{"id":65911,"date":"2025-12-09T18:54:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/65911\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T18:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:54:16","slug":"rachel-dratch-wayne-brady-among-newcomers-to-encores-productions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/65911\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Dratch, Wayne Brady Among Newcomers To Encores! Productions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tRachel Dratch<\/a>, Campbell Scott<\/a>, Claybourne Elder<\/a> and Wayne Brady<\/a> have signed on for several upcoming productions in the New York City Center\u2019s Off Broadway<\/a> Encores! revival series beginning with High Spirits in February, The Wild Party in March and La Cage Aux Folles in June.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaturday Night Live alum Dratch joins the cast of High Spirits as Edith, along with Scott (House of Cards) as Dr. Bradman. Also joining the cast is Jennifer S\u00e1nchez (Real Women Have Curves) as Mrs. Bradman. They join previously announced husband-and-wife duo Phillipa Soo (as Ruth Condomine) and Steven Pasquale (as Charles Condomine), Katrina Lenk (Elvira), and Andrea Martin (Madame Arcati).<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso new to the cast are Brandon Block, Delphi Borich, Marcus Byers Jr., DeMarius R. Copes, Deanna Cudjoe, Lili Froehelich, Katie Griffith, Benjamin Howes, Caroline Kane, Ross Lekites, Devon McCleskey, Michael Pesko, Jeremiah Valentino Porter, Sean Stack, Halli Toland, Kamille Upshaw and Kristin Yancy. <\/p>\n

\n\tHigh Spirits runs from February 4 \u2013 15, and will be directed by Tony Award nominee Jessica Stone and Encores! Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell with choreography by Ellenore Scott. A rarely revived musical, High Spirits is adapted from No\u00ebl Coward\u2019s comedy Blithe Spirit, with a score by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray that hasn\u2019t been heard on Broadway since its 1964 debut. Coward\u2019s story follows novelist Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth, whose marriage is upended when the eccentric medium Madame Arcati unwittingly conjures the ghost of Charles\u2019s late first wife, Elvira.<\/p>\n

\n\tElder (The Gilded Age) joins The Wild Party as Jackie, along with new arrivals Evan Tyrone Martin (44 \u2013 The Musical) as Eddie Mackrel, and Joseph A. Byrd (Chicago Med) as Phil D\u2019Armano. Previously announced Jasmine Amy Rogers and Adrienne Warren lead the cast as Queenie and Kate.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirected by Lili-Anne Brown and Guest Music Director Daryl Waters with choreography by Katie Spelman, The Wild Party, running March 18 \u2013 29, brings Joseph Moncure March\u2019s poem to life in this Tony-nominated musical with music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and book by LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe. The tale explores a world dancing on the edge and the joyful defiance of the characters who inhabit it \u201cfor a gin-soaked party full of jazz-age indulgence and Vaudeville stars letting loose off-the-clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEmmy Award winner Brady joins the cast of La Cage Aux Folles as Georges, playing opposite previously announced Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner Billy Porter as Albin. Alaman Diadhiou (Jelly\u2019s Last Jam) joins as their son, Jean-Michel, along with Lance Coadie Williams (Kiss Me, Kate) as Renaud, James Jackson Jr. (A Strange Loop) as Jacob, Michael McElroy (Sunday in the Park with George) as Francois, and Sharon Washington (The Scottsboro Boys) as Marie. Featuring an all-Black cast led by director Robert O\u2019Hara and Guest Music Director Joseph Joubert with choreography by Edgar Godineaux, and tap choreography by Dormeshia, the Tony-winning La Cage Aux Folles by Harvey Fierstein (book) and Jerry Herman (music and lyrics) closes out the 2026 Encores! season with a June 17 \u2013 28 run.<\/p>\n

\n\t La Cage Aux Folles tells the tale of longtime partners Albin and Georges, proprietors of a vibrant drag nightclub in St. Tropez whose world turns upside down when their son brings home his fianc\u00e9e\u2019s strait-laced parents. This Encores! production highlights the original 1983 orchestrations, not heard since its original Broadway run. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe castings were announced today by City Center Artistic Director Jenny Gersten, Producing Creative Director Clint Ramos, and Music Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Dratch, Campbell Scott, Claybourne Elder and Wayne Brady have signed on for several upcoming productions in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34381,34382,34383,9,24,55,54,56,34384,34385,34386],"class_list":{"0":"post-65911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-campbell-scott","9":"tag-city-center-encores","10":"tag-claybourne-elder","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-city-news","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-off-broadway","17":"tag-rachel-dratch","18":"tag-wayne-brady"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}