New York City Center Announces Encores! Season Featuring Billy Porter in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
The 2025–2026 New York City Center season is sure to be “the life of the party.” The season’s annual gala presentation will feature a production of Bat Boy: The Musical directed by two-time Tony Award winner Alex Timbers. It will run from Oct. 29 to Nov. 9, 2025. The 2026 Encores! Series will include High Spirits, The Wild Party, and La Cage Aux Folles starring Billy Porter.
This season is the first planned by Jenny Gersten, the newly appointed Vice President & Artistic Director of Musical Theatre at City Center.
“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,” Gersten said in a statement. “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.”
Tickets for Bat Boy will go on sale June 24, with an exclusive member presale beginning June 10.
Directed by Jessica Stone, High Spirits will run Feb. 4 to 15, 2026. It tells the story of the eccentric, bike-riding Madame Arcati who unknowingly summons the ghost of a man named Charles’ ex-wife, who proves quite the formidable match to his current wife.
Following High Spirits will be The Wild Party, which will run March 18 to 29, 2026 and will be directed by Lili-Anne Brown. The musical brings Joseph Moncure March’s notorious poem to life, telling the story one wild evening in a Manhattan apartment shared by a vaudeville dancer and a vaudeville clown. The dark and sensual tale explores what happens when a night of debauchery leads to a morning of sobering truths.
The 2026 Encores! season will close with La Cage Aux Folles, directed by Robert O’Hara, from June 17 to 28. The iconic Tony Award-winning musical with book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman was the first to center its story around a gay couple. It will star Billy Porter as Albin and, for the first time, feature an all-Black cast.
Current Encores! subscribers can renew their subscriptions now through June 30, with new subscriptions becoming available to members on Aug. 5, 2025 and to the general public starting Aug. 25. Individual tickets to Encores! productions go on sale to members on Oct. 14 and to the general public on Oct. 21.
