New York City Center at present introduced that its musical theater programming for the 2025–2026 Season will embrace an Encores! presentation of an all-Black manufacturing of La Cage Aux Folles starring Billy Porter as Albin. Robert O’Hara will directed the manufacturing scheduled for June 17 via 28, 2026.
The musical was one in all three Encores! productions and a gala presentation introduced at present by City Center for the season – the primary season deliberate by the newly appointed VP & Artistic Director, Musical Theater Jenny Gersten.
Besides Porter, no casting was but introduced for the season.
In addition to La Cage, the opposite Encores! musicals to be introduced are the Hugh Martin-Timothy Gray musical High Spirits, primarily based on Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, to be directed by Jessica Stone; and the Michael John LaChiusa-George C. Wolfe musical The Wild Party, directed by Lili-Anne Brown.
In addition to the Encores! entries, the City Center season will embrace gala profit performances of Keythe Farley-Brian Flemming-Laurence O’Keefe’s Bat Boy: The Musical, to be directed by Alex Timbers.
See beneath for efficiency dates, venues and different particulars.
“What I love about all four of this season’s productions is the diversity of eras and styles they bring to our stage—from the pop-rock sound of Bat Boy: The Musical to the glorious original orchestrations for La Cage Aux Folles,” mentioned Jenny Gersten. “These shows are all fun in very different ways, but they also all have narratives about understanding and respecting our differences. It feels like the right moment to offer stories about acceptance during these times.”
“Jenny and the musical theater team have put together an extraordinary season for our growing audiences,” mentioned Michael S. Rosenberg, President & CEO. “Each of these four musicals will run for two weeks and every performance will have $28 tickets available through our Access Club. Our goal is to produce great work and make sure people can afford to see it.”
The season kicks off October 29 (via November 9) with Bat Boy: The Musical, beginning with a profit efficiency adopted by a gala dinner on the Ziegfeld Ballroom honoring Broadway producer Bee Carrozzini of ATG Entertainment. Directed by two-time Tony Award winner Alex Timbers, this “heartfelt, irreverent, darkly comic musical follows a half-human, half-bat teenager who searches for acceptance and love in a small town after he is discovered in a cave.” Inspired by a well-liked tabloid article from the Nineteen Nineties, this musical achieved cult traditional standing when it premiered Off Broadway in 2001. Featuring a pulsing pop-rock rating by Laurence O’Keefe with unique orchestrations by Tony winner Alex Lacamoire, and e-book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, this Gala Presentation shines contemporary gentle on a beloved rating with newly expanded orchestrations. Funds raised from Bat Boy: The Musical assist maintain City Center’s unforgettable performances reasonably priced and accessible for everybody.
The Encores! sequence begins February 4 (via 15) with High Spirits. The synopsis: When the eccentric, bike-riding Madame Arcati unknowingly summons the ghost of Charles’s ex-wife, Elvira, she proves a formidable, and invisible, match for his present spouse, Ruth. Based on Noël Coward’s beloved play Blithe Spirit, this Tony-nominated musical is “full of haunted hijinks and features a brassy, swinging score by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray that has rarely been heard since its original Broadway run in 1964.”
Next is The Wild Party from March 18 via 29. Synopsis: “What happens when a night of debauchery leads to a morning of sobering truths? With music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and book by LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe, The Wild Party brings Joseph Moncure March’s notorious poem to life in this Tony-nominated musical adaptation. This dark, sensual, glittering tale explores a world dancing on the edge and the joyful defiance of the characters who inhabit it. Directed by Lili-Anne Brown, this gin-soaked party is full of jazz-age indulgence and Vaudeville stars letting loose off-the-clock.”
Closing out the 2026 Encores! sequence from June 17 via 28 is La Cage Aux Folles. This Tony-winning musical of affection, household, and acceptance was the primary to middle its story round a homosexual couple—who occur to run the best drag present on the French Riviera. Directed by Robert O’Hara with Guest Music Director Joseph Joubert, the Encores! manufacturing options an all-Black forged led by Emmy, Grammy, and three-time Tony Award-winning artist Billy Porter because the fabulous Albin, bringing a brand new dimension to the present’s core themes of identification and belonging. With a e-book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, the tuneful rating contains the pleasant duet “With You on My Arm” and prideful anthem “I Am What I Am.”