Press Releases
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ENCORES! SUMMER STARS PRODUCTION OF DAMN YANKEES STARRING SEAN HAYES & JANE KRAKOWSKI
Released April 10, 2008 |
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DAMN YANKEES, starring Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski, will be the second of New York City Center’s Encores! Summer Stars series, running July 5 – 27, 2008 at New York City Center, W. 55 th Street between 6 th & 7 th Avenues. Damn Yankees will be directed by John Rando with Music Direction by Rob Berman. A July 10 opening is planned.
Damn Yankees has a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and is based on Wallop's novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant."
It is the story of Joe Boyd, the ultimate baseball fan, who sells his soul to the Devil (Sean Hayes) for the chance to help his team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant race against the Yankees. The Devil is aided by the sexy Lola (Jane Krakowski), who seduces Joe, but ultimately helps him outsmart the Devil and return to his beloved wife. Songs include "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants.”
The original Broadway production of Damn Yankees opened at the 46th Street Theatre on May 5, 1955, playing 1,019 performances. Directed by George Abbott with musical numbers staged by Bob Fosse, the original cast included Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston.
Sean Hayes won an Emmy (and was nominated six times) for his portrayal of “Jack” on “Will & Grace.” He starred as Jerry Lewis in the television movie “The Martin & Lewis Story.” His films include The Bucket List, Pieces of April, The Cat in the Hat (as the voice of the Fish), Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss, and Cats and Dogs (as the voice of Mr. Tinkles). He has won two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a TV Guide Award and an American Comedy Award.
Jane Krakowski originated the role of “ Dinah the Dining Car” in the 1987 Broadway production of Starlight Express. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in Grand Hotel; won the Tony Award for the revival of Nine; played April in Company at the Roundabout Theatre; and appeared alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress. She starred on television in “Ally McBeal” and can currently be seen as Jenna Maroney on “30 Rock.”
John Rando’s Broadway credits include The Wedding Singer and Urinetown (Tony Award for Best Director). His other New York credits include The Dinner Party, A Thousand Clowns and Polish Joke. His previous Encores! credits include Face the Music, Strike Up the Band, Do Re Mi,The Pajama Game and Of Thee I Sing.
Rob Berman is Music Director of the New York City Center Encores! series, where he has conducted and provided musical direction for Stairway to Paradise and Applause. He was the conductor of the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game and music director of the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration’s Sunday in the Park with George (Helen Hayes Award, Best Musical Direction). Berman is music supervisor of Irving Berlin's White Christmas and music director for the Kennedy Center Honors.
Encores! Summer Stars, an expanded version of City Center’s acclaimed Encores! series, is dedicated to presenting more-fully realized classic works of the American musical theater, and to giving leading actors the chance to play roles they were born to play.
New York City Center Encores! (Jack Viertel, Artistic Director; Rob Berman, Music Director) has, since 1994, celebrated the rarely-heard works of America’s most important composers and lyricists. Conceived as “concert versions,” each Encores! season gives three scores the chance to be heard as originally intended by their creators. Over the years, Encores! has presented the works of the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Bock and Harnick, Burt Bacharach, Kander and Ebb, Comden and Green, and many more. The program is the recipient of a special 2000 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award and Jujamcyn Theaters Award.
The landmark not-for-profit New York City Center was founded in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as Manhattan 's first performing arts center, and is now the annual New York City home to Alvin Ailey, American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre 's fall season, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and Manhattan Theatre Club. New York City Center is host to some of America 's and the world 's most acclaimed performers and productions, and the producer of the Tony-honored Encores! and Encores! Summer Stars series, and the annual Fall for Dance Festival.
Tickets for Damn Yankees are available to members beginning April 11, to Encores! Subscribers on April 14 and to the general public beginning April 18 at the New York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online HERE. Tickets for the Orchestra, Grand Tier are $110 & 85; Mid-Mezzanine tickets are $50; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Gallery are $25
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ENCORES! JUNO
CAST ANNOUNCED
Released
March 12, 2008 |
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Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark
will be joined by Conrad John Schuck, Dermot
Crowley, Celia Keenan-Bolger and Michael
Arden in Marc Blitzstein and Joseph
Stein’sJuno, the
second Encores! production of New York City
Center’s 2008 season. Directed by Tony Award-winner Garry
Hynes with guest music direction by Eric
Stern and choreography by Warren Carlyle,
Juno will play for five performances, from March
27 – 30, at New York City Center, West 55
th Street (between 6 th and 7 th Avenues). This will be
the first production since the original Broadway staging
in 1959 to use the original orchestrations by Blitzstein,
Hershey Kay and Robert Russell Bennett.
Juno, with music and lyrics by Marc
Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein, is based on the 1924
play Juno and The Paycock by Sean O’Casey.
It originally opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden
Theater on March 9, 1959, starring Shirley Booth and
Melvyn Douglas, and played a total of sixteen
performances. Songs include “I Wish It So,”
“We’re Alive,” and “One Kind Word.”
Juno chronicles the disintegration of an Irish
family in Dublin in the early 1920s during the
confrontation between the Irish Republican Army and the
British. Juno Boyle (Victoria Clark) is
the hardworking matriarch who struggles heroically to
hold her family together in the face of war, betrayal,
and her husband’s drinking. Conrad John
Schuck will play her husband, Captain Boyle.
The cast includes: Victoria Clark, Conrad John Schuck,
Dermot Crowley, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Michael Arden, Tyler
Hanes, Clarke Thorell, Rosaleen Linehan, Louisa
Flaningam, Jennifer Smith and Kay Walbye with Timothy W.
Bish, Troy Edward Bowles, Pamela Brumley, Callie Carter,
Leah Edwards, Kurt Froman, Ryan Jackson, Mary Ann Lamb,
Jay Lusteck, Mary MacLeod , Annie McGreevey, J. Maxwell
Miller, Pamela Otterson, John Selya, Timothy Shew, Meagan
Thomas, Kevin Vortmann, Alan M-L Wager, and Patrick
Wetzel.
Victoria Clark (Juno Boyle) won the Tony
Award for her performance in The Light in the Piazza
by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel. Clark's previous
work includes the Broadway musicals How to Succeed in
Business Without Really Trying, Cabaret, Urinetown,
Titanic, Guys and Dolls, and A Grand
Night for Singing . She is featured in M.
Night Shyamalan's upcoming film, The Happening, and
just released her debut solo album, Fifteen Seconds
of Grace. Ms. Clark portrayed Sally in last season’s
acclaimed Encores! production of Follies.
Conrad John Schuck (Captain Boyle) last
appeared on Broadway in the revival of Annie Get Your
Gun. He played Daddy Warbucks in both the original
and revival productions of Annie. Mr. Schuck has
worked frequently with director Robert Altman in such
classic films as Mash, Brewster McCloud, McCabe &
Mrs. Miller and Thieves Like Us. He was a
series regular on “McMillian & Wife,”
opposite Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James, for six
seasons.
Dermot Crowley (Joxer Boyle) appeared on
Broadway in Conor McPherson’s The Weir and
Brian Friel’s Translations. His other
credits include Dealer¹s Choice at both the
Long Wharf and Manhattan Theatre Club. Mr. Crowley has
worked extensively at the Royal National Theatre and in
the West End in London. His films include The Legend
of Bagger Vance, Octopussy, The Return of the
Jedi and Babel.
Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mary Boyle)
recently appeared on Broadway as Eponine in Les
Misérables, and both on and off-Broadway in The25th
Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She has appeared
Off-Broadway in Little Fishes at Second Stage,
Kindertransport at Manhattan Theatre Club and
Summer of ’42 at Godspeed Opera House.
Michael Arden (Jerry Devine) made his
Broadway debut as Tom Sawyer in the 2003 revival of Big
River. Michael recently starred in the Twyla Tharp
musical The Times They Are A-Changin', based on
the music of Bob Dylan, both on Broadway and at the Old
Globe Theatre in San Diego. In the summer of 2007 he
toured Europe with Barbra Streisand as one of her “Broadway
Boys”. Michael's regional theatre credits include Pippin,
God of Vengeance, Falsettoland, Tom Jones' Harold
and Maude, West Side Story, Songs for a
New World, The Common Pursuit and Tale. His
television credits include “Grey’s Anatomy,”
“Numbers,” and the upcoming Fox show, “The
Return of Jezebel James.”
Tyler Hanes (Johnny Boyle ) is an
accomplished dancer/singer/actor and has been a performer
for most of his life. His Broadway credits include Oklahoma!,
Urban Cowboy, The Boy From Oz, The Frogs, Sweet Charity,
Hairspray and A Chorus Line. Tyler starred
as Ren McCormick in a Chicago production of Footloose,
winning a prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award nomination
for Best Actor in a Musical. Tyler played the recurring
role of Brian on "One Life to Live" and
recently wrapped production on Phoebe in Wonderland
(2009) starring Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman.
Garry Hynes (Director) received a Tony
Award for Best Director in 1998 for Martin McDonagh’s
The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and has the
distinction of being the first woman ever to win a Tony
for directing. The following year she received a Tony
nomination for her direction of Mr. McDonagh’s The
Lonesome West. Her additional Broadway credits
include Translations and Sixteen Wounded. She
co-founded Ireland’s Druid Theatre Company, the
first professional company established in Ireland outside
Dublin. She served as Artistic Director of the company
between 1975 and 1990, and again from 1994 to the
present. In 1990, Ms. Hynes was appointed Artistic
Director of The Abbey Theatre. She has also directed for
the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-on-Avon and
London, The Royal Court Theatre ( London) and The Gate
Theatre ( Dublin).
Eric Stern (Guest Music Director) is a
veteran Broadway conductor and arranger with over 15
Broadway musicals and 30 albums to his credit. His
Broadway credits include Xanadu, Follies,
Parade, Candide, Once Upon a
Mattress, The King And I, Carousel,
The Will Rogers Follies, and Legs Diamond.
Mr. Stern’s albums include the Grammy-award winning Will
Rogers Follies, Leonard Bernstein's New York, and
three complete Gershwin musicals: Lady Be Good,
Pardon My English and Oh, Kay! Mr. Stern
was awarded an Emmy for his work with PBS and is the
recipient of numerous Gramophone awards. He was guest
music director of last season’s Encores!
production of Follies.
The Newman’s Own Foundation is
the Season Sponsor for the 2008 Encores! season.
The Newman’s Own Foundation is an independent
private foundation which derives its grant making income
from royalty payments received in conjunction with the
sale of Newman’s Own food products. Since the
inception of Newman’s Own in the early 1980s, over
$200 million has been donated to thousands of charitable
organizations worldwide.
New York City Center Encores!
(Jack Viertel, Artistic Director; Rob Berman, Music
Director) has, since 1994, celebrated the rarely-heard
works of America’s most important composers and
lyricists. Conceived as concert versions, each Encores!
season gives three scores the chance to be heard as
originally intended by their creators. Encores!Summer
Stars¸ a new annual series launched in 2007 with an
acclaimed production of Gypsy starring Patti
LuPone, presents more fully-realized productions of
memorable shows, providing leading actors the chance to
play roles they were born to play. Over the years, Encores!
has presented the works of the Gershwins, Rodgers and
Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Irving
Berlin, Kurt Weill, Bock and Harnick, Burt Bacharach,
Kander and Ebb, Comden and Green, and many more. The
program is the recipient of a special 2000 Tony Honor for
Excellence in the Theatre, as well as an Outer Critics
Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award and Jujamcyn Theaters
Award.
The landmark not-for-profit New York City Center
was founded in 1943 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as
Manhattan's first performing arts center, and is now the
annual New York City home to Alvin Ailey, American Dance
Theater, American Ballet Theatre 's fall season, Paul
Taylor Dance Company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and
Manhattan Theatre Club. New York City Center is host to
some of America's and the world 's most acclaimed
performers and productions, and the producer of the
Tony-honored Encores! and Encores!Summer
Stars series, and the annual Fall for Dance Festival. |
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JUNO
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Friday, March 28, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 2:00 and 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 6:30 pm
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| Tickets for the 2008 Encores! season are
available at the New York City Center Box Office (West
55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through
CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online at www.nycitycenter.org.
Tickets for the Orchestra, Grand Tier and Mid-Mezzanine
are $95; tickets for the Rear Mezzanine and Front Gallery
are $50; tickets for the Rear Gallery are $25. |
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KIROV BALLET AND ORCHESTRA TO
PERFORM AT NEW YORK CITY CENTER APRIL 1-20, 2008
Released
April 18, 2007 |
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Ardani Artists and New York City Center
are proud to announce that the world renowned Kirov
Ballet, also known as Ballet Company of the
Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia, returns to
New York for a three-week engagement in April 2008. The
season will be presented by Ardani Artists in association
with New York City Center, and will run from April
1 through April 20, 2008. Tickets will go on
sale April 20, 2007.
During its three-week season, the 200-year-old Russian
company, under the Artistic Direction of Valery
Gergiev and Director of the Ballet Makhar
Vaziev, will be performing a wide range of works by the
choreographers and artists who have made the Kirov one of
the world’s greatest ballet companies, as well as
works by contemporary dance makers. The company’s
rich classical repertoire includes works by Marius
Petipa,Michel Fokine and George
Balanchine and more modern works by William
Forsythe. The Kirov Ballet will bring some of its most
acclaimed repertory classics: Petipa’s The
Kingdom of Shadows from La Bayadere; Fokine’s
Scheherazade and Chopiniana; Gorsky’s The
Grand Pas de Deux from Don Quixote; Balanchine’s
Jewels (Rubies) and Ballet
Imperial; as well as Forsythe’s Steptext.
It will be first appearance of the Kirov Ballet and
Orchestra at New York City Center, home to some of the
country’s leading dance companies, including Alvin
Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and
Paul Taylor Dance Company.
“We look forward to returning to New York City,”
said Mr. Gergiev, “and especially to our first
season at New York City Center, which has a long history
of presenting world-class companies and choreographers,
just like our home at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg.”
The historic Kirov Ballet was founded in
1783 and is closely linked with the legacy of classical
Russian ballet, and throughout the centuries, the company
has produced the world’s greatest dancers in ballet,
including such legendary performers as Anna Pavlova,
Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov,
Natalia Makarova and many more.
Under the artistic direction of Valery Gergiev since
1988, the Kirov continues its tradition of discovering
exceptional dancers: Uliana Lopatkina, Diana Vishneva,
Daria Pavlenko, Igor Zelensky, Igor Kolb, Andrian Fadeev,
Danila Korsuntsev and Leonid Sarafanov will be part of
the 200-member company performing at CityCenter.
Ardani Artists Management was founded in
Moscow by arts promoter Sergei Danilian in 1990, and
entered the American market in 1994. The Company has
brought to the U.S. some of the best exponents of arts
and culture from the former Soviet Union. In 1998, Ardani
Artists introduced American audiences to the Eifman
Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia’s leading
contemporary ballet company. Since 1998, the Eifman
Ballet has appeared regularly at New York City Center,
and toured the U.S. on regular basis. Ardani Artists has
also presented the Bolshoi Ballet on a U.S. tour in 2002,
and the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet in 2003, 2005, and 2006
U.S. tours. In 2006, in collaboration with the Orange
County Performing Arts Center, the West Coast’s
premier presenter of dance, Ardani Artists produced the
critically acclaimed “Kings of the Dance” and
The Mariinsky Festival (Opera, Ballet, Orchestra) as part
of the Center’s 20 th Anniversary celebrations and
opening of its new concert hall. Ardani Artists’
upcoming projects include another co-production with
OCPAC: “Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion,”
Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company U.S. tour and a “Kings
of the Dance” tour in Russia.
New York City Center has long been known
and beloved by New York audiences not only as one of the
city's preeminent performing arts institutions but also
as an accessible and welcoming venue for dance. New York
City Center is the New York home to some of the country’s
leading dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American
Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and Paul Taylor
Dance Company. Continuing to fulfill its mission to
make the arts accessible to the broadest possible
audiences, in 2004 New York City Center launched the
acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival which, for $10 a
ticket, annually celebrates the vitality and creativity
of dance today. In 2006, New York City Center and
London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre created a
partnership to facilitate the exchange of innovative
dance works and new commissions by up-and-coming and
acclaimed choreographers and dance companies, both in
London and in New York City. In addition to its
rich dance offerings, New York City Center also produces
the Tony®-honored Encores! musical theater series, and
is the home of Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New York
City’s premier theater companies.
Tickets for the Kirov’s 2008 New York City Center
season will be available beginning April 20 at the New
York City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th
and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or
online at www.nycitycenter.org.
Tickets for the Orchestra and Grand Tier are $110;
Mid-Mezzanine tickets are $75; tickets for the Rear
Mezzanine are $60 and $35.
The Kirov will be performing the following
ballets and excerpts during its City Center engagement:
Paquita (Grand Pas), Marius Petipa
Raymonda (Act 3), Marius Petipa
La Bayadere (The Kingdom of Shadows), Marius
Petipa
Chopiniana, Michel Fokine, Michel Fokine
The Dying Swan, Michael Fokine
Le Spectre de la Rose, Michel Fokine
Scheherazade, Michel Fokine
Diana and Acteon (Pas de Deux),
Agrippina Vaganova
Don Quixote, (Grand Pas de Deux),
Marius Petipa
The Awakening Flora, Marius Petipa
La Bayadere (The Kingdom of Shadows),
Marius Petipa
Etudes, Harald Lander
Steptext, William Forsythe
Approximate Sonata, William Forsythe
The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, William
Forsythe
In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated, William
Forsythe
Jewels (Rubies), George Balanchine
Serenade, George Balanchine
Ballet Imperial, George Balanchine
(A complete performance schedule and further
information is available at www.nycitycenter.org or
www.ardani.com) |
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ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION
AWARDS NEW YORK CITY CENTER $3.5 MILLION TO ESTABLISH
FALL FOR DANCE ENDOWMENT
Released January 20, 2007 |
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Arlene Shuler, President and CEO of New
York City Center, today announced that The Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant of $3.5 million to
City Center for the support of its Fall for Dance
Festival. The grant includes $2.5 million to inaugurate a
new, dedicated endowment fund for Fall for Dance
and up to $1 million to help underwrite the Festival’s
annual expenses until the $10 million fund is fully
established. The Mellon Foundation’s grant requires
City Center to match the $2.5 million endowment component
two to one over the next five years. To reach this goal,
City Center will launch a new endowment campaign that
will seek to secure the full $10 million by 2012. The
Mellon grant will help to assure the future of the Fall
for Dance Festival by inaugurating this vital
endowment allowing City Center to continue in its
historic role as an accessible and welcoming home for
outstanding dance in New York City through programs like Fall
for Dance.
"In just three seasons, the Fall for Dance
Festival has become a successful model for audience
development programming for other arts organizations, and
has exceeded our own expectations for bringing thousands
of new audience members to City Center.” said
Arlene Shuler, “Not only is the Festival the first
dance experience for many attendees, it also offers
smaller and lesser-known companies significant exposure,
and has reinvigorated the perception of City Center as a
home for dance in New York City. This extraordinary grant
will enable us, for many years to come, to continue
presenting exciting world-class and up-and-coming
companies at a low price that makes tickets affordable to
a diverse and enthusiastic audience. We are so
grateful to The Mellon Foundation for its leadership
support which will ensure the long-term viability of Fall
for Dance.”
Established in 2004, the Fall for Dance Festival
celebrates the vitality and breadth of dance by
presenting 30 different dance companies from New York,
across the country and around the world, during 10 days
of performances. Artists represent a variety of genres
from ballet to hip-hop. The Festival showcase premier
dance companies alongside today’s most exciting new
talents, and with all tickets just $10, dance lovers and
a new audiences willing to give dance a try have made the
Festival a sold-out success.
The Festival has made great progress in achieving its
original goal of helping develop a new generation of
dancegoers. Surveys distributed during the 2006 Festival
indicated 37% of the audience was under 30 years of age
and 24% were not regular dance attendees. Just as
important, 40% of the respondents who had attended
previous Fall for Dance Festivals saw more dance
performances throughout the year, as a result of their
experience at the Festival - which is a sign that Fall
for Dance has benefited the entire dance community
by enticing audiences with the right combination of
affordable ticket prices and programming. The Festival
has also introduced companies to dancegoers who might be
unfamiliar with their work; in fact, 45% of the audience
said that they had subsequently attended a performance by
one of the companies they saw at the Festival.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a private
philanthropic institution, with assets of approximately
$5 billion, and issues grants on a selective basis to
organizations of higher education, independent libraries,
and centers for advanced study, museums, art
conservation, and performing arts groups.
Under its Performing Arts Program, the Foundation focuses
on achieving long-term results by providing multi-year
grants to organizations in the disciplines of music,
theater, dance, and opera. These grants, which are
awarded on the basis of artistic merit and leadership in
the field, seek to strengthen an institution’s
artistic and administrative capacity; encourage the
development and performance of new work; identify and
train new generations of leaders; reinforce the role of
individual artists within institutions; expand research
and scholarship in the performing arts. The Mellon’s
annual donations specifically for performing arts, have
averaged $20 million since 2000.
New York City Center has long been known and beloved by
New York audiences not only as one of the city's
preeminent performing arts institutions but also as an
accessible and welcoming venue for dance and theater. New
York City Center produces the Tony-honored Encores!
musical theater series, and is home to some of the
country’s leading dance companies, including Alvin
Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and
Paul Taylor Dance Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre
Club, one of New York City’s leading theater
companies. Continuing to fulfill its mission to make the
arts accessible to the broadest possible audiences, in
2004 New York City Center launched the acclaimed Fall
for Dance Festival. In 2006, New York City Center
and London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre created a
partnership to facilitate the exchange of innovative
dance works and new commissions by up-and-coming and
acclaimed choreographers and dance companies, both in
London and in New York City. |
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Media Contact:
Helene Davis
Helene Davis Public Relations
| 212.354.7436
