CITY CENTER President and Executive Director Judith E. Daykin, Artistic Director Kathleen Marshall and Music Director Rob Fisher have announced the three musicals which will comprise the 2000 season of the critically acclaimed, award-winning series. The seventh annual City Center Encores! Great American Musical In Concert season will open with Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner's On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (Thursday, February 10 - Sunday, February 13). Tenderloin, with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnice, follows (Thursday, March 23 - Monday, March 27). The series will conclude with Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green's Wonderful Town (Thursday, May 4 - Sunday, May 7). Time Warner Inc. is again the major sponsor of City Center Encores!. Casting and directors will be announced at a later date.

A special sixth performance of Tenderloin will serve as the centerpiece of City Center's Annual Benefit Gala on Monday, March 27. Performance-only tickets are available at the box-office and through CityTix (212) 581-1212; for Benefit information call (212) 247-0430, ext 202.

City Center Encores!, has been the event of each theater season for the past six years, recognized by the New York theatrical community and press with the 1997 Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special 1996 New York Drama Critics Circle Award and 1995 Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards. The 1996 City Center Encores! production of Chicago was remounted on Broadway that fall, and was the season's most celebrated musical, winning numerous awards, including six 1997 Tony Awards (the most ever for a revival). The series marks a return of musical theater to the City Center stage where, throughout the 40's, 50's and 60's, a series of distinguished revivals was presented. City Center is today bringing the best of indigenous American art forms to its stage, including dance, theater and music.

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever - with music by Burton Lane, lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner and direction by Robert Lewis - opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 17, 1965 and ran for 280 performances. The show, which starred Barbara Harris and John Cullum, was inspired by Alan Jay Lerner's fascination with the phenomenon of extrasensory perception (ESP). The musical tells the story of a young woman, Daisy Gamble, who when hypnotized by a doctor recalls an earlier life in 18th century London as Melinda Wells. When the doctor falls for Melinda, Daisy becomes her own rival for his affections. The film version starred Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. In addition to the title song, the Burton Lane score includes such songs as "Hurry! It's Lovely Up Here!," "She Wasn't You" and "Come Back To Me".

Tenderloin - with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and a book by George Abbott (who also directed) and Jerome Weidman - opened on Broadway on October 17, 1960 at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theater, where it ran for 216 performances. The musical, which starred Maurice Evans, Eileen Rodgers and Ron Husmann, is based on the novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams, and is the story of a crusading minister's efforts to clean up New York City's notorious Tenderloin district of NYC at the turn of the century. The score's songs include "Artificial Flowers," "The Picture of Happiness" and "Good Clean Fun".

Wonderful Town - with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and book by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov - was also directed by George Abbott and opened February 25, 1953, at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it ran for 559 performances. Bernstein and Comden & Green's next show after their debut On The Town, Wonderful Town starred Rosalind Russell (in her only major musical comedy role) and Edie Adams. Based on Ruth McKinney's New Yorker short stories, the plot concerns two sisters who move to Greenwich Village from Ohio seeking careers. Songs from the score include "Christopher Street," "Ohio," "One Hundred Easy Ways" and "Conga!".

Tickets for all three City Center Encores! productions are now available at the box-office at City Center (on West 55th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). through CityTix at (212) 581-1212, and on-line at www.citycenter.org.

Merry Christmas & See you Monday!

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