ENCORES! Directors announced for new season

The directors have been announced for the 2010-11 Encores! season.

Kathleen Marshall will direct and choreograph the season opener, Bells Are Ringing, with music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, opening on 18 Nov 2010.

Gary Griffin will direct Lost in the Stars, with music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, opening on 3 Feb 2011.

John Doyle will direct Where's Charley, based on Brandon Thomas' Charley's Aunt, with book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, opening on17 Mar 2011. 2011. Music Director Rob Berman will conduct all three musicals.

In Bells Are Ringing, a lonely young woman who runs an answering service falls for a client she has met only by voice, and classic 1950s mayhem ensues. The score includes "Just in Time," "The Party's Over," "I Met a Girl" and "Long Before I Knew You." The original production opened at the Shubert Theater on 29 Nov 1956, and played a total of 924 performances. Directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse, it won Tony awards for its stars Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin. Bells Are Ringing will run 18 - 21 Nov 2010.

Lost in the Stars, based on Alan Paton's novel "Cry, the Beloved Country," with music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. This story of life in South Africa under apartheid. Rev. Stephen Kumalo leaves his village to travel to Johannesburg to help his sister and search for his son. It opened at the Music Box Theater on 30 Oct 1949, and played 273 performances. Lost in the Stars will run from 3 - 6 Feb 2011.

Where's Charley? is Frank Loesser's first Broadway score. The musical is George Abbott's adaptation of Brandon Thomas' classic college farce "Charley's Aunt" delivered "Once in Love With Amy," "My Darling, My Darling" and "The New Ashmolean Marching Society" to the hit parade, and launched Loesser into the songwriting stratosphere. The musical opened at the St. James Theater on 11 Oct 1948, and played 792 performances. It was directed by George Abbott, choreographed by George Balanchine and starred Ray Bolger, who won a Tony Award for his performance. Where's Charley? will run from 17 - 20 Mar 2011.

Bios:

Kathleen Marshall (Director and Choreographer, Bells Are Ringing) returns to Encores!, where she has directed and choreographed 'Applause,' 'Carnival,' 'Hair' and 'Babes In Arms,' among others, and served as artistic director for four seasons. Her Broadway credits include 'The Pajama Game,' 'Wonderful Town,' 'Grease,' 'Boeing, Boeing,' 'Little Shop of Horrors,' 'Follies,' 'Seussical,' 'Kiss Me, Kate,' 'Ring Round the Moon,' '1776' and 'Swinging on a Star. 'For ABC/Disney, she directed and choreographed "Once Upon a Mattress" and choreographed "The Music Man" (Emmy nomination). She has received two Tony awards, two Drama Desk awards and two Outer Critics Circle awards.

Gary Griffin (Director, Lost in the Stars) directed the Encores! productions of 'The New Moon,' 'Pardon My English,' 'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn,' 'The Apple Tree' and 'Music In The Air.' He directed 'The Color Purple' and 'The Apple Tree' on Broadway, 'Pacific Overtures' in London (Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical Production, Olivier Nomination, Best Director), and 'West Side Story' and 'Evita' at Stratford Festival of Canada. Griffin is associate artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he directed 'Private Lives,' 'Amadeus' and 'A Little Night Music.'

John Doyle (Director, Where's Charley?) most recently directed 'Wings' at Second Stage Theatre. His Broadway credits include 'Sweeney Todd' (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, Best Director of a Musical); 'Company' (Tony Award, Best Revival) and 'A Catered Affair,' and his off-Broadway credits include 'Road Show' (The Public). In London, he has directed 'Gondoliers,' 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Mack and Mabel.' Doyle's opera credits include 'Peter Grimes,' (Metropolitan Opera), 'Lucia di Lammermoor' (Marinsky Theatre/ Scottish Opera), 'The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny' (LA Opera) and 'Madama Butterfly' (Grange Park Opera).