Breaking: New Version of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, EVITA, MACK & MABEL & More Set for NY City Center's 2019-20 Season

New York City Center has just announced it's 2019-2020 line-up! According to the New York Times, the next Encores! season will include Mack and Mabel (Feb 19-23), Kurt Weill's Love Life (March 18-22) directed by Victoria Clark, and a "new version" of Thoroughly Modern Millie, featuring edits by the playwright Lauren Yee.

This year's fall gala will be a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita, running November 13-24.

NEW YORK City Center (Arlene Shuler, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. The landmark 75th Anniversary Season (2018 - 2019) pays tribute to this rich history and celebrates the institution's singular role in the arts today.

For 25 years, City Center's Tony?honored Encores! series has been "an essential New York institution" (The New York Times). In 2013, City Center launched the Encores! Off?Center series, which features seminal Off?Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today's innovative artists.

Dance has also been integral to the theater's mission from the start and programs like the annual Fall for Dance Festival remain central to City Center's identity. Home to a roster of renowned national and international companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (City Center's Principal Dance Company) and Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center was Manhattan's first performing arts center, founded by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia with the mission of making the best in music, theater, and dance accessible to all audiences. That mission continues today through robust education and community engagement programs which bring the performing arts to over 9,000 New York City students each year and the expansion of the theatrical experience to include art exhibitions, pre?show talks, and master classes that offer an up?close look at the work of the great theater and dance artists of our time. NYCityCenter.org

I had seen the three Encores! shows last week because I saw that I could renew my subscription, but I didn't know Victoria Clark was directing Love Life and that Ashley Park is starring in Millie! I really hope they bring back Alexandra Socha and Douglas Sills for Mack and Mabel.

Also I definitely did not see that Evita gala. I assume this will not be a 40th anniversary reunion special?

Thrilled that MILLIE is being reexamined. Hopefully if it goes well, this will replace the original version for licensing purposes.

 

"I definitely did not see that Evita gala. I assume this will not be a 40th anniversary reunion special?"

Seeing as it's a 2-week run of performances, with Sammy Cannold listed as the director and no mention of Hal Prince, safe to assume it will NOT be a reunion.

Updated On: 6/3/19 at 10:21 AM

givesmevoice said: "I had seen the three Encores! shows last week because I saw that I could renew my subscription, but I didn't know Victoria Clark was directing Love Life and that Ashley Park is starring in Millie! I really hope they bring back Alexandra Socha and Douglas Sills for Mack and Mabel.

Also I definitely did not see that Evita gala. I assume this will not be a 40th anniversary reunion special?"

 

I really hope Alexandra Socha and Douglas Sills reprise their amazing performances. They were really good in their segment of Hey, Look Me Over. They should be playing these roles. I was completely enchanted by their performances.

 

Mandy Gonzales for Evita?

Like all other ENCORES casting, I'm sure nothing is set in stone this far out, and if anyone gets a better offer later, they'll take it. But I would assume that Sills and Socha will both be offered M&M (same with Marc Bruni, who directed "Hey Look Me Over".

SomethingPeculiar said: "Mandy Gonzales for Evita?

Oh dear god, no!

 

Really excited for Ashley Park as Millie. I believe she’s a truly promising up and comer. It’s also good to know they’re trying to revise the show, cause it could really use that treatment

Updated On: 6/3/19 at 01:27 PM

SomethingPeculiar said: "Kad said: "I think doing a revised Millie reveals that it's Encores that is the desperate one here. They must need to drum up ticket sales and enthusiasm after a few lackluster seasons."

I wouldGUESS thatthis revised Millie stemmed from the authors. Tesori probably came to Jack Viertel and was like "we're revising MILLIE and want to try it out somewhere, are you interested?" So, instead of going to Papermill or Goodspeed, they'll try it at Encores.

The new initiative also opens the door to enhancement agreements (commercial producers subsidize a non-profit production of a show while developing it with the hopes of a Broadway future). Like it or not, that's a big source of income for nonprofit theatres nowadays.But yeah, their ticket sales probably are down, with 4 stinkers in 2 years. If this Milliehas a future life, that could help Encoresfinancially, and allow they to take bigger risks on older shows that need to be "reconstructed."

Remember,Chicago was only 20 years old when Encores did it, and the originalChicagoran longer thanMillie."

What exactly is Jeanine Tesori's role at Encores? I'm sure it was her and the other authors who brought up the idea of producing a new version of Millie. I also always forget that Millie premiered in 2000 at La Jolla - I just remember that it moved to Broadway in 2002.

I also disagree that the past few seasons have been lackluster: Lady Be Good, Paint Your Wagon, Cabin in the Sky, 1776, Do I Hear a Waltz?, Big River, The New Yorkers, Grand Hotel and Me and My Girl were all highlights for me. I also really enjoyed Call Me Madam and High Button Shoes, but I do agree that those two were not as great as some of the other shows they've done.

Updated On: 6/3/19 at 01:35 PM

QueenAlice said: "I would kind of imagine there must be 'some' exciting reason they are doing EVITA. I wish it were for a Lupone/ Patinkin reunion, but barring that, what else could it be?"

This year is the 40th anniversary of the show's Broadway premiere, which is the only other reason I could think of.

I would hardly call Ashley Park an up-and-comer.