New York City Center will be home this summer to a new series of Off Broadway musicals reincarnated by contemporary artists and intended to attract young audiences with tickets priced mostly at $25 and free, preperformance events.
Called “Encores! Off-Center,†the series will feature three shows under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori, a composer (“Caroline, or Change,â€).  It begins July 10-13 with “The Cradle Will Rock,†a tale of exploited workers written by Marc Blitzen, directed by Sam Gold and choreographed by Chase Brock. The show, originally developed in 1937 with funds from the Federal Theater Project, a branch of the Works Progress Administration, was brought to City Center by Leonard Bernstein in 1947.
It will be followed on July 17 by a one-night-only performance of “Violet,†with music by Ms. Tesori and lyrics by Brian Crawley. Starring Sutton Foster and directed by Leigh Silverman, it is set in the Deep South of 1964 and concerns the relationship between a physically scarred young white woman and a young black soldier. It opened for a limited run at Playwrights Horizons in 1997.
The series ends with Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford’s “I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road,†about a middle-aged singer’s attempted comeback.  It opened in 1978 at the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public Theater. The City Center version is directed by Kathleen Marshall and will run July 24-27.
The series is intended to be the first of an annual event, Ms. Tesori said. Tickets go on sale April 15. “Encores! Off-Center†will also feature free precurtain conversations and other events with artists, scholars and musicians.
