Howes, Boggess, Mazzie, and More to Star in Encores! MUSIC

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 9:22pm

"Casting has been announced for the Encores! presentation of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Music in the Air, which will play New York's City Center Feb. 5-8, 2009.

The New York Times reports that the cast will feature "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" star Sally Ann Howes as well as The Little Mermaid's Sierra Boggess, Tony nominee Marin Mazzie, Tony winner Dick Latessa, Tom Alan Robbins and Tony nominee Douglas Sills.

Music in the Air, which features music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, has been restored by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. The musical, according to press notes, "tells of an aging rural music teacher, his naively charming daughter and their misadventures trying to break into the cynical, world-weary theatre scene in the big city..."

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/124317.html

Updated On: 12/12/08 at 09:22 PM

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:09pm

Casting sounds good to me. I'm assuming Mazzie and Douglas Sills (Yeah! He's Back!) will be playing Frieda and Bruno, with Boggess playing Sieglinde and Howes doing Lilli (I'm sure she will do a nice job on Egern on the Tegern See). I know the book is creaky (unless they've tried to revise it) but, oh, the score! One of Kern's melodic gems. And the thought of a recording delights me no end, although I doubt that will happen. Encores! has had good luck with their operettas (New Moon, Sweet Adeline), so I have great hopes for this, it's having been the second show I ever saw (when I was 7 and no, not the original in 1932).

Updated On: 12/12/08 at 11:09 PM

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:11pm

Sounds OK. To be honest, I've never heard of half the musicals that Encores! does.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:25pm

Sounds OK. To be honest, I've never heard of half the musicals that Encores! does.

That was kind of the point, when they first began. Obviously, with many of their shows, they've lost sight of their mission.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:31pm

Long live KWAMINA! I am *so excited* for this. Can't wait to meet the brilliant Sally Ann Howes.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:36pm

Music in the Air has one of the most gorgeous scores ever written.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:38pm

"Sounds OK. To be honest, I've never heard of half the musicals that Encores! does."

That's your issue not theirs.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:42pm

is it just me or is this being announced way earlier than the cast for On the Town was?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 12:09am

Some casting comes together quickly, some doesn't.

[heatha1017]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 12:54am

omg yay!!! FINALLY!! the return of douglas sills!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 1:17am

I am ashamed to say that I don't know Music in the Air as well as I should. I also don't own a recording of it. I'll have to fix that.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 4:45pm

Don't know the score that well, but what a high caliber cast! I have great hopes for Sierra Boggess. Hopefully, with the strength of the material, she will blow us away. But, I'm especially glad for Mazzie and Sills!

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 6:15pm

RE: Music in the Air recordings. There's never been a modern one. The 1952 Broadway revival was supposed to be recorded, but plans were scrapped because the prouuction was not successful. As a filup, Jane Pickens, the Frieda of that production, did a recording of the major songs and I believe it's still available on CD. But it's not really a cast recording.

There's also a recording of sorts taken from some radio broadcasts in the late '40's/early 50's, but it's not very good and doesn't really give a flavor of the show. As part of Ben Bagley's series, one of the Jerome Kern tributes includes a nice portion of the score, including the quickly deleted, but absolutely gorgeous, And Love Was Born. A movie was made in 1934 with Gloria Swanson; it wasn't successful and is in no ways note-complete. I don't think it's ever been released on video or DVD.

Which leads me back to the hopes that Encores! will record it with this cast and thereby fill a very vacant hole in the Kern canon.

Updated On: 12/13/08 at 06:15 PM