NEW YORK CITY CENTER
2014 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
Fall for Dance Festival 2014
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Career Transition for Dancers 29th Anniversary Jubilee
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Encores! Sings Rodgers, Hart, and Hammerstein Gala
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Encores! Special Event – THE BAND WAGON
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The Little Orchestra Society – FOUR SEASONS: A SPINNING PLANET
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Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
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Encores! LADY, BE GOOD Encores! PAINT YOUR WAGON Encores! ZORBA!
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A BAILAR: DANCE AT THE CENTER
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Dance Theatre of Harlem
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Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg – TENDER IS THE NIGHT
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Studio 5 at City Center
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Encores! Off-Center
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Natalia Osipova & Ivan Vasiliev – SOLO FOR TWO
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Manhattan Theatre Club
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Women’s Project Theater
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Membership
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Sponsors
Dear Friends, I am delighted to welcome you to another season at New York City Center. Over the past 71 years, our performances have received their share of accolades—though few are as meaningful as the card that arrived after the opening of one of City Center’s legendary 1950s Rodgers & Hammerstein revivals. “We wish last night had been the Broadway opening,” the note read. It was signed, “Dick and Oscar.” In October we’re showcasing that longtime connection with our annual Gala, Encores! Celebrates Rodgers and Hammerstein and Hart, honoring our dear friends, Bobbie and Lew Frankfort. While the Gala is sure to be a thrilling night on its own terms, it will also help us maintain and expand on City Center’s mission: providing affordable, top-notch dance and theater performances to the broadest possible audience. In that vein, I’m happy to announce that for the second year in a row, our Fall for Dance Festival will kick off in September with two free performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Tickets will cost $15 for the remaining performances at City Center—which mingle exciting new companies with the giants of the dance world. Another exciting returning program is Encores! Off-Center, which presents landmark Off-Broadway musicals in concert with tickets as low as $25, and has become a critical darling and audience favorite in just its second season. Last March, Violet transferred from Off-Center to Broadway and received four Tony nominations; in June, patrons thrilled to the burgeoning genius of a pre-RENT Jonathan Larson in tick, tick…BOOM! In a nice symmetry, the most recent musical City Center has ever presented— 2001’s tick, tick…BOOM!—will be followed in the new Encores! season by the earliest: George & Ira Gershwin’s 1924 confection Lady, Be Good. The Gershwins and Larson had at least one thing in common: they knew that theater was a gift to the audience. Sometimes that gift was literal. In Lady, Be Good, the pixieish star Adele Astaire threw chocolates into the audience, and in our production of tick, tick…BOOM!, Lin-Manuel Miranda tossed Twinkies into the orchestra seats. At City Center, we’re proud to be in our eighth decade carrying out Mayor La Guardia’s founding mission to make the performing arts accessible for all. Today, that means free outdoor dance, inexpensive musical theater, and—yes—sometimes even complimentary Twinkies. Let the new season begin!
Arlene Shuler, President & CEO
Come celebrate Fall for Dance with a very special season featuring two free evenings of dance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park and two commissioned works. You can see world-renowned companies performing alongside emerging and cutting-edge artists in six different programs, and take part in free preshow events like dance lessons and talks by choreographers, artists and dance critics.
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Sustaining Sponsor The Howard Gilman Foundation Presenting Partners
Delacorte Program Sponsors
Fall for Dance Endowment Donors
Jody and John Arnhold Barbara and David Zalaznick Perry and Marty Granoff Caroline Howard Hyman
Ford Foundation Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Barbara and David Zalaznick Elizabeth and Dean Kehler Lisa and Richard Witten
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Marjorie S. Isaac Fund for Fall for Dance The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation The Irene Diamond Fund Ford Foundation Rockefeller Brothers Fund The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation
TWO FREE evenings of dance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in association with The Public Theater Tickets (2 per person) available at the Delacorte Theater on the day of the show and through Virtual Ticketing. For more information, visit NYCityCenter.org
9/12 Fri & 9/13 Sat 8pm (rain date 9/14 Sun 8pm)
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Gnawa Nacho Duato New York City Ballet Herman Schmerman (Pas de Deux) William Forsythe Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company D-Man in the Waters (Part I) Bill T. Jones Lil Buck Bend in the Road (World Premiere) Damian Woetzel and Charles “Lil Buck” Riley
FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL AT CITY CENTER Tickets on sale September 14
10/8 Wed & 10/9 Thu 8pm
Black Grace Minoi and Pati Pati (NY Premiere) Neil Ieremia San Francisco Ballet Variations for Two Couples (NY Premiere) Hans van Manen Russell Maliphant/Sadler’s Wells London Two x Two (US Premiere) Russell Maliphant Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble Words (World Premiere) Mark Morris
10/10 Fri & 10/11 Sat 8pm
Lucinda Childs Dance Company Concerto Lucinda Childs Semperoper Ballett Dresden Neue Suite (US Premiere) William Forsythe Company Sébastien Ramirez & Honji Wang AP15 Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Minus 16 Ohad Naharin
10/14 Tue & 10/15 Wed 8pm
Trisha Brown Dance Company Son of Gone Fishin’ Trisha Brown Sara Mearns & Company Stairway to Paradise Joshua Bergasse Vuyani Dance Theatre Umnikelo (NY Premiere) Luyanda Sidiya National Ballet of China The Peony Pavilion (US Premiere) Fei Bo
10/16 Thu & 10/17 Fri 8pm
Brian Brooks Moving Company with Juilliard Dance Torrent Brian Brooks The Australian Ballet Ostinato (World Premiere) Tim Harbour BJM – Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal Closer Benjamin Millepied Rennie Harris Puremovement Students of the Asphalt Jungle Dr. Rennie Harris
10/18 Sat 8pm & 10/19 Sun 2pm
Wayne McGregor | Random Dance FAR (NY Premiere) Wayne McGregor with dancers Pontus Lidberg Dance New Lidberg (World Premiere) Pontus Lidberg Aakash Odedra Company Nritta (US Premiere) Aakash Odedra The Sarasota Ballet Les Patineurs Sir Frederick Ashton
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Fall for Dance Commission For more information about Fall for Dance events, including Lounge FFD and pre-performance dance lessons and DanceTalks, visit NYCityCenter.org.
Photos by Jordan Matter Programming is subject to change.
Tickets start at $45 10/6 Mon 7pm Presented by ROLEX, this theatrical event of the season will feature appearances by five luminaries possessing among them a staggering total of 56 major awards, plus artists from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Arthur Murray Dance Center, Ballet Hispanico, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Rockette Alumnae, the Jubilee Orchestra, and more stars and surprises. CTFD Award Honorees: Janice Galli Becker, Fe Saracino Fendi, and Joe Tremaine & Tremaine Dance Conventions & Competitions
For patron tickets/tables, including “Supper with the Stars,” contact Marjorie Horne at 212.228.7446 x33. GROUP SALES: 718.499.9691 www.careertransition.org
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Five-time Tony Award-winning actress and legendary star of film and television, ANGELA LANSBURY, will be honored with the 2014 Rolex Dance Award.
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Join City Center at our annual Gala on Monday, October 27, 2014, as we honor Bobbie and Lew Frankfort for their passionate, enduring commitment to City Center’s education programs, which reach more than 9,000 children in New York each year. The Gala performance, Encores! Sings Rodgers, Hart, and Hammerstein, will feature the beloved music and lyrics of Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and Oscar Hammerstein II, performed by some of Broadway’s finest talent. 2014 Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle (After Midnight; Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway) will direct, and Encores! music director Rob Berman will lead the Encores! Orchestra. Casting will be announced at a later date.
EVENT DETAILS
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7pm Gala Performance at City Center 9pm G ala Dinner at The Plaza Hotel 768 Fifth Avenue
(Transportation will be provided from City Center to The Plaza Hotel)
Tables of ten are available at $100,000; $50,000 and $25,000. Tickets are available at $10,000; $5,000; $2,500 and $500 per person. For table and ticket details, please call 212.763.1205 or visit NYCityCenter.org. Performance Underwriter
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Tickets start at $30 Tue – Thu 7:30pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 2 & 7pm (Exceptions: Sat 11/8 8pm ONLY; Sun 11/9 2pm ONLY)
Based on the 1953 MGM film, The Band Wagon is a classic showbiz tale. A washed-up Hollywood star (Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell) attempts to make a comeback by doing a Broadway show, and encounters an assortment of colorful characters: 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 things that could never happen in the New York theater today. Written by Broadway’s ultimate insiders, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the 1953 film used Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz’s wonderful songs to tell their story and took its title from the famed 1931 Broadway revue written by Schwartz, Dietz, and George S. Kaufman. Now five-time Tony nominee Douglas Carter Beane will use the original Comden and Green screenplay (including scenes never filmed) as a basis for this Encores! Special Event, with a glorious 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 great anthem for all of show business, “That’s Entertainment.” The Band Wagon is directed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall.
Brian Stokes Mitchell in THE BAND WAGON Book by Douglas Carter Beane
From the screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Music by Arthur Schwartz Lyrics by Howard Dietz Based on the classic MGM film Produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures Music Director Todd Ellison Directed and Choreographed by Kathleen Marshall
Tickets start at $18 Sat 11am & 1pm Four Seasons: A Spinning Planet A Fantasia of Music, Dance, and Light Conducted by James Judd Original Concept, Direction and Choreography by Karole Armitage Costume Design by Doug Fitch Book by Craig Shemin Lighting Design by Clifton Taylor Performed by The Little Orchestra Society and Armitage Gone! Dance
The Little Orchestra Society, in association with New York City Center, presents a new program based on stories about our planet inspired by ancient and timeless animal fables from around the globe. Choreographer Karole Armitage’s work fuses ballet and modern dance with the stunning theatricality of Cirque du Soleil.
Photos courtesy of Armitage Gone! Dance, by Jennifer Nguyen
Single tickets are available through New York City Center. For subscriptions to The Little Orchestra Society’s Happy Concerts series, visit littleorchestra.org/programs/happyconcerts or call 212.971.9500.
“ AN IMPRESSIVE SPECTRUM OF WORKS PUSH THE COMPANY FORWARD WHILE KEEPING IT FIRMLY ANCHORED IN ITS CELEBRATED PAST.” – The New York Times
Glenn Allen Sims; photo by Andrew Eccles
Tickets start at $25 Let Ailey lift you and experience why NBC’s “Today Show” raved, “Go see Ailey. It’s change-yourlife good.” This December, audiences can marvel at the power of the Ailey men in Asadata Dafora’s landmark 1932 solo Awassa Astrige/Ostrich, and in Uprising, a macho septet by Hofesh Shechter. The Company’s incredible women will demonstrate their dramatic range in Jacqulyn Buglisi’s haunting Suspended Women. And the battle of the sexes will play out thrillingly in Robert Moses’s seductive The Pleasure of the Lesson, and in Ulysses Dove’s edge-of-your-seat Bad Blood. Other season highlights will include the world premiere of Matthew Rushing’s ODETTA, created with the support of commissioning funds from City Center, and two contemporary classics — Hans van Manen’s Polish Pieces, and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain (Pas de Deux). 12/3 Wed 7pm OPENING NIGHT GALA includes Uprising C, Revelations with Live Music 12/4 Thu 7:30pm Chroma, D-Man in the Waters (Part I), Revelations 12/5 Fri 8pm Bad Blood N, Four Corners, After the Rain (Pas de Deux) C, Revelations with Live Music 12/6 Sat 2pm* Four Corners, After the Rain (Pas de Deux) C, Bad Blood N, Revelations with Live Music 12/6 Sat 8pm Polish Pieces N, Awassa Astrige/ Ostrich C, Uprising C, Revelations with Live Music 12/7 Sun 3pm Polish Pieces N, Awassa Astrige/ Ostrich C, The Pleasure of the Lesson W, Revelations 12/7 Sun 7:30pm Chroma, D-Man in the Waters (Part I), Takademe, LIFT 12/9 Tue 7:30pm AILEY/ELLINGTON Night Creature, Pas de Duke, The River, Revelations 12/10 Wed 7:30pm Memoria, ODETTA W, Revelations 12/11 Thu 7:30pm The Pleasure of the Lesson W, Bad Blood N, Minus 16 12/12 Fri 8pm Chroma, Suspended Women C, Revelations 12/13 Sat 2pm* Memoria, ODETTA W, Revelations 12/13 Sat 8pm Grace, Uprising C, Revelations
12/14 Sun 3pm Polish Pieces N, Takademe, Suspended Women C, Grace
12/26 Fri 8pm ALL NEW Uprising C, Suspended Women C, ODETTA W
12/14 Sun 7:30pm Memoria, ODETTA W, Minus 16
12/27 Sat 2pm* Polish Pieces N, Awassa Astrige/ Ostrich C, Episodes, Revelations
12/16 Tue 7:30pm Celebrating The Women of Ailey includes Cry, Revelations 12/17 Wed 7:30pm AILEY/ELLINGTON Night Creature, Pas de Duke, The River, Revelations 12/18 Thu 7:30pm ALL NEW Uprising C, Suspended Women C, ODETTA W 12/19 Fri 8pm Chroma, The Pleasure of the Lesson W, Revelations 12/20 Sat 2pm* LIFT, Awassa Astrige/Ostrich C, D-Man in the Waters (Part I), Revelations 12/20 Sat 8pm ALL NEW Uprising C, Suspended Women C, ODETTA W 12/21 Sun 3pm AILEY/ELLINGTON Night Creature, Pas de Duke, The River, Revelations 12/21 Sun 7:30pm Bad Blood N, After the Rain (Pas de Deux) C, Episodes, Revelations 12/23 Tue 7:30pm Episodes, Four Corners, Caught, Minus 16 12/24 Wed 2pm LIFT, Takademe, The Pleasure of the Lesson W, Revelations 12/24 Wed 7:30pm Minus 16, Awassa Astrige/Ostrich C, After the Rain (Pas de Deux) C, Caught, Revelations
W World Premiere C Company Premiere N New Production
Programming is subject to change.
12/27 Sat 8pm Chroma, D-Man in the Waters (Part I), Takademe, LIFT 12/28 Sun 3pm* The Pleasure of the Lesson W, Awassa Astrige/Ostrich C, Four Corners, Revelations 12/28 Sun 7:30pm ALL NEW Uprising C, Suspended Women C, ODETTA W 12/30 Tue 7:30pm Night Creature, After the Rain (Pas de Deux) C, Grace, Revelations 12/31 Wed 2pm ALL NEW Bad Blood N, After the Rain (Pas de Deux) C, Uprising C, ODETTA W 12/31 Wed 7pm NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION Polish Pieces N, Takademe, LIFT, Caught, Revelations featuring special guest performers 1/2 Fri 8pm LIFT, Awassa Astrige/Ostrich C, Four Corners, Revelations 1/3 Sat 2pm* AILEY/ELLINGTON Night Creature, Pas de Duke, The River, Revelations 1/3 Sat 8pm Grace, Bad Blood N, Revelations 1/4 Sun 3pm* Four Corners, Suspended Women C, Revelations 1/4 Sun 7:30pm SPECIAL SEASON FINALE includes Caught, Revelations
*Free post performance Q&A with dancers
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Encores! Season Sponsors
Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores! Stacey and Eric Mindich Nathalie and Pablo Salame The Shubert Foundation
Tickets start at $30 • On sale October 6
Wed – Thu 7:30pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 2 & 7pm
FEBRUARY 4 – 8, 2015
LADY, BE GOOD
Book by G uy Bolton and Fred Thompson Lyrics by Ira Gershwin Music by George Gershwin
This show will send you back in time to the Roaring Twenties, when speakeasies and the Charleston were all the rage, and George and Ira Gershwin’s first hit collaboration ushered in the golden age of American musical comedy. Founding Encores! Music Director Rob Fisher will supervise the restoration of Gershwin’s dazzling original score, which includes such hits as “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “The Man I Love,” and, of course, “Lady, Be Good.” The original production, starring Fred and Adele Astaire, opened at the Liberty Theater on December 1, 1924 and ran for 330 performances. Support for Lady, Be Good is provided by Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust Ira and Leonore Gershwin Philanthropic Fund Roz and Jerry Meyer The score restoration for Lady, Be Good is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Broadway Musical Restoration Fund
MARCH 18 – 22, 2015 Set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California, Paint Your Wagon is the story of a grizzled prospector whose daughter finds gold—and love—changing their lives forever. Lerner and Loewe’s rousing score includes such classics as “They Call the Wind Maria,” “I Talk to the Trees,” and “Wand’rin’ Star.” The original production opened at the Shubert Theater on November 12, 1951 and ran for 289 performances. PAINT YOUR WAGON
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner Music by Frederick Loewe Directed by Marc Bruni
MAY 6 – 10, 2015 Zorba! is John Kander and Fred Ebb’s galvanic re-imagining of Nikos Kazantzakis’s tale of a larger-than-life Greek jack of all trades who “lives every day as if it will be his last.” The flavorful score features the folk-like sounds of the Greek countryside, including a part for a traditional eight-string bouzouki. The original production opened at the Imperial Theater on November 16, 1968 and ran for 305 performances. ZORBA!
Book by Joseph Stein Lyrics by Fred Ebb Music by John Kander Adapted from Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis Directed by Walter Bobbie
Opposite Page: Havana Rakatan; photo by Johannes Granseth Mยกlonga: Gisela Galeassi and Nikito Cornejo Suite Flamenca; photo by Peter Muller
Tickets start at $25
Escape the winter chill with our red-hot festival A Bailar, which brings the best of Latin dance to the City Center stage. This three-week festival offers a dazzling array of dancers and musicians from Cuba, Argentina, and Spain.
FEBRUARY 18 – 22, 2015
Havana Rakatan is presented by New York City Center in association with Sadler’s Wells and Congas Productions.
HAVANA RAKATAN Wed – Thu 7:30pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 2 & 7pm
Salsa, mambo, jazz, bolero, and rumba come alive in Havana Rakatan, which explores the roots of Cuban music and dance, a unique fusion of Spanish culture and African spiritual beliefs. Flamenco, Yoruba and Afro-Haitian rhythms, as well as jazz, mambo and son, give way to the modern forms of salsa that originated in the early twentieth-century salon dances. Led by Cuban choreographer Nilda Guerra, Havana Rakatan made its hugely successful debut in 2007 at the Peacock Theatre in London and has since toured all over the world.
“ INFECTIOUS FEEL GOOD ENTERTAINMENT.” – The Stage, UK FEBRUARY 26 – MARCH 1, 2015
M¡longa is presented by New York City Center in association with Sadler’s Wells.
M¡LONGA Thu – Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm
Deeply rooted in Argentinean culture, tango has long fascinated and captivated the world with its sensuality, power and beauty. In M¡longa, celebrated contemporary choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui takes the milonga—a social dance evening held in Buenos Aires’ intimate late-night bars—as a starting point and adds a distinctly modern twist. The production features twelve dancers and an Argentinean tango band of five musicians.
“M¡LONGA IS A WONDERFULLY INVENTIVE REINVENTION OF ARGENTINE DANCE.” – The Telegraph, UK MARCH 4 – 7, 2015
Voces, Suite Flamenca is presented by New York City Center and Flamenco Festival. Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras’ brand-new show, Voces, Suite Flamenca, captures the emotion, drama and passion of traditional flamenco with a vibrant contemporary edge. In it, Baras is joined onstage by her company of 10 dancers, including guest artist José Serrano, and eight flamenco musicians.
BALLET FLAMENCO SARA BARAS Wed – Thu 7:30pm, Fri – Sat 8pm
“SARA BARAS IS A WOMAN WHO CAN DANCE UP NOT JUST A FLAMENCO STORM, BUT A HURRICANE.” – The Guardian, UK
“...AN INTOXICATING BLEND OF SAUCY AND ELEGANT...” – The New York Times
Tickets start at $35 Wed 7pm, Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm Dance Theatre of Harlem returns home to City Center with boldly dynamic programs that fit together to define the diversity of 21st century ballet. Perennial favorites such as Robert Garland’s Return (set to music by James Brown and Aretha Franklin) and Ulysses Dove’s haunting Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven mix with three works new to the company. Don’t miss a hot world premiere by Darrell Grand Moultrie, the delightful and popular Tschaikovsky Pas De Deux by George Balanchine, and a compelling company premiere to be announced in the fall. Four performances only! Opposite: Ingrid Silva and Fredrick Davis; photo by Rachel Neville Below: The company in Return; photo by Matthew Murphy
Program A – (4/8* & 4/11 Evening)
*Opening night reception after the performance. Reception tickets are available for purchase at an additional price.
New Ballet 1 Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux George Balanchine Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven Ulysses Dove Return Robert Garland
Program B – (4/10)
Talk back with the choreographers after the performance New Bach Robert Garland In the Mirror of Her Mind Christopher Huggins Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven Ulysses Dove New Ballet 2 Darrell Grand Moultrie
Family Matinee – (4/11)
Meet The Ballerina event after the performance New Bach Robert Garland In the Mirror of Her Mind Christopher Huggins New Ballet 1 Swan Lake (Act III Pas de Deux) Staged by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa New Ballet 2 Darrell Grand Moultrie
Tickets start at $60 Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 2pm
Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald Music by Alban Berg Franz Schubert George Gershwin
Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg returns to New York City Center with the New York premiere of a full-length ballet based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final novel. In it, a young actress is drawn into the circle of a glamorous yet troubled couple, with tragic results. Eifman, known for theatrical productions that delve into the human psyche, offers a dazzling take on this Fitzgerald classic.
Choreographed by Boris Eifman Artistic Director Boris Eifman
“OF THE BALLET CHOREOGRAPHERS MAKING NARRATIVE WORKS FOR MAJOR STAGES, RUSSIAN ROMANTIC BORIS EIFMAN IS VIRTUALLY THE ONLY ONE TOTALLY IN TOUCH WITH THE 21ST CENTURY.” — Los Angeles Times
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Damian Woetzel; photo by Bruce Weber
STUDIO 5 AT CITY CENTER In the Barbara and David Zalaznick Studio nM
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Studio 5 at City Center utilizes in-studio Wendy Whelan; photo by David Michalek performances and an interactive format to take MUSICAL THEATER the audience beyond the proscenium and deep Curated and hosted by Ted Chapin in into the worlds of dance and musical theater. connection with the 2015 Encores! season. The Barbara and David Zalaznick Studio February 2015 130 W 56th Street (between 6th and 7th Aves) THE LIFE OF IRA 5th floor George & Ira Gershwin are remembered Studio 5 Sponsors as a duo, but after George died in 1937, Ira Margee and John Falk • Barbara and David Zalaznick continued to produce witty, indelible lyrics (“The Man That Got Away,” “The Saga of Jenny”) for nearly 45 years. Join us for an DANCE evening devoted to Ira’s life and work – which Curated and hosted by went far beyond Lady, Be Good. Damian Woetzel and Wendy Whelan
9/29 Mon 6:30pm DAMIAN WOETZEL & WENDY WHELAN IN CONVERSATION Join renowned dancer-turned-director Damian Woetzel in conversation with Wendy Whelan, who is retiring from New York City Ballet after a thirty-year career that led the New York Times to declare her “America’s greatest contemporary ballerina.”
4/13 Mon 6:30pm DANCE WITH WENDY WHELAN As part of her new role as New York City Center’s first Artistic Associate, Wendy Whelan will curate a dynamic exploration of dance.
March 2015 GOTTA DANCE The original production of Paint Your Wagon bore the inimitable stamp of the great choreographer Agnes de Mille. This Studio 5 event will explore the evolving use of dance in Broadway musicals.
May 2015 BOUZOUKI OR NOT? From the Siamese palace of The King and I to the Russian shtetl of Fiddler on the Roof, Broadway musicals have often abandoned the familiar sounds of Tin Pan Alley in favor of ethnic musical styles and instruments. This event delves into the cultural influences that shaped Zorba! as well as other classic musicals.
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Encores! Off-Center Series Sponsor American Express Major Supporters Nathalie and Pablo Salame Additional Support is provided by Paula and Ira Resnick • Alec Stais and Elissa Burke The Lobby Project is sponsored by The Frederick Loewe Foundation
“ENCORES! OFF-CENTER, UNDER THE DAZZLING ARTISTIC DIRECTION OF JEANINE TESORI, HAS BECOME MY FAVORITE NEW ARTS INSTITUTION…WITH PASSIONATELY CHOSEN, WONDERFULLY CAST AND NURTURED PRODUCTIONS.” – Linda Winer, Newsday
Encores! Off-Center, the musical theater series led by artistic director Jeanine Tesori (composer of Caroline, Or Change; Shrek; Fun Home), presents landmark Off-Broadway musicals filtered through the lens of today’s most innovative artists. Since its July 2013 debut, Off-Center has garnered both popular and critical acclaim; its second production, Violet, transferred to Broadway and received four Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Musical. In the Encores! tradition, there is a strong emphasis on the scores, with the orchestra performing on stage. Tickets, many of which are just $25, include free admission to The Lobby Project, a series of pre-curtain conversations and performances with a range of special guests including artists, scholars, and musicians. THE 2015 LINEUP WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON… STAY TUNED!
– The New York Times
Opposite Page: Lin-Manuel Miranda & Karen Olivo in tick, tick... BOOM! Above: Mamie Parris & Katie Thompson in Pump Boys and Dinettes. Randy Newman in Randy Newman’s Faust: The Concert. Photos by Joan Marcus.
Patrons enjoy the Lobby Project; photo by Lee Wexler
“CITY CENTER’S ENCORES! OFF-CENTER SERIES, OVERSEEN BY JEANINE TESORI, IN JUST ITS SECOND SEASON HAS BECOME A SUMMER THEATER HIGHLIGHT.”
Tickets start at $40 Fri – Sat 8pm The world’s most celebrated dancing partners, the extraordinary Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, will reunite for the New York premiere of the triple bill Solo for Two. A co-production between Segerstrom Center for the Arts and Ardani Artists in association with New York City Center, Solo for Two comes to New York for two performances only following engagements at Segerstrom Hall in California, the Stanislavsky Musical Theatre in Moscow, and the London Coliseum. The evening will feature works by acclaimed contemporary choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Ohad Naharin, and Arthur Pita.
Mercy
Choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Music by Heinrich Schütz, Johann Hermann Schein
Passo
Choreographed by Ohad Naharin Music by Autechre, English traditional folk music
Facada
Choreographed by Arthur Pita Music by Frank Moon, Portuguese traditional fado Design by Jean-Mark Puissant Cast: The Bride: Natalia Osipova The Groom: Ivan Vasiliev Lady in Black: Elizabeth McGorian Musician: Frank Moon
“THE TWO MOST ASTONISHINGLY DRAMATIC AND ROCKET-FUELLED BALLET STARS OF THE MOMENT.” – The Daily Telegraph, UK
Left: Photo by Souheil Michael Khoury Right: Photo by Gene Schiavone
MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB
Since 1984, Manhattan Theatre Club has produced at its Off-Broadway home at New York City Center Stages I and II. In 2012, they launched the Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series, a place where bold, new work meets bold, new audiences.
For more information visit
ManhattanTheatreClub.com
STAGE I Tickets: $90 Previews Begin 10/21 Opening Night 11/11 LOST LAKE World premiere play by David Auburn Directed by Daniel Sullivan with John Hawkes and Tracie Thoms David Auburn, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Proof, returns to MTC with Lost Lake, a riveting and spirited world premiere play directed by Daniel Sullivan. The lakeside rental Veronica (Tracie Thoms) has managed to afford is a far cry from the idyllic getaway she and her children so desperately need. And the disheveled property owner, Hogan (John Hawkes), has problems of his own – problems that Veronica is inevitably – and irrevocably – pulled into.
John Hawkes
An engrossing and revealing portrait of two strangers bound together by circumstance, Lost Lake is a vivid new work about the struggle for connection in an imperfect world.
Tracie Thoms
Jodi Long
STAGE I Tickets: $85 Previews Begin 2/3 Opening Night 2/24 THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS World premiere play by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig Directed by Eric Ting with Ruy Iskandar, Francis Jue, Jennifer Lim, Jodi Long, Jo Mei, Andrew Pang Unwanted from the moment she was born, Sunny is determined to escape her life in rural China and forge a new identity in the city. As naïve as she is ambitious, Sunny views her new job in a grueling factory as a stepping-stone to untold opportunities. When fate casts her as a company spokeswoman at a sham PR event, Sunny’s bright outlook starts to unravel in a series of harrowing and darkly comic events, as she begins to question a system that enriches itself by destroying its own people. Critically acclaimed when it debuted in a workshop production at London’s National Theatre, The World of Extreme Happiness makes its world premiere in a co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. “Hard-hitting and bruisingly funny” (Time Out London), this epic new drama by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig is as fierce and unflinching as the world it examines.
STAGE I Tickets: $90 Previews Begin 5/26 Opening Night 6/16 THE SWING OF THE SEA World premiere play by Richard Greenberg Directed by Lynne Meadow The team that brought you The Assembled Parties—Tony-winning playwright Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain) and MTC’s award-winning Artistic Director Lynne Meadow (Wit, The Commons of Pensacola)—reunites for The Swing of the Sea, a world-premiere play that marks the 11th collaboration between Mr. Greenberg & MTC.
Patriarch Max has died, leaving behind two sons, Brett and Alec, and a lover, Vivi. All three reunite for one evening in Vivi‘s New York apartment. Secrets, passions and ghosts of the past emerge for this trio as each of them faces an uncertain future. The Swing of the Sea was commissioned by MTC through the U.S. Trust New American Play Commissioning Program.
THE STUDIO AT STAGE II
Harold and Mimi Steinberg New Play Series
Tickets: $30*
*All tickets during the initial, subsidized run are priced at $30. Subsequent weeks are subject to a price increase.
STAGE II Tickets: $30 Previews Begin 11/4 Opening Night 11/18 BY THE WATER World premiere play by Sharyn Rothstein Directed by Hal Brooks Hurricane Sandy has just ravaged the lifelong home of Marty and Mary Murphy. But the storm has ripped apart more than just the walls: with their neighbors too devastated to stay, the couple’s beloved Staten Island community is in danger of disappearing forever. Determined to rebuild, Marty wages a campaign to save his neighborhood and his home, but when the Murphys’ sons arrive to help their parents dig out, past betrayals come rushing to the surface. With fierce compassion and poignant humor, By The Water reminds us that the very powers that tear us apart can also bring us together. By The Water is the first world premiere production to come out of The Writer’s Room, a unique multi-year partnership between Manhattan Theatre Club and Ars Nova designed to commission, develop and support playwrights in the process of creating new work for the stage.
WOMEN’S PROJECT THEATER Tickets start at $60
“AND AS LONG AS WE’RE CELEBRATING THE FEMALE FACTOR IN THEATER, LET’S TIP OUR HATS TO THE ENDURINGLY VITAL WOMEN’S PROJECT THEATER.” – The New York Times Women’s Project Theater, under the newly announced leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty, is the nation’s oldest and largest theater company dedicated to work by women, and the place to catch the hottest work by female artists working in the American theater today! Join us at City Center Stage II for a daring and bold season of three new plays, from the company Newsday called “a fierce, increasingly important, and quite wonderful institution.” Women’s Project Theater announces its new FRIEND US! Membership program. For a tax deductible donation of $100 or more, you will receive a special 25% members-only discount on two regular-priced tickets to each show in WP’s season, plus a host of other enticing benefits.
Bethany with Tobias Segal and America Ferrera; photo by Carol Rosegg
Join WP’s FRIEND US! Membership program today! Visit WPTheater.org or call 212.765.1706.
STAY TUNED FOR THE SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT!
MEMBERSHIP keeps you
FRONT & CENTER
with ACCESS to: • the best seats in the house for all engagements • passes for dress rehearsals and seminars • tickets before they go on sale to the public • ...and more! Membership support goes directly to our programs, as well as our education and public outreach efforts. To learn more about Membership options and benefits, please visit nycitycenter.org/support, email membership@nycitycenter.org, or call 212.763.1206.
Pictured: Sutton Foster and Van Hughes in the Encores! Off-Center production of Violet. Raúl Esparza in the Encores! Off-Center production of The Cradle Will Rock. The Encores! Special Even Cotton Club Parade. Photos by Joan Marcus.
NEW YORK CITY CENTER THANKS ITS DONORS MAJOR SUPPORT FOR FALL FOR DANCE IS PROVIDED BY
MAJOR SUPPORT FOR THE 2014/2015 SEASON IS PROVIDED BY
SUPPORT FOR NEW COMMISSIONS IN THE 2014/2015 SEASON IS PROVIDED BY
New York City Center is a city-owned facility and is supported by funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund The Shubert Foundation The Jerome Robbins Foundation The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation
Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation
Stuart H. Coleman The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Alan G. Weiler
MAJOR SUPPORT FOR ENCORES! IS PROVIDED BY
The Howard Gilman Foundation
Daryl and Steven Roth MAJOR SUPPORT FOR CITY CENTER’S EDUCATION PROGRAMS IS PROVIDED BY
The Pasculano Foundation Nathalie and Pablo Salame
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FROM YOUR MOBILE DEVICE There are two ways to buy tickets directly from your smartphone. iPhone users can download the City Center app available for free on the iPhone App Store. We can even scan your ticket directly from your phone when you arrive at the theater. Non-iPhone users can utilize our mobile-optimized site by visiting NYCityCenter.org from the browser on your mobile device. BY PHONE Call CityTix® 212.581.1212 11am – 8pm daily AT THE BOX OFFICE 131 W 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues Mon–Sat, Noon–8pm; Sun, Noon–7:30pm FOR GROUPS Discounts available for groups with as few as 10 people. Call 212.763.1204 • Mon–Fri, 11am – 5pm
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Bernadette Peters and Norm Lewis in A Bed and A Chair: A New York Love Affair, a 2013 Encores! Special Event. Photo by Joan Marcus.