Road Show at Encores! Off-Center (post your thoughts here) — Page 4

goldenboy said: "As someone said... "What happened in Boca Raton that they through them out.? Neve explained. They were building houses and then in one sentence there was some kind of scandal and Boca Raton through them out?

What was the scandal? The show did not explain that!

Addison Meisner seemed to be in love with the rich son of a steel Magnate. They seemed happy and successful.  They even sing a beautiful love song and kiss. And in one sentence they are at each others throats without any cause with Addison saying he used him. The show jolts the brain without these transitions made clear 

Used him how? What happened?

How do you tell a story and leave the  audience in the dark? How do you leave so many blanks?"

 

I agree with chrishuyen- Boca Raton addresses these points specifically. Hollis makes his increasing frustration pretty clear in the song breaks. He doesn't explicitly state "Here is an itemized list of the ways in which I feel you used me", but you can infer. Same with the scandal. I had only the vaguest memories of seeing it at the Public in '08, and none of them plot related, and I had no issue following it.

I saw this the other night. Great cast in a middling show. Raul and Brandon worked really well together. The show is never going to be Sweeney/Sunday levels of Sondheim, but it's not that bad compared to many of the new musicals I could name and won't.

Did anyone else hear about the stagedoor on Wednesday? Someone told a friend of mine that a bunch of people mobbed Sondheim and Raul when they came out after the party. I wasn't sure if it was an exaggeration or not, but yikes.

Updated On: 7/26/19 at 11:10 PM

orangeskittles said: "Did anyone else hear about the stagedoor on Wednesday? Someone told a friend of mine thata bunch of people mobbed Sondheim and Raul when they came out after the party. I wasn't sure if it was an exaggeration or not, but yikes."

I was at the stage door Wednesday night and while I wouldn't quite consider it a mob, a bunch of people did kind of swarm them when they came out from a side exit. I wasn't really paying attention as I was talking to another audience member at the time but I just noticed suddenly around 7 people were crowded around a car and one person who came back to where we were standing confirmed that Raul was there (didn't even realize Sondheim was there too until you just mentioned it!). Honestly while I'm somewhat disappointed I didn't get to see them I feel like if they're going through the effort to not come out the stage door they probably don't want to be bothered. 

I agree, the score is very similar to Assassins, but as a whole, I’m more drawn to Road Show, in terms of score. Assassins is a more intense and consistent score, but I find Road Show softer and more emotional, with several touching songs.

I finally get to to see the Encores presentation today.

Updated On: 7/27/19 at 12:20 PM

ljay889 said: "......and Encores! Isn’t meant for works in progress. It’s been doing completed musicals since the beginning. You should know what you’re getting into it. If you didn’t want to pay a lot, there were plenty of $25 seats available. "

I know both of those things; I knew what I was getting into, just never experienced it. ALL seats should be $25 (honestly, free for this) and readings of completed, already produced works shouldn’t be presented in this way, in my opinion. It’s lazy and cheap, and this performance of Road Show more than proved that.

This just was not that good. It’s a forgettable “production.” Period.

I said what I said.

Updated On: 7/27/19 at 06:48 PM

Even at 2 hours with no intermission (which I'd been in no way prepared for) I'm very glad that I saw this. I think the radio show conceit was a brilliant approach to the limits of the Encores format and there were some very good performances. Most of the actors delivered what I'd expected but I've never seen Jin Ha in anything and he was the standout for me. I wish there was more of his singing recorded out in the world. I feel like he'd sound particularly good with something lush and romantic like R&H. The other leads brought a lot of intensity but it was almost wasted on their characters. I'm not sure this show makes much sense structurally or in terms of character motivations. From listening to the album, Bounce was a little boring but it had a clear trajectory. Road Show is stronger in some ways but it keeps going in circles and its thesis statement and social commentary are ultimately weaker. It was a strong presentation of flawed material. 

I thought the actors were good  (especially Esparza) and the singing was quite good as well. It was an odd idea for a musical and I must agree with some other posters that it was hard as an audience member to connect emotionally in any way to the material. And then to top it off there is not any sort of redemption in the end. I will say there was a fair amount of humor and I was never bored with the presentation.

I thought Sondheim was as articulate as ever in the talk back and he was very much in sync with his writing partner. I agree the moderator could have done a better job of asking more interesting questions. She tends to be a bit of an attention getter and with the legends she had onstage all she needed to do was guide them. Someone else should have moderated.

Does anyone know if Sondheim is still with his male partner? Did they get married?

Updated On: 7/28/19 at 05:50 AM