Road Show at Encores! Off-Center (post your thoughts here) — Page 5

OffOnBwayHi said: "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 thosethings; I knew what I was getting into, just never experienced it.ALLseats 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."

And what you said is a pretty uninformed, fairly ignorant opinion of what Encores does.

Updated On: 7/28/19 at 11:45 AM

Updated On: 7/29/19 at 03:35 PM

Is there any buzz of a recording?

VintageSnarker said: "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."

Consider me a new Jin Ha fan as well. His duets with Uranowitz were the emotional and musical highlights of the show, although the Sat eve. audience seemed to give Peil the longest applause for her solo. I normally like Esparza a lot, but he seemed a bit too fidgety--even if he was playing a coked-up character part of the time--and too eager to show off his Fosse-lite moves. He was in good voice, though.

The plot definitely strays here and there, but having lived in South Florida for a while, I found the whole Palm Beach-Boca Raton history interesting and amusing. The big climactic duet between the bros. though, seemed more duty than inspired, and therefore the ending didn't move me as intended. My biggest peeve with the staging: what was up with all the smoking? We get it. It's a period piece. I just found it grossly distracting.

Sondheim was in the theater once again. Seemed perfectly happy in the lobby afterwards.

Saw this on Wednesday night. Felt that the cast was quite good for the usual Encores rehearsal period and understood the decision to use the radio show concept (and thank you to whoever mentioned that the director deliberately cut back on it as the show went on, I wondered about that).

I felt that Brandown Uranowitz did well and loved Jin Ha (especially after seeing him in M. Butterfly). To me, Raul Esparza was doing the evil alter ego of his Jonas Nightingale from Leap of Faith, and I got a bit tired of watching his twitchy moves. I always enjoy seeing Liz McCArtney, Mary Beth Peil and Chuck Cooper, but I do wish that Liz was not just listed as "ensemble". Funnily, the "New York Sequence" song had come up on my iPod twice on the days before seeing the show, so I kind of knew what to expect.

I liked the attempts at period costumes, but wondered why a bunch of radio performers would be so dressed up and in coats and everything. I also liked the "postcards" during Addison's voyages, but wish they had some how conveyed a sense of time as well as place. I didn't understand why that had Raul singing that song, I think it would have worked better as just an ensemble number commenting on Addison's adventures instead of Wilson. And I agree with a prior post, I don't know why they had so many of the performers smoking, again, if it was supposed to be a radio studio, that was illogical.

All in all, I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

"I didn't understand why that had Raul singing that song, I think it would have worked better as just an ensemble number commenting on Addison's adventures instead of Wilson."

Wait, they now have Willie singing parts of "Addison's Trip"? Wonder why...

Someone in a Tree2 said: ""I didn't understand why that had Raul singing that song, I think it would have worked better as just an ensemble number commenting on Addison's adventures instead of Wilson."

Wait, they now have Willie singing parts of "Addison's Trip"? Wonder why..."

Well, they had Raul singing. Not sure if he's meant to be singing as Wilson or just as a performer....

“I think because it’s Sondheim people are falling for the hype.“

Well, they're the ones who've helped create and perpetuate the hype down through the years.

It's simply a bad show, and had it been written by anyone other than Sondheim, it would probably never have even been presented on a stage, much less be revised and revived multiple times.

After Eight said: "“I think because it’s Sondheim people are falling for the hype.“

Well, they're the ones who've helped create and perpetuate the hype down through the years.

It's simply a bad show, and had it been written by anyone other than Sondheim, it would probably never have even been presented on a stage, much less be revised and revived multiple times."

No lies told.

I love and respect most of Sondheim's work, but this ain't it. The scaled down nature of the Encores! "production" revealed how weak the work is.

Susanswerphone said: "Saturday night was perfect!
Mary Beth Peil deserved every second of that show-stopping ovation. Great song, beautifully done by a beloved actress.
Jin Ha was a wonderful surprise! He and Brandon were a gorgeous couple.
Raul was a bit too at times, but he sang the hell out of it and can shimmy with the best of them! "

I was there, as well, Saturday (night) and agree with you wholeheartedly! I loved everything about it. I'm not as" fussy" as others are here with comparing which of Sondheim's work is better than the other. It was beautifully acted by everyone, including the ensemble and loved the music/orchestration, etc. I thought the chemistry between Brandon and Raoul was spot-on believable and Jin Ha, whom I never knew of previously, was a complete surprise. A beautiful voice, indeed. I also agree Raoul was sometimes over the top in certain musical scenes but overall enjoyed his performance.

The stand out of the night for me, however, was Mr. Uranowitz. His performance, as was in Falsettos (should've one the Tony for that role!), blew me away! He was funny and completely heartbreaking emotionally for me as Addison Mizner. I've been a fan of his since I first saw him in Torch Song Trilogy in D.C. before his role in An American in Paris, also a spectacular performance.

I look forward to seeing what is next for this impressively talented young man .

qolbinau said: "Apparently Bernadette Peters did a reading of this show in 2006. I assume she was playing the mother role? Interesting she didn’t proceed with the show. She would have been perfect and stole the show with “isn’t he something?”. I’m guessing when Road Show happened they either couldn’t afford her or she didn’t like the small role."

Did she play Mama or Nellie? I could see her as either. Especially if it was just a reading. Nellie would have given her "What's Your Rush?" which I would have loved to hear her sing.