Lynn Nottage & Bartlett Sher

Lincoln Center Theater presents a new operatic version of Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, directed by Bartlett Sher

Intimate Apparel begins performances at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on February 27, 2020.

Tom Millward
Tom Millward

Lincoln Center Theater presents a new opera Intimate Apparel as part of its 2019-2020 season, scheduled to begin previews at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on February 27, 2020, ahead of an official opening on March 23 and a limited engagement through May 3, 2020. 

Intimate Apparel features music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her critically acclaimed play, which won the Outer Critics Circle Award for "Best Off-Broadway Play" after its 2004 premiere. This marks the first libretto written by the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. The Off-Broadway production will be directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher.

Synopsis: "Set in turn of the century New York, Intimate Apparel tells the story of Esther, a lonely, single African-American woman who makes her living sewing beautiful corsets and ladies' undergarments.  Seeking love and romance, Esther embarks on a letter writing relationship with a mysterious suitor laboring on the Panama Canal, and realizes that only her self-reliance and certainty of her own worth will see her through life's challenges."

Intimate Apparel was developed by Lincoln Center Theater alongside the Metropolitan Opera as part of the Met/LCT New Works Program.

Casting and additional creative team information for the production will be announced at a later date.

Originally published on

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