New Curator of Old Musicals

But her love for the art form goes back much further — to singing around the piano with her mother after dinner; to organizing neighborhood productions in the backyard; to working on four classic musicals a year in high school.

Now deBessonet will have a chance to share that passion with the public, as the new artistic director of Encores!, a longstanding, popular City Center series that stages short-run productions of decades-old musicals, many of which are rarely revived.

“In my childlike heart, musicals are the rhythm,” said deBessonet, 39, who will take over officially with the 2021 season. “When I listen to and experience musicals, I am filled with a giddy joy, and also real awe, that is unlike any other passion in my life.”

DeBessonet has directed a variety of plays and musicals over the years, but she is best known as the founder of Public Works, a much-lauded program of the Public Theater that once a year stages a new musical adaptation of a classic story, which is performed by a handful of Equity actors and more than 100 amateur performers drawn from across the five boroughs of New York. The program has proved influential, spurring similar ventures in multiple cities across the United States and in England.

DeBessonet will succeed Jack Viertel, who is stepping down next year after 20 years at the Encores! helm.

She has been serving alongside him as the series’ resident director since January; she directed “Big River” at Encores! in 2017; “Pump Boys and Dinettes” in 2014 at Encores! Off-Center, a sister program focusing on revivals of off Broadway shows; and next year she is scheduled to direct an Encores! production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

DeBessonet also serves as a resident director at the Public Theater, a role she will retain.

The Encores! series offers three titles per season, for seven performances each, with orchestras of about 30 musicians. (That’s larger, and allows for a lusher sound, than the ensembles at contemporary Broadway shows.) The program’s budget next year is $4.1 million; ticket prices start at $35 (far lower than Broadway’s).

“Encores! is certainly one of our signature programs — it is now in its 27th season; it is the longest program that City Center has produced; it’s a very important and fundamental part of our history; and it’s very popular with audiences, and our board, and donors,” said Arlene Shuler, City Center’s president and chief executive. “We chose Lear because we know she has a real passion for the Encores! mission, and she combines respect for the past and vision for the future.”

DeBessonet said the longevity of Encores! (it has already revived dozens of shows), and the politics of this moment (some historical works have content that is unacceptable to contemporary audiences), posed some challenges.

“Do all works deserve to be seen again?” she asked. “Should we be allowed to correct things that are, thank God, not palatable to an audience now? I’m walking into a very rich set of questions without a preformed answer.”

Shuler pointed to deBessonet’s plans for “Millie” as an indication of her strengths. Although popular, “Millie” has become controversial, particularly in school settings, because of its depictions of Asians and Asian-Americans, which some people view as satirical, and others as racist. DeBessonet has brought in a Chinese-American playwright, Lauren Yee, as a creative consultant, and has cast a Korean-American actress, Ashley Park, in the lead role (which is usually played by a white woman).

“She is looking at the problems in that book, and trying to address it in a way that makes sense for today’s audience,” Shuler said. “We have to look at shows from the past in a new way, and Lear is very sensitive to dealing with the issues facing all of us today.”

This article originally appeared in

New Curator of Old Musicals

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