Rehearsals have begun for the City Center Encores! production of the Tony-winning musical Titanic, the final production of the 30th anniversary Encores! series. Performances are scheduled for June 11–23. (There will be a newly added 2 PM performance June 16, the day of the Tony Awards.)
Listen to the 30-piece Encores! Orchestra rehearse Maury Yeston's Tony-winning, sweeping score in the video above, which also features interviews with guest music director Rob Berman and Tony-winning orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, who marvels over hearing his orchestrations played by the large orchestra.
City Center has also announced a few cast changes: Tootsie Tony nominee Lilli Cooper (joining dad Chuck and brother Eddie) will step into the role of Kate Murphey, replacing Shereen Ahmed, while Ari Notartomaso will make their Encores! debut as Bellboy, replacing Jo Lampert.
The starry Titanic cast will also feature Ashley Blanchet as Kate Mullins, Adam Chanler-Berat as First Officer Murdoch, Chuck Cooper as Captain E.J. Smith, Eddie Cooper as Henry Etches, Andrew Durand as Jim Farrell, Drew Gehling as Edgar Beane, Alex Joseph Grayson as Harold Bride, Ramin Karimloo as Frederick Barrett, Emilie Kouatchou as Caroline Neville, Judy Kuhn as Ida Straus, Jose Llana as Thomas Andrews, Bonnie Milligan as Alice Beane, Nathan Salstone as Fredrick Fleet, A.J. Shively as Charles Clarke, Brandon Uranowtiz as J. Bruce Ismay, Samantha Williams as Kate McGowan, and Chip Zien as Isador Straus plus newly announced ensemble members Colin Anderson, Daniel Beeman, Brandon Contreras, Ali Ewoldt, Leslie Donna Flesner, Evan Harrington, Leah Horowitz, Amy Justman, Michael Maliakel, Timothy McDevitt, Grace Morgan, Kent Overshown, Lindsay Roberts, Matthew Scott, and Daniel Torres.
The upcoming concert staging will be directed by Anne Kauffman with choreography by Danny Mefford. Berman will lead The Encores! Orchestra as guest music director.
The limited engagement will also have orchestrations by Jonathan
Tunick, costume design by Márion Talán de la Rosa, lighting design by
David Weiner, and sound design by Megumi Katayama.
With music and lyrics by Yeston (Nine, Grand Hotel) and a book by Peter Stone (Woman of the Year and 1776), Titanic won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book.
Earlier this season, the City Center Encores! series presented two-week engagements of Once Upon a Mattress and Jelly's Last Jam. Casting for all three productions is by The Telsey Office.
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