'The Wiz' at Encores

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'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/16/09 at 8:19pm

Hey guys, I'm directing "The Wiz" at my school next year, and I'm thinking of doing it Encores style with just the songs.

But do they do any scenes at all? Is it just song after song? Any details would be great.

Thanks!

Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/16/09 at 8:21pm

Encores does full songs and scenes, it's a staged concert. Increasingly they are adding more production values.

http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/16/09 at 8:41pm

Can you legally just cut the book out? I didn't think so..

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/16/09 at 8:45pm

Probably not, but that doesn't stop a lot of regional theatre directors from doing whatever the hell they want...

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 1:52am

You got it all wrong. When they use the term "concert-style", that doesn't mean they just perform the songs and that's it. If that were the case, these productions would be over in less than an hour.

Encores! Concert Series basically recreates in "concert-style", older Broadway productions. Though the book is sometimes abridged a bit, the entire musical is performed -- scenes, songs, etc. The cast doesn't just walk to a microphone and sing just the songs. They perform the full show. The "concert-style" term is used because the orchestra is on-stage and the bare minimum of sets and/or costumes are used. Lately, these "concert-style" productions are becoming more detailed in their production design.

For reference: the current Broadway revival of CHICAGO and the recent Broadway revival of WONDERFUL TOWN are basically recreations of how they were performed when they were done as part of the Encores! Concert Series. Their recent "concert-style" production of THE WIZ was an elaborate fully-costumed production.

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 2:20am

Yeah, I saw the show and they did every scene that was in the script.

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 2:55am

Damn you Brody. I had almost forgotten that vacuum that was Ashanti and you had to post those to remind me.

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:59am

Damn...looks like that production was a hot mess. Glad I missed it.

"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from." ~ Charles M. Schulz

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:20am

Performance wise, it wasn't terrible.

Direction and choreography wise, it was HORRIBLE.

http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer

#10

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:42am

The Wiz, like Damn Yankees and Gypsy, are not a part of the regular Encores! series. They were part of the Summer Stars season which was introduced to present limited run, fully staged productions of Broadway classics.

#11

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 11:47am

It sucked.

#12

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 11:49am

Horrible.

I'm a professional. Whenever something goes wrong on stage, I know how to handle it so no one ever remembers. I flash my %#$&. "Jayne just sat there while Gina flailed around the stage like an idiot."

#13

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 3:34pm

Yea i mean i don't think anyone has ever said the Ashanti was "born to play" that part. Like isnt that the whole point of summer stars. Such a hot mess

#14

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:07pm

The shows from the Summer Stars series are not supposed to be concert style like the typical Encores! shows. They don't have the budget of a Broadway show of course, but they are still supposed to be full on productions. Like others have said, their regular Encores! shows are almost fully-staged, the only difference is the actors walk with their books on hand.

"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

#15

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:13pm

It was a lot of fun, and a huge audience pleaser.

#16

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:15pm

It was a lot of fun, and a huge audience pleaser.

Really? The day I saw it, the audience reaction was tepid at best (save for Ashanti's thunderous entrance applause). It was also the worst-selling production in Encores! history.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

#17

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:17pm

The audience was insane when I saw it, and they were extremely grateful for this production, and made that known at the talkback.

And I don't believe it was the worst-selling Encores! production. Damn Yankees had to close the entire gallery, I don't believe The Wiz had to.

Updated On: 8/17/09 at 04:17 PM

#18

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:20pm

You may be right, but I heard that whole "worst-selling" thing from someone close to the production. Call me crazy, but I loved that Damn Yankees production--one of the best Encores! shows I've seen.

When I saw The Wiz, there were a ton of empty seats in the orchestra--though that could have been due to the fact that LaChanze was only performing the second act on that particular day.

#19

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 4:33pm

THE WIZ was definitely, definitely not the worst selling Encores production. Damn Yankees has been the worst selling of the summer shows.

#20

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 8:47pm

Thanks for the clarification, guys! I heard that it was actually really well put-together. I dunno though :x

Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway:: Carrie, Merrily, Ionescopade
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM

#21

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 9:43pm

I had almost forgotten all about this disaster of a production.

#22

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:11pm

I didn't think it was that terrible. I enjoyed myself, and even told my coworker to take her two daughters (they loved it, too).

speaking of "worst-selling," wasn't Applause Encores' best-selling show? I remember hearing that and being a little confused.

oh, and also, wouldn't something like Juno have been the worst-selling show?

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

Updated On: 8/17/09 at 10:11 PM

#23

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:14pm

DAMN YANKEES was the best of the three Summer Stars shows so far, IMO. But it still left a lot to be desired.

THE WIZ was, by far, the worst of the Summer Stars shows. I just...really disliked it.

#24

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:17pm

Damn Yankees was definitely fun and enjoyable, but it didn't feel like it held up as well as Gypsy has. the pacing wasn't as good, I don't think.

#25

re: 'The Wiz' at Encores

Posted: 8/17/09 at 10:23pm

Patti was playing herself in GYPSY at Encores which took away a lot from the experience for me.

Jane and Sean were having a ball and a half in DAMN YANKEES which made the show really fun.

I would definitely go back and see DAMN YANKEES again instead of Encores' GYPSY.

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