Encores! announce their 2014 season

The 21st season of New York City Center's Tony Award-winning Encores! series will open on 05 Feb 2014 with Little Me, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and book by Neil Simon, with direction by John Rando and starring Christian Borle.

The season will continue with The Most Happy Fella, book, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, with direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw and starring Shuler Hensley.

The concluding producion of the 2014 Encores! season will be Irma La Douce, music by Marguerite Monnot and English book and lyrics by Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman, with direction by John Doyle.

Full production details for the above shows are still to be released.

Encores! 2013 productions in season order are:

Little Me
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott
Direction by John Rando
Cast: Christian Borle, with further cast to be announced.
Dates: 05 - 09 Feb 2014
Synopsis: The story of the glamorous Belle Poitrine, a self-invented celebrity who has spent her life in pursuit of wealth, culture and social position. Her seven oddball lovers are played by one actor: seven roles, from an innocent college boy to an octogenarian lecher to the dying king of a tiny European country that doesn't seem to exist.

Christian Borle (multiple parts) won a Tony Award for his role in 'Peter and The Starcatcher' and was nominated for 'Legally Blonde.' His other Broadway credits include 'Mary Poppins,' 'Thoroughly Modern Millie,' 'Monty Python's Spamalot' and 'Footloose.' Borle most recently starred in NBC's musical drama "Smash" as composer Tom Levitt. Borle starred in the Encores! production of 'On The Town.'

John Rando (Director) recently directed the staged performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's' Carousel' at the New York Philharmonic. Rando's Broadway credits include 'A Christmas Story,' 'The Wedding Singer,' 'Urinetown' (Tony Award for Best Director), 'A Thousand Clowns' and Neil Simon's 'The Dinner Party.' His many Encores! credits include 'It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman,' 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,' 'On the Town' and 'Damn Yankees.'

Little Me opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on 17 Nov 1962 and ran for 257 performances. Songs include "I've Got Your Number," "Real Live Girl" and "The Other Side of the Tracks."

The Most Happy Fella
Music by Frank Loesse
Lyrics by Frank Loesse
Book by Frank Loesse
Direction by Casey Nicholaw
Choreography by Casey Nicholaw
Cast: Shuler Hensley, with further cast to be announced.
Dates: 02 - 06 Apr 2014
Synopsis: Tells the heart-stopping story of a love triangle between an aging Napa Valley farmer, a young waitress and a handsome, restless ranch hand.

Shuler Hensley (Tony) recently appeared as 'Ben Marino' in the Encores! production of 'Fiorello!,' in the title role in 'The Whale' at Playwrights Horizons and as 'Hannibal Lecter' in 'Silence! The Musical.' On Broadway he played 'The Monster' in 'Young Frankenstein,' 'Jud' in 'Oklahoma!' and 'Inspector Javert' in 'Les Miserables.'

Casey Nicholaw (Director and Choreographer) won the 2011 Tony Award for his work as co-director of 'The Book of Mormon.' He directed and choreographed the Broadway productions of 'Elf: The Musical' and 'The Drowsy Chaperone' (Tony nomination) and choreographed 'Monty Python's Spamalot,' (Tony nominations). His Encores! credits include 'Anyone Can Whistle,' 'Follies' and 'Bye Bye Birdie.'

The Most Happy Fella opened at the Imperial Theatre on 03 May 1956 and ran for 676 performances. Songs include "Somebody Somewhere," "My Heart Is So Full of You," "Big D" and "Standing on the Corner."

Irma La Douce
Music by Marguerite Monnot
Lyrics by Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman
Book by Julian More, David Heneker and Monty Norman
Direction by John Doyle
Cast: To be announced.
Dates: 07 - 11 May 2014
Synopsis: The tale of a Parisian lady of the evening and the law student who falls in love with her.

John Doyle (Director) most recently directed Stephen Sondheim's 'Passion' at Classic Stage Company. His Broadway credits include 'Sweeney Todd' (Tony Award, Best Director of a Musical), 'Company' (Tony Award, Best Revival) and 'A Catered Affair.' He directed the London productions of 'Gondoliers,' 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Mack and Mabel.'

Irma La Douce opened at the Plymouth Theatre (now the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre) on 29 Sep 1960 and ran for 524 performances. Songs include "Our Language of Love," "The Valse Millieu" and "Dis Donc."

New York City Center Encores! (Jack Viertel, Artistic Director) has, since 1994, celebrated the rarely-heard works of America's most important composers and lyricists. Conceived as "concert versions," each Encores! season gives three scores the chance to be heard as originally intended by their creators.

Over the years, Encores! has presented the works of the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Bock and Harnick, Burt Bacharach, Kander and Ebb, Comden and Green, and many more.

The program is the recipient of a special 2000 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award and Jujamcyn Theaters Award.

Christian BorleShuler Hensley