New York City Center names Encores! casting, show updates for 2027

Rachel Dratch and Jeff Hiller complete the cast of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, while Let ’Em Eat Cake will replace the previously announced Hallelujah, Baby!

New York City Center has announced casting and show updates for its 2027 Encores! lineup, an annual series featuring concert stagings of lesser-revived musicals.

Completing the cast of the season's first Encores! show, the Sam Pinkleton-directed You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, are Tony Award nominee Rachel Dratch as Patty and Emmy winner Jeff Hiller as Schroeder. They join the previously announced Tony and Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce as Charlie Brown, Oscar and Tony nominee Danielle Brooks as Lucy, Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri as Snoopy, and Jin Ha as Linus. Performances run from February 3-14.

Additionally, a production of the musical Let ’Em Eat Cake will replace the previously announced Hallelujah, Baby! as the second show in the Encores! season, running March 17-28. Let ’Em Eat Cake is a 1933 farce about a president's refusal to accept his failed reelection bid, which results in "a fashion-fueled revolution, a Supreme-ly high-stakes baseball game, and increasingly unhinged hijinks."

The musical has a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind and a score by George and Ira Gershwin. The Encores! production will be directed by Zack Winokur in association with Opera Philadelphia, with guest music director Rob Berman leading The Encores! Orchestra.

Hallelujah, Baby! will be presented during a future Encores! season to allow more time for creative development.

The third and final Encores! show of 2027, Kiss of the Spider Woman, is still scheduled to run as planned from April 28 to May 9.

Encores! casting and programming are subject to change, and casting for the second two Encores! productions will be announced at a later date.

Photo credit: Rachel Dratch and Jeff Hiller. (Dratch photo by Rob Sapp; Hiller photo by Greg Kramer)