Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell will be joined by 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 in The Band Wagon, an Encores! Special Event from November 6 – 16, 2014 at City Center.Based on the classic MGM film of the same title, 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 Band Wagon will be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall with music direction by Todd Ellison. The Band Wagon will run for 12 performances, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
A classic backstage musical, The Band Wagon tells the story of a washed-up Hollywood star (Brian Stokes Mitchell) who 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 (Roger Rees), a leading lady who¹s never done a show before (Laura Osnes), and a composer and a lyricist who are at each other¹s throats (Michael McKean and Tracey Ullman). All the things that could never happen in the New York theater today.
Written by Broadway¹s ultimate insiders, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the 1953 film used Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz¹s 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 ³Dancing in the Dark,² ³By Myself,² ³I Guess I¹ll Have to Change My Plan,² ³A Shine on My Shoes,² and that great anthem for all of show business, “That’s Entertainment.²
The Band Wagon will feature sets by Tony Award winner Derek McLane, costumes by six-time Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting by Tony Award winner Peter Kaczorowski, and sound design by two-time Tony Award winner Brian Ronan.
The Band Wagon will run for 12 performances, November 6 to 16 (see full schedule below). Tickets are available at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212 Further information is available at www.NYCityCenter.org.
