Tony Sheldon joins cast of Encores! The Band Wagon

The New York City Center has announced that Tony nominee Tony Sheldon has been added to the cast for the special Encores! event this November - the concert production of The Band Wagon, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall and running from 6 to 16 November 2014. Sheldon will be joining previously announced cast members, including Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, Tony Award winner Roger Rees, seven-time Emmy Award winner Tracey Ullman, Academy Award nominee Michael McKean, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award nominee Michael Berresse, and Don Stephenson.

The Band Wagon is "a classic backstage musical: A washed-up Hollywood star trying to make a comeback by doing a Broadway show, a British director who is a genius but has no business directing a musical, a leading lady who's never done a show before, and a composer and a lyricist who are at each other's throats. All the things that could never happen in the New York theater today."

The show has a book by Douglas Carter Beane adapted from the screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz. The production is in arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and based on the 1953 film of the same name which used Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's songs to tell their story and took its title from the famed 1931 Broadway revue written by Schwartz, Dietz, and George S. Kaufman. The special event will use the original Comden and Green screenplay with a wonderful score that includes "Dancing in the Dark," "By Myself," "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan," "A Shine on My Shoes," and "That's Entertainment."

The creative team for the event features scenic design by Tony winner Derek McLane, costume design by six-time Tony winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony winner Peter Kaczorowski, and sound design by two-time Tony winner Brian Ronan.

Tony Sheldon is perhaps best known for his Tony-nominated performance as Bernadette in 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' on Broadway from 2011-2012. In his native Australia, theatre credits include 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels', 'The Producers', 'Private Lives', 'Noises Off', 'Into The Woods' and 'Torch Song Trilogy'.

- by Tom Millward