Encores! 2023 Production hints???- Page 2

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 3:30pm

Jordan Catalano said: "With Encores’ new “mission” to reimagine one show each season (like “The Life” this year), there’s gonna be a riot if they finally do “Dear World” and do a totally different version."

I mean...let's hope they learned their lesson this year, with THE LIFE.  

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 3:34pm

Jordan Catalano said: "With Encores’ new “mission” to reimagine one show each season (like “The Life” this year), there’s gonna be a riot if they finally do “Dear World” and do a totally different version."

I'll be surprised if it's anything but David Thompson's rewrite (which he premiered in 2000 at Goodspeed and has since tinkered with for various iterations).

I expect there will be some tinkering with OLIVER! too, mainly surrounding Nancy. Cameron Mackintosh must have finally given up the NY first-class rights to OLIVER!, unless he's working with Encores on this version.

Updated On: 6/13/22 at 03:34 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:04pm

Wonder if we'll be getting an announcement of a new Music Director, too?

For what it's worth, he's been right before: "I'm hearing Piazza with Ruthie Ann Miles, Oliver with NPH and Dear World with Donna Murphy, so here's hoping!"

NPH would be kind of a waste in Oliver!
Ruthie Ann would be good and different but Kelli is RIGHT there.

Announcement tomorrow morning.

Updated On: 6/13/22 at 04:04 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:24pm

Audra and Denee should be the only Piazza pairing. 

[barcelona20]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:44pm

Kad said: "Audra and Denee should be the only Piazza pairing."

Preach! Yes, pleaseeeee

[Collingswood]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:51pm

"I'm hearing Piazza with Ruthie Ann Miles, Oliver with NPH and Dear World with Donna Murphy, so here's hoping!"

Correct about Piazza. 

It would be wonderful for a Kelli O'Hara production directed by Victoria Clark. But I hear Kelli has NO interest in doing Margaret. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:55pm

WiCkEDrOcKS said: "Jordan Catalano said: "With Encores’ new “mission” to reimagine one show each season (like “The Life” this year), there’s gonna be a riot if they finally do “Dear World” and do a totally different version."

I mean...let's hope they learned their lesson this year, with THE LIFE. "
 

Speaking with someone associated with Encores, I was told (last week) they will be continuing to do that same thing to one musical each year, now.

 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 4:58pm

If it is Ruthie (who I love) and even if it was Kelli: they both feel a little young for Margaret. I wouldn't have any trouble believing them in the roles. I just would've thought of someone older first.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:02pm

I believe Kelli is the same age now that Victoria was when she did the role. 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:09pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I believe Kelli is the same age now that Victoria was when she did the role."

So wild. Feels like no time has passed since then. Ah well, what is age anyway? I'm here for whatever happens.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:10pm

Collingswood said: "Kelli has NO interest in doing Margaret."

This is sad for me, a fan of Kelli and the show, but in some ways I can't blame her –– that OBC was lightning in a bottle and sometimes it's best to let things lie.

Though IF she did want to change her mind, she's got another ~15 years to play the part  

As for the ages... Clara's supposed to be 26, right? Ruthie Ann is probably about 5 years too young to play Margaret (she'll be 40 next year, Victoria Clark was 46), but this is a concert setting and there is no denying that Ruthie Ann has LIVED through tragedy as a mother. The more I think about it, the more I like her casting. This is the kind of not-obvious swing that Encores should be making when reviving a newer show!

Updated On: 6/13/22 at 05:10 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:22pm

Jordan Catalano said: "WiCkEDrOcKS said: "Jordan Catalano said: "With Encores’ new “mission” to reimagine one show each season (like “The Life” this year), there’s gonna be a riot if they finally do “Dear World” and do a totally different version."

I mean...let's hope they learned their lesson this year, with THE LIFE. "


Speaking with someone associated with Encores, I was told (last week) they will be continuing to do that same thing to one musical each year, now.

"

Fix it, Jesus. 

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:33pm

Victoria Clark was told she was too young for Margaret, and she responded "That's why god invented wigs!"

For Oliver, please oh please give us Danny Burstein as Fagin!

[ATerrifyingAndImposingFigure]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:43pm

Never realized how perfect Danny would be as Fagin until now

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:53pm

I mean I'm not sure I know Ruthie vocally, but I know she's a great actress. I'd love a Carmen Cusack Piazza. But I also just want to see her in any and everything. 

[Emmeline Carter]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 5:58pm

It's official!! The Light in the Piazza, then Dear World, then Lionel Bart's Oliver!  



 

 

Updated On: 6/13/22 at 05:58 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/13/22 at 6:28pm

We FINALLY get to see DEAR WORLD. Amazing. 

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 8:19am

Jack Viertel wanted to do Dear World many many times, but Jerry Herman (and I am assuming later his estate) would only let him do the rewriitten version, which is designed more as a chamber musical with a very small cast and no ensemble. Viertel did not wish to present that version of Dear World (I have looked into producing Dear World myself and I am really not a fan of the new version).

I am sure they will put together a great cast, and I am looking forward to seeing the show, but I wish it was the original version.

[binau]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 8:29am

Are we sure it’s Donna Murphy? I think she would be amazing and I’m hoping she can find a vehicle to get her back to Broadway but of course secretly I always hoped this would be one for Bernadette. 

[inception]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 9:33am

So did the production of Piazza with Renee Fleming & Dove Cameron never have plans pre-covid to move on to New York?

Regardless of which version they do of Dear World  it is exciting.  This morning getting ready for work I suddenly thought, "What a shame that After8 isn't still with us....Not that he would enjoy whatever they do with one of his favorite shows."

For myself, I cancelled my NY hotel reservations for December (guess I'll just be forced to go to Mexico this winter) & rebooked for March, even though it is too early yet to officially get that week off from work.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 9:45am

Then is Dear World going to be the “reimagined” show? 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:09am

inception said: "So did the production of Piazza with Renee Fleming & Dove Cameron never have plans pre-covid to move on to New York?"

At one point the commercial producers attached were hoping it would land on Broadway but obviously those plans have changed. Perhaps some of that decision was facing facts that Renee Fleming is NOT a draw on Broadway or with investors, after two flops in a row.

Updated On: 6/14/22 at 10:09 AM

[theatreguy]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:11am

The three categories as laid out by Lear DeBessonet are:

1. Revivals of hidden gems

2. Productions where artists reclaim work for our time through their own personal lens

3. Celebrations that look at the ways musical theater connects us

Of the 3 shows, Dear World strikes me as the only "hidden" gem.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:22am

theatreguy said: "Of the 3 shows, Dear World strikes me as the only "hidden" gem."

OLIVER!'s last Broadway revival was 39 years ago and it ran less than a month. Yes it's done regionally/in schools and the film is beloved, but it's a show that I personally have never seen professionally on stage. I assume that will be the show where musical theatre "connects us," perhaps involving a children's chorus or partnerships to fight child homelessness. SIDE NOTE, my dream cast is now Patti LuPone as Fagin.

And even PIAZZA, though only 18 years old, is not a show that's likely to be revived on Broadway anytime soon. Similar to PARADE, the Gala presentation (not technically an Encores production), another hidden gem from the not-so-distant past that's unlikely to be revived on a grand scale.

Updated On: 6/14/22 at 10:22 AM

[jenn328]

Posted: 6/14/22 at 10:32am

where did you get that screenshot from the website?  I can't find it.