Love Life is part of the 2025 Encores! Series. This series of concert stagings revisits the archives of American musical theater.
Love Life, the only collaboration between Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner, depicts a love story that takes place over 200 years of American history, through the eyes of a couple who never ages, played by Kate Baldwin (
Hello, Dolly!) and Nicholas Christopher (Encores!
Jelly’s Last Jam). This rarely staged production is directed by Tony winner Victoria Clark (
Kimberly Akimbo) and explores the epic and intimate aspects of a marriage through a juxtaposition of heartfelt scenes and satirical vaudeville acts.
When
Love Life arrived on Broadway in 1948, Weill called it "an entirely new form of theater." While it wasn't a smash hit at the time, many of the most famous and influential names in musical theater history point to
Love Life as the first concept musical, an inspiration for musical theater favorites such as
Cabaret,
Chicago, and
Company.
City Center brings
Love Life back to the New York City stage for the first time since its Broadway run over 75 years ago. The show features some of Weill’s most delightful, biting, and melodic numbers, such as “Mr. Right” and “Here I’ll Stay,” which became cabaret standards covered by many, and evoke his iconic work with Bertold Brecht on
The Threepenny Opera.