New York City Center Encores! Will Stage Kiss of the Spider Woman, Charlie Brown in 2027
New York City Center has unveiled its 2026-2027 season, which includes a full slate of Encores! musicals. This year’s series will present revivals of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Hallelujah, Baby!; and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Tony winner Sam Pinkleton (The Rocky Horror Show; Oh, Mary!) will direct Charlie Brown, with performances running February 3-14, 2027. The musical—which features a book, music, and lyrics by Clark Gesner—will be presented in its original form, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1967 and transferred to Broadway in 1971. The work, inspired by Charles M. Schulz’ beloved comic strip, unfolds as a series of mostly unconnected vignettes, and includes such favorite songs as “Happiness,” “Little Known Facts,” and the title song. A 1999 Broadway revival featured drastically new arrangements and a handful of wholly new songs contributed by Andrew Lippa.
Hallelujah, Baby! will perform March 17-28, 2027, giving the Jule Styne, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green musical its first major New York City revival since the 1967 original production. The musical, which made original star Leslie Uggams a Tony winner, tracks a young Black woman building a career in show business against the backdrop of 20th century America. The show’s timeline flows from the turn of the century to the Civil Rights movement of the ’60s, with its leading lady remaining ageless. The score’s most enduring song is the oft-covered “Being Good Isn’t Good Enough.”
John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally’s Kiss of the Spider Woman will return for its own first-ever New York City revival April 28-May 9, 2027, directed and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton). Based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel, the musical centers on a pair of cellmates in an Argentine prison. Valentin is a political revolutionary, while Molina is a gay window dresser who takes care of him by telling him the stories of his favorite films, many of which star his favorite movie star of all, Aurora. But the one story he fears telling is Aurora’s greatest role: The Spider Woman. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1992 with a Tony-winning production starring Chita Rivera, Brent Carver, and Anthony Crivello; and got a screen adaptation last year via writer-director Bill Condon starring Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, and Tonatiuh. The upcoming Encores! staging is the first major return for the work, which had, as recently as 2023, been announced to get a major production at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. The production was later pulled due to rights issues around the film adaptation.
The venue’s season also includes the return of The Australian Ballet, which will bring the New York premiere of Oscar to the stage October 8-11. The work, choreographed by two-time Tony winner Christopher Wheeldon (An American in Paris) and featuring a score by Joby Talbot performed live by the 47-piece Orchestra of St. Luke’s, is inspired by the life of writer Oscar Wilde, intertwining some of his best-known works (The Nightingale and the Rose and The Picture of Dorian Gray) with his own tragic life story.
The newly announced offerings join the venue’s previously announced Gala presentation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, which will perform October 28-November 15. David Mendizábal will direct, with choreography by Mayte Natalio and music direction by Alejandro Senior.
Tickets for In the Heights go on sale May 21 at noon ET, following a member pre-sale that begins May 7. Encores! tickets are available to renewing subscribers through June 28, with new subscriptions available beginning August 11 for City Center members, and August 18 for general sales. Single ticket sales will begin October 7 for members and October 14 for the general public.
Casting (by The Telsey Office) and further creative team members for all shows are to be announced.
For more about the venue’s complete 2026-2027 season, visit NYCityCenter.org.
