Photo Flash: Encores! Face the Music

New York City Center Encores! continues its 2007 season with the first full-scale restoration of Irving Berlin and Moss Hart's 1932 musical, Face the Music. Directed by John Rando and choreographed by Randy Skinner, with guest music direction by Rob Fisher, Face the Music plays five performances, from March 29 – April 1, at New York City Center,  West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Face the Music, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and book by Moss Hart, opened on Broadway on Feb 17, 1932.  Songs include "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee," "Soft Lights and Sweet Music," "I Say It's Spinach (And The Hell With It)" and "Manhattan Madness."  Face the Music is, according to production notes, "about a desperate producer trying to raise the money for his latest Broadway revue, Rhinestones of '32.  For investors, he finds crooked NYC policemen who want to lose all their dirty money before their 'tin boxes' are subpoenaed. The show flops on opening night, but becomes a smash hit when 'racy' material is added and the Vice Squad tries to shut it down.

The cast includes Walter Bobbie (Tony Award-winning director of Chicago, actor in Guys and Dolls, etc.), Jeffry Denman (The Producers, White Christmas), Felicia Finley (The Wedding Singer, Aida), Chris Hoch (Spamalot), Mylinda Hull (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Judy Kaye (Tony Award-winner for The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia!), Eddie Korbich (The Drowsy Chaperone), Meredith Patterson (42nd Street), Timothy Shew (Wonderful Town) and Lee Wilkof (Little Shop of Horrors, Assassins).  

Visit www.nycitycenter.org for tickets and more information.

Photos by Joan Marcus

 
Meredith Patterson and Jeffry Denman

Lee Wilkof and Judy Kaye

Walter Bobbie and ensemble