Casting Announced for the 2016 Encores! Season

Encores! artistic director Jack Viertel has announced cast and creative team members for the 2016 season of productions at New York City Center.

J. Bernard Calloway (Memphis), Tony winner Chuck Cooper (Amazing Grace), Marva Hicks (Motown), Carly Hughes (Pippin), Tony winner LaChanze (If/Then), Tony nominee Norm Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera), Forrest McClendon (The Scottsboro Boys), and J.D. Webster (The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) will star in Vernon Duke and John Latouche’s jazz‐filled fable Cabin in the Sky, running for seven performances at City Center from February 10-14, 2016.

The 1940 musical tells the story of "Little Joe" Jackson, a charming ne’er-do-well who dies in a saloon brawl and is given six months on earth to prove his worth to the Lord’s General (Lewis) and his long‐suffering wife, Petunia (LaChanze), while resisting the temptations of the Devil’s Head Man (Cooper).The production will be directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson with choreography by Camille A. Brown. Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick will re-create the musical's original orchestrations.

A multiethnic production of Sherman Edwards’ Tony Award-winning musical 1776 will follow from March 30-April 3, 2016. Garry Hynes will direct, with guest music direction by Ben Whiteley and choreography by Chris Bailey.

Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim’s 1965 musical Do I Hear a Waltz? will round out the season with performances running from May 11-15, 2016. Evan Cabnet will direct, with musical direction by Encores! music director Rob Berman and choreography by Chase Brock.

For more information about the upcoming productions at New York City Center, click here.