City Center Encores! 2023-24 season: PAL JOEY • ONCE UPON A MATTRESS • JELLY'S LAST JAM • TITANIC

https://twitter.com/NYCityCenter/status/1663938483063345159
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/theater/new-york-city-center-encores.html?smid=url-share

PAL JOEY
Nov. 1-5, 2023
City Center’s gala presentation: an adaptation of the 1940 musical “Pal Joey” (Nov. 1-5), now set in a Black community — the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s — starring Ephraim Sykes as Joey Evans, a jazz singer who refuses to compromise his craft in the face of racism, Elizabeth Stanley as Vera Simpson, and Jennifer Holliday as a nightclub owner. The production, directed by Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover with a new book by Richard LaGravenese and Daniel Beaty, will also feature Aisha Jackson and Brooks Ashmanskas.

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
Jan 24 – 28, 2024
Starring Sutton Foster
Concert Adaptation by Amy Sherman-Palladino
Directed by Lear deBessonet

JELLY’S LAST JAM
Feb 21 – 25, 2024
Directed by Robert O'Hara

TITANIC
Jun 12 – 16, 2024
Directed by Anne Kauffman

Updated On: 5/31/23 at 12:05 PM

The new PAL JOEY will be the gala production.


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/theater/new-york-city-center-encores.html

Ephraim Sykes, Brooks Ashmanskas, Jennifer Holliday, Aisha Jackson, and Elizabeth Stanley in Pal Joey!

Updated On: 5/31/23 at 12:15 PM

Could my lifelong dream of seeing Donna Murphy as Queen Aggravain actually happen??

There’s no single other human being who should be the Queen.

So Mattress will have a lot of people crossing upstage and turning their backs to the audience?

All and all. I am pleased with the upcoming season.

Pal Joey I think was first done at Encores with LuPone in season 2.

Jelly's Last Jam. I was actually listening the the OBC cast recording over the weekend. I saw the original production and loved it. Curious to see if any revisions will be happening to the book.

Titanic will always be a favorite so really looking forward to this as well.

I know Foster has a lot of groupies but I've never seen Burnett-style chops like she think she has.

Her comedy is more charms thsn laughs.

While I personally might have preferred someone like Annaleigh Ashford in MATTRESS, I think Sutton will be very good and she can be a total goofball.

Dollypop said: "Without sarcasm, Beanie Feldstein would be ideal in MATTRESS."

Definitely. I can't stand Ashford and I agreee she would be more inspired casting.

Ke3 said: "In some ways this season looks to be getting back to the heart of Encores. Nothing here strikes me as wildly outside the orginal mission."

Yes! I like this season. Revisions of a 40s show and a 50s show with great talent involved, and two new productions of 90s shows (one that’s rarely seen and one that’s just a good excuse but not a big commercial title).

Ke3 said: "I wonder what this means? Just casting announcements or some shows outside of the Encores banner? Parade wasn't Encores so maybe they're looking to expand their original programming."

PARADE was their Gala concert, which PAL JOEY will be next year.

NYCC is an arts organization that doesn't just do theatre. It could be something entirely separate from the existing programs (Fall For Dance, Encores, etc). NYCC also has a new CEO so he may be trying to put his own stamp on the institution to expand programming.

One thing they've never managed to effectively do is a summer series. They've tried things (Encores! Off-Center most successfully), but those ideas have never stuck. It doesn't help that it's a time of year when a lot of people travel, so subscriptions aren't as attractive.

whatever2 said: ">Intrigued by PAL JOEY, its new characters, and the incorporation of other Rodgers & Hart songs.

According to the wikipedia page for the movie version of Pal Joey, the added R&H songs listed on the City Center website were also additions to the movie."

The City Center website lists two songs. One was written for Pal Joey, one was written for Babes in Arms.

The initial NYT announcement of this Broadway-aimed revival said the following, but we should take with a grain of salt because that was almost 2 years ago and now Daniel “Koa” Beaty has been added as a co-bookwriter:

"In addition to an original score best known for “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “I Could Write a Book,” they plan to add other songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, including “Where or When,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “Falling in Love With Love” and “There’s a Small Hotel.”"