Encores! announces casting for Lady, Be Good

The New York City Center Encores! has now announced casting for its upcoming revival of George and Ira Gershwin's Lady, Be Good, directed by Mark Brokaw, which will play at the City Center Main House from 4 to 8 February 2015.

Nine-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune will return to the stage as Jeff, alongside fellow cast members Colin Donnell (Jack Robinson), Danny Gardner (Dick Trevor), Jeff Hiller (Bertie Bassett), Erin Mackey (Shirley Vernon), Patti Murin (Susie Trevor), Richard Poe (Rufus Parke/Manuel Estrada), Jennifer Laura Thompson (Josephine Vanderwater), and Kirsten Wyatt (Daisy Parke).

Tommy Tune has received a total of nine Tony Awards and a further four nominations. He has won in the categories of Best Actor in a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical. He made his Broadway debut in 1965 in 'Baker Street' and was last seen on the Great White Way in 'Tommy Tune Tonite!' in 1993. He last directed 'The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public' in 1994 and acted as Production Supervisor for 'Grease' that same year. His other Broadway credits include 'The Will Rogers Follies,' 'Grand Hotel,' 'My One And Only,' 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,' 'Nine,' 'A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine,' and 'Seesaw.'

Lady, Be Good features music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson. This production will also feature choreography by Randy Skinner and musical direction by founding Encores! Music Director Rob Fisher, supervising the restoration of Gershwin's original score.

Lady, Be Good tells the story of "a penniless brother (Danny Gardner) and sister (Patti Murin) who crash a garden party in hopes of some quick nourishment. They resolve to marry for money, but love gets in the way, as it usually does. Before true love wins out, they encounter Mexican gangsters, crooked lawyers, wealthy socialites, and a song-and-dance man with fascinating rhythm (Tommy Tune)."

The musical originally opened on Broadway at the Liberty Theater on 1 December 1924 and ran for 330 performances. The show embodied the madcap spirit of the Roaring Twenties, when George and Ira Gershwin's first hit collaboration ushered in the Golden Age of American musical comedy. Hot off the triumph of Rhapsody in Blue, George and his brother Ira delivered a jazz-age score that featured "Fascinating Rhythm," "Lady, Be Good," and "The Half of it, Dearie, Blues."

- by Tom Millward