Betty Aberlin (top), Carol Hall and Bonnie Strickman in “I’m Getting My Act Together” circa 1980. (Susan Cook)
For 20 years, New York City Center’s Encores! has breathed new life into semi-obscure or simply unappreciated musicals. A few of those limited-run productions — “Chicago,” “Wonderful Town” — even found new life on Broadway.
Now that it’s all grown up and respectable, Encores! decided it was a good time to sire an offspring.
Enter this summer’s Off-Center series, which will present three cult off-Broadway musicals: “The Cradle Will Rock,” “Violet” and “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road.”
Those shows are rarely revived, if at all, but they’ve meant a lot to many — including Off-Center artistic director Jeanine Tesori, herself the successful composer of “Caroline, or Change” and “Shrek.” Now she wants to introduce a new generation to what helped her come of age.
“I studied music, but I had no idea about theater — I thought ‘Gypsy’ was a musical about eastern Europe,” Tesori says, laughing. “I moved to New York in ’79, and all of a sudden I discovered this world and constantly saw shows at places like La MaMa and the Public. Off-Center is mainly off-Broadway, but if a smaller show was on Broadway and I find it interesting, I would go for it.”
Anchoring the Off-Center series are “Cradle” (Wednesday to Saturday) and “Act” (July 24 to 27), sandwiching a one-night-only performance of Tesori’s own 1997 breakthrough, “Violet” (July 17).
Marc Blitzstein’s sung-through “Cradle” is widely acknowledged as a brilliant piece of work. “It’s difficult and wonderful,” says Off-Center recruit — and Broadway stalwart — Danny Burstein, whose work in shows as diverse as “Golden Boy,” “Follies” and “The Drowsy Chaperone” earned him multiple Tony nominations. “And it scares the hell out of me!”
These days, though, the history of “Cradle” is better known than the musical itself.
Commissioned by the New Deal’s Federal Theatre Project, the fiery piece about union-busting fat cats — very much influenced by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht — was scheduled to open on Broadway in June 1937, directed by none other than Orson Welles.
Fearful that the subject would inspire the citizenry to riot, the WPA shut down the production. The company took over an empty off-Broadway house 20 blocks north, audience in tow, and performed guerrilla-style, with Blitzstein himself playing piano.
Burstein — surrounded by a mouthwatering cast that includes Raúl Esparza, Anika Noni Rose and Judy Kuhn — will tackle the role of Mr. Mister, a nasty steel industrialist who cracks down on the workers.
“I keep having visions of playing him like a cross between Richard Nixon and Lex Luthor,” the actor says.
The second big show, 1978’s “Act,” is a lot gentler, but equally committed. Focusing on a 39-year-old cabaret singer (played by Renée Elise Goldsberry, late of “Good People” and TV’s “The Good Wife”), the story is very much of its time, when feminism and consciousness-raising were in the air.
Gretchen Cryer, who not only wrote the book and lyrics but starred in the original production, believes the emotional issues underlying the show are as relevant now as they were then: “It’s about redefining yourself and not living up to expectations about what you should be.”
She and composer Nancy Ford will chat about their hit’s history in one of the satellite events scheduled to precede each Off-Center performance — and their moderator will be none other than Cryer’s son, Jon, the star of “Two and a Half Men.”
“Act” played first at the Public Theater before moving to Circle in the Square, overcoming terrible reviews on the way to a three-year run. The topic struck a nerve with women, and the catchy score contains echoes of contemporary pop-rock influences like Carole King and Carly Simon.
Also making smart use of pop chops is Tesori’s “Violet.” Set in 1964, it follows a young woman with a disfiguring scar on a bus trip through the South.
Starring Sutton Foster, this will be the most bare-bones presentation of the three — the creative team and director Leigh Silverman are streamlining the book scenes so that the evening is more like a concert.
“We have a couple of surprises in store for moments of theatrical spectacularness,” Silverman says, “but the whole point is to return to the mission of Encores!”
And if Off-Center proves to be as inspiring as its mothership, we have years of great musicals ahead of us.
Encores! Off-Center runs Wednesday through July 27 at New York City Center. For a complete schedule and tickets ($25), call 212-581-1212.