I can see 110 in the Shade happening soon.
I can also see Anyone Can Whistle happening very soon as well, but I think that the concert at Ravinia with Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, and Michael Ceveris will prevent it from happening next season.
Kedn Mandelbaum did a series of columns years ago that I think I'll quote here, for he listed some really good possibilities:
For Shows from the 1940's:
Turning to `40s shows likelier for Encores! than for Broadway remountings, you'll notice I left out of the above discussion one of the most beloved non-R&H titles of the era, Finian's Rainbow. After years of announcements, a revival attempt was made a year or two ago, but after a couple of engagements, the production was aborted and a pre-Broadway L.A. run cancelled. While it was among the most popular shows of its period and was revived several times in the `50s and `60s at City Center (one of those mountings had a brief Broadway transfer), Finian's Rainbow's element of serious racial satire began by the `80s to scare the politically correct. A potential New York City Opera production was reportedly scotched out of such concerns, and Peter Stone revised the book for the recent revival. While another try could be made at a full staging, it may be time to do Finian's at Encores!, where the emphasis would be on the glorious Burton Lane-E.Y. Harburg score. Little chance of a RNT production that would come to Broadway, as Finian's was a quick London flop in 1947 and has never been revived there.
Encores! simply must get around to the fascinating Weill-Lerner 1948 Love Life. The influence of this work ---which traces the decline of the American family and marriage as a result of economic progress---- on such later concept musicals as Chicago, Pippin, Cabaret, Company, and Follies is irrefutable, and that's not to mention that the score ranks with Weill's best. (I'd choose Ruthie Henshall for the role that won Nanette Fabray a Tony.) Weill's compassionate, operatic Lost in the Stars is another good Encores! bet.
Turning to lighter fare, one Frank Loesser title that hasn't had a New York airing for some time is Where's Charley? (How about Eric McCormack?) The Broadway revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was so short-lived and uneventful that an Encores! version with the original orchestration and score intact (and Kristin Chenoweth?) could be fun. The campus musical Best Foot Forward; Rodgers and Hart's final all-new show By Jupiter; the Vernon Duke fantasy Cabin in the Sky; and the revue Call Me Mister would likewise be worthy of Encores! consideration.
For the 50's:
In terms of Encores! concerts, the field is much wider, with two titles at the top: Ever since the City Center series began, I and others have been looking for the dazzling, all-sung The Golden Apple, along with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, with its moving Schwartz-Fields score. And while Encores! has already given us Call Me Madam, Wonderful Town, Li'l Abner, and Fiorello! (Bells Are Ringing should have been an Encores! concert), there are about a dozen other possibilities.
Lerner and Loewe's Paint Your Wagon would be an unlikely bet for Broadway (it was mentioned in the `80s for Carroll O'Connor), but the score has enough good things to make it worth trying. A concert would downplay the problematic book and emphasize the scintillating songs of House of Flowers. Cole Porter's hit Silk Stockings has a very enjoyable score. The previous Porter success, Can-Can, which had a very short-lived Broadway revival in 1981, has a more familiar score and creakier book; it might be worth bringing back for the right diva. (Chita Rivera gave it a good try in an `80s tour.)
Plain and Fancy is an underrated musical comedy with a neglected score; a sharp director could make it a very entertaining Encores! show. Paper Mill Playhouse gave Fanny a lavish remounting in 1990, and it's one of those operatic pieces that would work well in concert. Juno got an off-Broadway revival that removed the richness of Marc Blitzstein's score; Tyne Daly might be the right star for the title role should Encores! take it on. And Daly might also be fun as Fauna in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, which features a score worthy of Encores! consideration.
I've always wanted to see Christine Ebersole do Goldilocks, an admittedly thin show with an utterly charming score. Destry Rides Again would work best in a full-scale production, but could also play well in concert. Bob Merrill's best score was for Take Me Along, which had a one-night-only Broadway return in 1985 but offers several juicy principal parts. But hits like Jamaica and the Tony Award-winning Redhead would have to be classified as long shots.
For the 60's:
Irma La Douce, which arrived on Broadway about two months before Camelot, ranks as one of the best reviewed shows of the decade to go unrevived; its small-scale but racy charms were considerable at the time, but Peter Brook's inventive staging had a great deal to do with the Parisian show going over so well in London and New York. Opening between Irma and Camelot was The Unsinkable Molly Brown; generally viewed as Meredith Willson's much weaker follow-up to The Music Man, Molly Brown is a reasonably solid piece, but one that requires an entirely bewitching leading lady. Recreating their film pairing on a national tour about a decade ago, the mature Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell weren't the answer; Reba McEntire would be, but I can't imagine her taking it on after having triumphed in a superior piece.
And there's the award-winning hit Carnival, a lovely show that would only work on Broadway again with a staging comparable to the wonderful one originally provided by Gower Champion.
Of course, titles like Molly Brown and Carnival might turn up at Encores!, where any number of other `60s pieces could work well. The City Center series has already scheduled Richard Rodgers' No Strings for next spring, and there are rumors of It's a Bird, It's a Plane..It's Superman. Frank Loesser's Greenwillow has a troublesome book but a lovely score. High Spirits, the adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit with very enjoyable songs that sometimes get in the way of the source play, would work well in concert, as might Strouse and Adams'Golden Boy, Jerry Herman's Dear World, the Rodgers-Sondheim-Laurents Do I Hear a Waltz?, Bock and Harnick's The Apple Tree, and Kander and Ebb's The Happy Time and Flora, the Red Menace (the latter already given an intimate Vineyard Theatre revisal).
The `80s revival of Kander and Ebb's Zorba was a hit only because it starred Anthony Quinn; another Broadway version is unlikely, but the show would work for Encores! Although they were both given small-scale local restagings by American Jewish Theatre, Herman's Milk and Honey and Harold Rome's I Can Get It for You Wholesale are worth doing again, the latter's exciting score and stinging book making it particularly viable. A reader sent in a strong vote for Drat! The Cat!, with its funny, tongue-in-cheek book and charming score.
And finally, the 70's:
Turning to other `70s titles better suited to Encores! (where the `70s show Chicago found the route for its triumphant return), one title stands out. While a huge part of the original charm of On the 20th Century was Robin Wagner's extravagant set designs, and a concert mounting of the Cy Coleman/Betty Comden and Adolph Green show would be without such scenic abundance, the extravagant, operetta-style score is perfect for a concert. The title continues to crop up in rumors about impending Encores! attractions.
Turning to other `70s titles better suited to Encores! (where the `70s show Chicago found the route for its triumphant return), one title stands out. While a huge part of the original charm of On the 20th Century was Robin Wagner's extravagant set designs, and a concert mounting of the Cy Coleman/Betty Comden and Adolph Green show would be without such scenic abundance, the extravagant, operetta-style score is perfect for a concert. The title continues to crop up in rumors about impending Encores! attractions.
Other `70s possibilities for Encores! might include 70, Girls, 70, The Rothschilds, Seesaw, Purlie, and Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Updated On: 1/28/05 at 10:14 AM
