Marni Nixon Replaces Sally Ann Howes in Encores! Music in the Air

Marni Nixon has joined the cast of the forthcoming Encores! production of Kern and Hammerstein’s Music in the Air, replacing Sally Ann Howes, who has withdrawn due to illness. This rarely seen 1932 musical will play five performances, February 5-8, at New York City Center, directed by Gary Griffin.

In addition to Nixon, the cast includes previously announced stars Kristin Chenoweth, Douglas Sills, Dick Latessa, Tom Alan Robbins, Sierra Boggess, Walter Charles, Anne L. Nathan, David Schramm, Ryan Silverman and Robert Sella.

Music in the Air, which features music by Jerome Kern and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, centers on a Bavarian music teacher Robbins, his beautiful young daughter Boggess and the daughter’s suitor Silverman, who travel to the big, bad city of Munich where they encounter a cast of self-involved, egotistical theater folk who promise them fame, fortune and romance. A diva Chenoweth and an operetta librettist Sills take the young couple under their wings and claws. The musical has not been seen in New York in its original form since premiering on Broadway in 1932 in a production directed by the authors. A revised version had a brief revival at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1951.

Nixon’s Broadway credits include Follies, Opal, Taking My Turn and James Joyce's The Dead. She provided the singing voice of Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn in the films and soundtracks of The King and I, An Affair to Remember, West Side Story and My Fair Lady. Her awards include four Emmys for Best Actress on her children's TV show Boomerang and two Classical Grammy nominations.

Music direction for Music in the Air is by Rob Berman, with choreography by Michael Lichtefeld.