Past Event: High Button Shoes

Join us for a conversation drawing on the final Encores! production of the season, High Button Shoes. This zany springtime romp recounts the adventures of a traveling con-man caught up in small town America. Although it opened on Broadway in 1947, the show is set in 1913 rural New Jersey – a world of Model “T” Fords and the Rutgers football squad. To consider how the past is portrayed through costume and scenic design, costume designer Linda Cho, scenic designer for High Button Shoes Allen Moyer, and artistic director of Encores! Jack Viertel, sit down for a discussion about the triumphs and trials of setting the scene. Moderated by Morgen Stevens-Garmon, associate curator of the Museum’s treasured Theater Collection.

Featuring live performances by Lauren Worsham and Ben Davis.

Co-presented with New York City Center, this is the third event in our series, Encores! Behind the Curtain @ MCNY. To view all the programs in the series, click here.

Performances of High Button Shoes will be taking place at City Center from May 8 -12, 2019. For more information, click here. 

About the Speakers:
Linda Cho is a Tony Award-winning costume designer based in New York City. In 2014 she won the Tony Award and the Henry Hewes Design Award for the Broadway musical a Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. In 2017 she was nominated for the Tony, Outer Critic’s Circle, and Drama Desk Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical for the Broadway production of Anastasia. In 2018 she was proud to be a part of Broadway’s first all-female creative team for Lifespan of a Fact.

Allen Moyer is a scenic designer and resident designer for the Encores! series at New York City Center.  His credits include the musical Grey Gardens for which he received a Tony Nomination. Along with extensive Broadway, Off-Broadway and Opera credits, Moyer has designed productions for groups including the Metropolitan Opera, the Mark Morris Dance Group, the New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera and the English National Opera.  He is the recipient of the 2006 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence and a graduate of New York University/Tisch School of the Arts.

Jack Viertel is a producer, dramaturg, librettist, and the senior vice president of Jujamcyn Theaters. He has been in charge of Encores! since 2000, overseeing more than 50 productions. He conceived the Encores! revues Stairway to Paradise; and Cotton Club Parade, which moved to Broadway under the title After Midnight; and Hey, Look Me Over!. He is also the author of The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows are Built (2016).

Morgen Stevens-Garmon (moderator) has been with the Museum of the City of New York since 2010 and currently serves as the associate curator for the Theater Collection. She holds an MA in Theater from CUNY-Hunter College and a MILS from Pratt Institute. Stevens-Garmon has contributed articles to print and electronic resources and presented at regional, national, and international conferences, most recently at the 2018 New York Archives Week Symposium.

*Please note that John Rando is no longer able to participate in this conversation.