Assassins, Bubbly Black Girl, and Really Rosie Set for Encores! Off-Center Season

The concert stagings will begin in July at New York City Center.

Assassins, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, and Really Rosie will comprise the Encores! Off-Center summer season, the first under new artistic director Michael Friedman.

“This season might be called ‘Grownups with guns, kids with dreams, and a bubbly girl trying to find her way through America,’” Friedman said in a statement. “Planning the fifth Off‐Center season, I found myself asking: What kind of America do we have?, and What kind of America do we want?, and How can we possibly imagine getting there? These three shows bring with them three very different visions of the American dream and what happens when people try to make their visions real. They exemplify the variety of shows that we do at City Center. They also exemplify the reasons that musical theater matters in the first place.”

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins, which debuted Off-Broadway in 1991 and was presented on Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company in 2004, will be directed by Anne Kauffman. The limited engagement will run July 12-15. A carnival ride through the history of political violence, Sondheim and Weidman’s 1990 musical, according to City Center, “looks right into the heart of American anger, providing a series of showstoppers for a gallery of U.S. presidential assassins ranging from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald to Lynette ’Squeaky’ Fromme.”

Kirsten Childs' Bubbly Black Girl, seen Off-Broadway in 2000, will be offered July 26-27. Playwright Robert O'Hara will direct the concerts of the musical, which “follows a young woman from Los Angeles as she finds her way from dutiful suburban daughter to Broadway dancer, all while navigating the politics of race and gender on a journey to find her own identity.”

The family musical Really Rosie, featuring music by Tony winner Carole King and book and lyrics by Maurice Sendak, will be presented August 2-5. The musical, which contains the songs “Pierre” and “Chicken Soup with Rice,” debuted Off-Broadway in 1980.

Tickets go on sale to the general public March 14 (March 3 for City Center members and March 10 for Peer to Peer members). Tickets can be purchased by calling (212) 581-1212, by visiting NYcitycenter.org or by going to the box office, 131 W. 55th St.

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