Breaking News: Encores! 2016 Season to Feature CABIN IN THE SKY, 1776, DO I HEAR A WALTZ? — Page 2

"I was hoping they'd do LOVE LIFE one of these days. Apparently, the Kurt Weill estate isn't really interested in it getting done, though.  "

 That seems a groundless statement, inasmuch as the critical edition of the show (which will make productions possible) is in preparation right now. Once it's ready, there will likely be a number of productions, but probably not right now.

"Isn't "1776" a little off their mission of producing "rarely seen" Broadway musicals?"

Encores abandoned their mission a long time ago.  I think when they did "Bye Bye Birdie" was when I realized they had left their original intent.  It wouldn't surprise me if they did Gypsy or The Sound of Music.

 That seems a groundless statement, inasmuch as the critical edition of the show (which will make productions possible) is in preparation right now. Once it's ready, there will likely be a number of productions, but probably not right now."

 That's what I've HEARD in years past. Didn't know about the new critical edition, but if that's the case, great! 

I was gonna subscribe this year but don't like the uninspired choices so I will wait til next year.

There are so many shows I'd like to see. 1776 I've seen many times so wtf? Do I hear a Waltz I saw in LA with Carol Lawrence. Don't need to see that again.

Where is Henry Sweet Henry? Minnies Boys?  The Rothchilds?  Rags?  High Button Shoes? Seesaw? Sail Away?  Anyone Can Whistle? High Spirits? House of Flowers? Oh Captain? Coco? Applause?   So many to choose and they chose this. Hmmm.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz.

They did ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, HOUSE OF FLOWERS and APPLAUSE. In fact, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE was done gloriously. 

I, too, agree that the Encores! choices have grown less and less inspired, and would love to see some of those you list, goldenboy, but I've come to the conclusion that money has become an object. Even the conservative, rich geriatric crowd that donates and subscribes want old titles that are maybe not absolute classics like GYSPY and GUYS AND DOLLS, but shows that are not often done like 1776 (at least, not with the full Sauter charts) or ...WALTZ but still familiar and safe.

But I'm still going. 

Updated On: 5/10/15 at 08:23 PM

They also have done The Pajama Game and Hair which is kind of crazy.

What about Redhead and New Girl In Town? Do they just not work without Gwen Verdon?

We all have shows that mean something to us that we'd love to see Encores spend time and money on, but a lot of them, and Kean is a perfect example, aren't likely to be fun to sit through. They may have a few highlights, but they're basically guilty pleasures. I don't think you want to see the Gwen Verdon vehicles without Gwen Verdon, and a lot of the stuff that may have excited us in our formative years (for me it was A Family Affair, believe it or not) aren't really worth the effort for an audience of 5 or 10 thousand people. They're private affairs for each of us. Don't forget, Encores started off with Fiorello!, and quickly did Call Me Madam, and Chicago. It was never a series that featured cult flops with a few highlights as a regular diet. I don't agree that they've abandoned their mission (which has never been stated, I don't think). I think some of us wanted their mission to be "the flop we love the best", but I don't think Encores ever had that intention. And while I didn't love their production of Bye Bye Birdie I sure appreciated hearing those Red Ginzler charts in all their glory -- and hadn't heard them since 1960! And I'm looking forward to 1776 for the same reason, and fairly delirious about Cabin in the Sky. Do I Hear a Waltz I could take or leave, but, under the circumstances, I'll take it! 

Jack Viertel is quoted in the BWW article as saying that 1776 was largely chosen because Hamilton will be happening, which is kind of a nice thematic (and marketing) tie-in.

BTW, for those who haven't seen it: Lin-Manuel Miranda's cut John Adams rap

"They also have done The Pajama Game and Hair which is kind of crazy.
What about Redhead and New Girl In Town? Do they just not work without Gwen Verdon?"

I've long wished for Encores to do New Girl in Town. The Irish Rep did a production a few years ago, starring Margaret Loesser Robinson -- one of Frank Loesser and Jo Sullivan's daughters -- as Anna and Danielle Ferland as Marthy. I thought it worked well and showed that the musical, though very far from perfect, could survive without Gwen Verdon. 

The Encores "mission" has always been malleable, at best. They don't always present the full score of a show, they greatly edit the books of every musical they produce, and they've produced many, many musicals that do not in any way qualify as being "rarely seen." The productions used to be actual concerts with little-to-no set or costumes and actors performing script-in-hand; now, they're fully staged productions with actors completely off-book. 1776 is a somewhat odd choice but it's not close to the weirdest they've done.

"Waltz", also. A musical with actual melodies (Rogers still had it, or mostly had it, at this point) as opposed to "near melodies" which has become to norm for most musicals now.

The great thing about them doing 1776 is being able to hear those original orchestrations, which are never done any more. Productions now use those awful cheap little Brian Besterman charts from that cheap little Roundabout revival.

Re Lolita My Love - they wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot-pole, and rightly, too. The script is awful and sensitivity to pederastic sexual predators has become so high, audience members would be screaming for blood. The book doesn't solve Nabokov's oft-pointed-out issue that it was one thing to read about an imaginary Lolita on the page, but it becomes immoral to see her acted out by real people.

About Victoria Clark in Waltz - that role seems to me to be written for a belter, rather than a legit mezzo. And I hate when Encores changes keys (and thereby, orchestrations) to suit a performer who isn't right for the score as written (Hello, Christine Ebersole and Kelli O'Hara).

Maybe Shuler Hensley as Jefferson, give him a chance to play something different?