Encores Question

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/14/13 at 5:41pm

Thinking of see Superman. Are their costumes & minimal sets? What about choreography? Never been to Encoresso I am curious .

What about the sightlines as I have never been upstairs @ City Center ?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/14/13 at 11:05pm

Encores productions have gotten a bit more lavish down through the years. You can expect nice (but not lavish) costumes and minimal sets. The LuPone GYPSY was an Encores! production and it transferred to the St.James with very few costume/scenic changes.

Upstairs is okay. Bring binoculars. You can't complain about the prices.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 1:56am

Though Gypsy was also part of the their now seemingly defunct Summer Stars season, which was intended to be more fully staged than their regular season. It was the same with Damn Yankees and The Wiz.

[broadfan327]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 12:16pm

Fiorello did not really have sets.

[macnyc]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 12:22pm

The orchestra is on the stage, for at least the few Encores that I've seen. But there is choreography, and the shows are so much more than a concert setting. I think Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had some kind of a set, didn't it? Merrily We Roll Along had a couple of raised platforms. The mezzanine is huge, and if you're in the rear of it, you'll be really far back. I've never sat in the balcony.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 12:23pm

Everything is usually pretty minimal; Fiorello had the girls in long skirts for Act I (not really period, just long), and in Act II, for some reason, they just wore contemporary clothes. Alice Ripley was dressed like she was about to perform her cabaret act in Paramus.

I would think, though, that Superman would wear his Superman costume - it would be just weird if he didn't, and glasses alone wouldn't make much of a difference when he becomes Clark Kent.

I also hope he flies a few times; not because I care about flying, but there are some orchestral cues that are specifically flying music, and it would sort of fall flat if the poor guy just runs onstage while the harp, strings, and xylophone are playing flying sounds.

But who knows what they'll do? They did a merely satisfactory Fiorello a second time when there are hundreds of other scores to explore, just because they did the show 20 years ago. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason to some of their decisions.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 12:52pm

"Alice Ripley was dressed like she was about to perform her cabaret act in Paramus."

I think you mean Emily Skinner as Mitzi singing "Gentleman Jimmy". She definitely looked 1980s in a scene taking place earlier than that! She was sensational, though. Really livened up Act 2, but I loved entire show.

As far as the balcony, it's got quite a rake and is very steep, no middle aisle so if your seat is center you've got to ask a lot of people to stand up to let you pass. There is an issue as well with people's heads being in the way, and if the person in front of you decides to lean forward it will obstruct your view (a man behind me asked me to not lean forward when I was getting my binoculars out - after the man in front me leaned forward, I understood what the problem was).

Updated On: 2/15/13 at 12:52 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 12:53pm

Alice-Emily, Emily-Alice...

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 1:09pm

I understand the confusion - they were separated recently in a ground-breaking operation.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 1:38pm

It doesn't look like the split was right down the middle, though.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 1:47pm

Emily is a whole lot a woman - loved seeing her from the third row.

[broadfan327]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 2:38pm

I got my Fiorello ticket from TDF, and I sat in the balcony, third or fourth row from the top. Someone asked me not to lean forward. It was a clear view where I was sitting, but I felt out of the action being so far away. I will never sit up there again. Either I dish out more money for an orchestra seat or I won't go.

Updated On: 2/15/13 at 02:38 PM

[macnyc]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 4:20pm

The grand tier (really the front mezzanine) and the front mezzanine (really the mid mezzanine) are nice too, and sometimes the seats aren't too expensive.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/15/13 at 5:11pm

Thanks for the help.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 2/23/13 at 7:29pm

The choreography for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Randy Skinner was better than any choreorgraphy currently on Broadway. In fact, if they spruced up the sets... that production was ready for Broadway. Even if they didn't. It was that good. I think Encored goes all out in all areas.... but they do have "suggested" Sets

Pipe Dream was not great because the show was not great. But it was a great production of lackluster show. Fiorello was a good production of an over-rated show.
Overall.. Encores does a great job and I look forward to their shows.