Posted: 8/6/26 at 12:21pm
Fun Fact: When David Hyde Pierce did Ask a Star for Broadway.com during his run in Curtains, he revealed that he actually did the show as Charlie Brown when he was in junior high school. Except he was only in Act I as they wanted to cast as many people as they could find. @3:24
Updated On: 8/6/26 at 12:21 PM
Posted: 8/6/26 at 12:25pm
Kad said: "Initial casting announced for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown:David Hyde Pierce, Danielle Brooks, Ayo Edebiri and Jin Ha
Not at all what I was expecting!"
Outstanding
Posted: 8/6/26 at 12:25pm
Kad said: "Initial casting announced for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown:David Hyde Pierce, Danielle Brooks, Ayo Edebiri and Jin Ha
Not at all what I was expecting!"
The mad genius strikes again
Posted: 8/6/26 at 12:26pm
that casting just saved me some money.
Posted: 8/6/26 at 12:42pm
Kad said: "Initial casting announced for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown:David Hyde Pierce, Danielle Brooks, Ayo Edebiri and Jin Ha
Not at all what I was expecting!"
Wonderfully unexpected. I can't picture it...but in a way I find enervating. I'm VERY curious to see it now!
Posted: 8/6/26 at 12:53pm
BRILLIANT.
Posted: 8/6/26 at 1:25pm
Posted: 8/6/26 at 2:37pm
Posted: 8/6/26 at 2:41pm
That is incredible casting for Charlie Brown, holy cow.
In other news, Encores again lists two guest music directors this season (Meg Zervoulis Bate for Charlie Brown, and Sam Davis for Spider Woman), with no creative team announced yet for Hallelujah Baby. If the always-busy Mary-Mitchell Campbell is going to continue the trend of conducting a max of one show per season, it feels like she’s unnecessary as the in-house music director and they might be better off just hiring an MD on a per-show basis that best fits the style of the show?
Posted: 8/6/26 at 2:47pm
User2727 said: "Really excited about this cast but what is going on with In The Heights. I thought that would be announced first."
Subscriptions go on sale next week so having some cast in place probably helps drive subscription interest. HEIGHTS is not on the subscription (and maybe they want to announce the ITH principals all at once).
Posted: 8/7/26 at 6:47pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "User2727 said: "Really excited about this cast but what is going on with In The Heights. I thought that would be announced first."
Subscriptions go on sale next weekso having some cast in place probably helps drive subscription interest. HEIGHTS is not on the subscription (and maybe they want to announce the ITH principals all at once)."
Please god, praying that we get Emma Sofia as either Daniela or Carla
Posted: 8/7/26 at 10:35pm
She would be terrific.
Posted: 8/15/26 at 6:23pm
rosscoe(au) said: "That spider woman poster is lit."
I think it might be inspired by the sculptural piece at Dachau concentration camp:
Updated On: 8/15/26 at 06:23 PM
Posted: 9/23/26 at 12:04pm
Two major updates to this upcoming season:
1. Let ’Em Eat Cake will be replacing the previously announced Hallelujah, Baby! from March 17th-28th, 2027. The latter will be presented during a future Encores! season to allow more time for creative development.
2. Complete casting has been announced for their upcoming production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Rachel Dratch will play Patty while Jeff Hiller will play Schroeder.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Rachel-Dratch-Jeff-Hiller-Join-Encores-YOURE-A-GOOD-MAN-CHARLIE-BROWN-20260923
Posted: 9/23/26 at 12:15pm
While I was originally intrigued with Hallelujah Baby, I’m now definitely more excited for Let Them Eat Cake! which for those that don’t know was the sequel to Of Thee I Sing (and kind of predicted the events of January 6th). But the thing that you forgot to mention is, it’s being done in association with Opera Philadelphia which I believe makes this the first time City Center is collaborating with another performing arts institution for their encores! season
Posted: 9/23/26 at 12:25pm
I really love the score of Let 'Em Eat Cake. And a good time to do it, too.
Dratch as Patty is very exciting, and Jeff Hiller as Schroeder is all-time great casting.
Posted: 9/23/26 at 12:29pm
malcs98 said: "While I was originally intrigued with Hallelujah Baby, I’m now definitely more excited for Let Them Eat Cake! which for those that don’t know was the sequel to Of Thee I Sing (and kind of predicted the events of January 6th). But the thing that you forgot to mention is, it’s being done in association with Opera Philadelphia which I believe makes this the first time City Center is collaborating with another performing arts institution for their encores! season"
The production will play January 29-31 in Philly prior to the Encores engagement.
Posted: 9/23/26 at 12:37pm
Feels ambitious to try to sell this for two weeks but I know their hands were tied.
Zack Winokur is a really interesting director.
I missed the Master Voices concert version of it pre covid at Carnegie Hall, but that probably had a super condensed book, right? Wonder who is doing the adaptation for this one.
Rob Berman will conduct, meaning MMC will conduct no encores shows this season.
I was really looking forward to H,B! but extra time for development is not a bad thing. They also never announced a director.
Updated On: 9/23/26 at 12:37 PM
Posted: 9/23/26 at 12:46pm
halfhourcheckwithmerman said: "I really love the score ofLet 'Em Eat Cake.And a good time to do it, too.
Dratch as Patty is very exciting, and Jeff Hiller as Schroeder is all-time great casting."
I just wish this were the version with "Beethoven Day" in it :(
Posted: 9/23/26 at 1:36pm
I am an occasional Encores ticketholder. Like so many of us, we don't always agree with the selection of the musical being revived. If they were going to pull "Hallelujah,Baby!" as the second selection, they should never have announced it in the first place. I would have gone to see that show if the casting was of interest to me (For instance, casting the original Georgina, Tony Award Winner Leslie Uggams, in the role of Momma). "Let 'Em Eat Cake," which is the sequel to "Of Thee I Sing," is obviously a dig at our duplicitous politicians across this country. But I don't think it works well apart from its Pulitzer Prize winning musical predecessor.
Posted: 9/23/26 at 2:30pm
Ugh, still no ME AND JULIET?
Posted: 9/23/26 at 3:11pm
I have the published script from "Me and Juliet" as well as the CD. It really isn't better than other backstage musicals of which "Applause," is one that easily comes to mind.
Posted: 9/23/26 at 4:19pm
malcs98 said: "While I was originally intrigued with Hallelujah Baby, I’m now definitely more excited for Let Them Eat Cake! which for those that don’t know was the sequel to Of Thee I Sing (and kind of predicted the events of January 6th).
I've been looking into the Kaufman/Gershwin musicals lately. Maybe one that's even more prescient would be Strike Up the Band, about a corrupt businessman who manipulates the President into declaring war on Switzerland over a tariff imposed on cheese and offers to finance the action personally as long as the war is named after him.
Kind of fascinating how for his reputation as an All-American songwriter, a lot of Gershwin's memorable works came from pretty vicious satires of the American political system.
Posted: 9/23/26 at 8:58pm
KevinKlawitter said: "I've been looking into the Kaufman/Gershwin musicals lately. Maybe one that's even more prescient would beStrike Up the Band, about a corrupt businessman who manipulates the President into declaring war on Switzerland over a tariff imposed on cheese and offers to finance the action personally as long as the war is named after him."
That was done less than 2 years ago at Carnegie Hall by Master Voices (they did the whole Gershwin political satire trilogy over a few years). I saw it and it's one of the worst things I have ever seen on a New York stage. A bad show given a bad production.
Encores also did STRIKE in '98, and they did OF THEE in 2006, but weirdly had never done Let Em Eat Cake til now.
Updated On: 9/23/26 at 08:58 PM
Posted: 9/24/26 at 8:05am
fredric47 said: "I am an occasional Encores ticketholder. Like so many of us, we don't always agree with the selection of the musical being revived. If they were going to pull "Hallelujah,Baby!" as the second selection, they should never have announced it in the first place. I would have gone to see that show if the casting was of interest to me (For instance, casting the original Georgina, Tony Award Winner Leslie Uggams, in the role of Momma)."Let 'Em Eat Cake," which is the sequel to "Of Thee I Sing," is obviously a dig at our duplicitous politicians across this country. But I don't think it works well apart from its Pulitzer Prize winning musical predecessor."
It could just be a case of “you make plans, God laughs”.
There are innumerable reasons why an Encores show needed to be pulled (funding, casting, creative concerns) - like what happened with THE WILD PARTY a few seasons ago. You make it sound like they intentionally pulled a bait and switch.
When TWP was pulled, we got Wonderful Town. Zhailon Levingston had two choices for an alternative, the other being WOMEN ON THE VERGE… (his preferred choice) - however, that got scuttled because of the required amount of creative development that was needed and the very small window they had to get the show up and running. (Quite a few elements of WT were recycled, not necessarily by choice)
