New York City Center announces its 2019-2020 season

Season highlights include a Gala Presentation of Evita, the return of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, and the Encores! 2020 season of Mack and Mabel, Love Life, and Thoroughly Modern Millie starring Tony Award nominee Ashley Park...

Today New York City Center announced programming for its upcoming 2019-2020 season and we would like to take this opportunity to share some of the season's theatrical highlights with you.

City Center's annual gala presentation this year will be a special, extended two-week run of a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's much-loved musical Evita, marking the 100th anniversary of Eva Perón's birth.

Synopsis: "Fame, power, and illusion collide in a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera Evita. This acclaimed musical examines the rapid and controversial ascent of Eva Perón, the first lady of Argentina, from poor illegitimate child to the most powerful woman in Latin America to her untimely death at age 33. A mosaic portrait of an extraordinary life, Evita tells the story of a woman endlessly determined to make an irrevocable mark on a world she would leave behind too soon."

Sammi Cannold is scheduled to direct the production, which will run from November 13 through November 24, 2019.

From January 30 through February 9, 2020, New York City Center presents a New Adventures production of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Bourne's original 1995 production won both an Olivier Award and three Tony Awards, as it shattered convention and turned tradition upside down, replacing the female corps-de-ballet with an all-male ensemble. Now the new production, re-imagined for the 21st century by Bourne alongside his scenic & costume designer Lez Brotherston and lighting designer Paule Constable, returns to New York City Center's Mainstage.

This powerful interpretation of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece is a passionate and contemporary Swan Lake for our times.

And of course the hugely popular Encores! season will return in 2020, kicking off with Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart's Mack and Mabel from February 19 through February 23, 2020.

Synopsis: "Follow the dramatic, romantic entanglements of silent movie pioneer Mack Sennett and his comedienne-muse Mabel Normand. Mack discovers Mabel and makes her a star. Affection grows between the two but creative differences send Mabel into the arms of another. Relive Herman's timeless score which includes the beloved ballads, "Time Heals Everything" and "I Won't Send Roses."

This will be followed by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner's Love Life, directed by Victoria Clark, from March 18 through March 22, 2020.

Synopsis: "Love Life, the only collaboration between Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner, is a journey through American history with a family that never grows any older. The story is accentuated with vaudevillian acts and features some of Weill's most beautiful and accessible songs, including "Mr. Right," and "Here I'll Stay," as well as satiric barbs at the American Dream such as "Progress" and "Economics" that in some ways are reminiscent of Weill's work on The Threepenny Opera. Although Love Life has largely lived in the shadows since its season-long run in 1948, it has had a large and direct impact on Broadway shows such as Gypsy; Cabaret; Follies; and Hallelujah, Baby!"

Finally, Encores! Resident Director Lear deBessonet will helm a new take on Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori's Thoroughly Modern Millie, starring Tony Award nominee Ashley Park. The production, which has enlisted playwright Lauren Yee to serve as creative consultant alongside Scanlan and Tesori, will run from May 6 through May 10, 2020.

Synopsis: "Thoroughly Modern Millie is a raise-the-roof tribute to the indomitable spirit of New York and the diverse people who call it home. Determined to make it in the Big Apple, Millie is kept on her tap-dancing toes in this Jazz Age inspired romp featuring showstopping numbers like "Forget About the Boy" and "Gimme Gimme." This new production will explore the work with a fresh perspective to deliver a thoroughly modern Thoroughly Modern Millie."

All three Encores! productions will feature music direction by Rob Berman and additional casting and creative team information will be announced in the coming months.

Details for next summer's Encores! Off-Center 2020 season will also be announced at a later date.