Pipe Dream: Encores! announces complete cast

The complete cast has been announced for New York City Center Encores! production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, running from 28 Mar - 1 Apr 2012.

Philip Hernández joins the previously announced Laura Osnes (Suzy), Tom Wopat (Mac), Will Chase (Doc), James Clow (Ray), James Moye (Jim), Steve Routman (George), Stephen Wallem (Hazel) and Leslie Uggams (Fauna), to complete the production's principal cast.

The show's ensemble will feature Matthew Bauman, Jack Doyle, Lora Lee Gayer, James Harkness, Jessica Hershberg, Emily Hsu, Cara Kjellman, Denis Lambert, Analisa Leaming, Jay Lusteck, Linda Mugleston, Shannon M. O'Bryan, Monica L. Patton, Richard Pruitt, Vincent Rodriguez III, Kelly Sheehan, Martín Solá, Charlie Sutton, Nicholas Ward and Victor James Wisehart.

Pipe Dream, the second New York City Center Encores! production of the season, will be directed by Marc Bruni and choreographed by Kelli Barclay.

Pipe Dream, based on John Steinbeck's novel 'Sweet Thursday,' features music by Richard Rodgers, with book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

The musical is about a group of outcasts yearning for a better life who populate the bordellos and flophouses of a 1950's California seaside town. The show features many of Steinbeck's Cannery Row characters and tells the story of the romance between 'Doc' (Will Chase), a marine biologist, and 'Suzy' (Laura Osnes), a young woman who hitchhikes into town looking for a better life. Doc's friends include 'Mac' (Tom Wopat), 'Hazel' (Stephen Wallem), and 'Fauna,' the owner of the local brothel.

The show premiered at the Shubert Theatre on 30 Nov 1955 and ran for 246 performances. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Pipe Dream has not been seen on the American stage in more than two decades, owing to a technicality involving the underlying rights.

This Rodgers and Hammerstein rarity includes the songs "All at Once You Love Her," "The Next Time It Happens" and the wistful ballad "Everybody's Got a Home but Me."