Donna Murphy Shines in City Center Encores' "Dear World"

Encores! has revived Jerry Herman's 1969 musical "Dear World" in a concert production at New York City Center, led by Donna Murphy as Countess Aurelia. Directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, the production presents a smaller, looser, but still effective Herman elixir. The score is by far Herman’s most relaxed, and the new Encores! music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell’s conducting is mostly swooning and enlivens the work. The show's leading lady, Donna Murphy, delivers an endlessly reinvigorating voice at once worldly, incredulous, curious, and confident.