Follies, a musical revue, based on the Ziegfeld Follies reunite to rekindle the aura of the glamorous old days and relive lost memories of promise and splendor. As the evening goes on, the former showgirls reminisce about their past experiences, both good and bad.