New York City Center has unveiled the programming for its 2026-2027 season, featuring the return of the Encores! series under the leadership of artistic director Jenny Gersten, music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell and producing creative director Clint Ramos. Tony Award winners Andy Blankenbuehler and Sam Pinkleton will stage musicals as part of the series. The full slate of dance programming has also been announced as well as extended dates for the gala presentation of “In the Heights.”
The Encores! series will begin with “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” running from Feb. 3 through Feb. 14, 2027. Featuring music, lyrics and a book by Clark Gesner, the musical is based on the Charles M. Schulz comic strip “Peanuts” and follows the characters through a series of vignettes about growing up. The show first opened on Broadway in 1971; a 1999 revival won two Tony Awards: Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Kristin Chenoweth as Sally Brown and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Roger Bart as Snoopy. While many audiences are familiar with the 1999 revival’s additional music and new arrangements and orchestrations by Andrew Lippa, this Encores! production will utilize the original Off-Broadway 1967 orchestrations and will not include the Broadway revival’s later additions. The City Center staging will be directed by Pinkleton, the Tony-winning director of “Oh, Mary!” and director of the current Broadway revival of “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Next up at Encores! will be “Hallelujah, Baby!,” running from March 17 through March 28, 2027; a director for the production is still to be announced. The musical features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and a book by Arthur Laurents. The plot centers on a young Black woman seeking a show-business career across the first half of the 20th century. The original Broadway production premiered in 1967 and won five 1968 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Actress in a Musical for Leslie Uggams and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Lillian Hayman and Best Producer of a Musical.
The Encores! series will close with “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” running from April 28 through May 9. Based on the novel by Manuel Puig, the musical follows the relationship between a window dresser and a political revolutionary sharing an Argentinian prison cell. Featuring a book by Terrence McNally, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, the show originally opened on Broadway in 1993 and won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Actress in a Musical for Chita Rivera as the Spider Woman, Best Actor in a Musical for Brent Carver, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Anthony Crivello and Best Costume Design for Florence Klotz. In 2025, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was adapted into a movie musical starring Jennifer Lopez. The Encores! production of the musical will be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony-winning choreographer Blankenbuehler. In addition to winning for his choreography of “In the Heights,” he won Tonys for his choreography of “Hamilton” and “Bandstand,” the latter of which he also directed.
