What would you like to see at Encores!

What would everybody like to see at Encores! in the future?

I would love to see The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Reba McEntire and Brent Barrett.

I'd also like to see Lady, Be Good! (mentioned once as a possibility for the Foster siblings), It's a Bird . . . It's a Plane . . . It's Superman (supposed to be part of the 2002 season, but ended up not), High Spirits (with Elaine Stritch as Madame Arcati and Christine Ebersole as Elvira), On the Twentieth Century (with Kristin Chenoweth as Lily Garland), Naughty Marietta, and Seesaw, and countless others that are slipping my mind. How about you guys?

Do I Hear A Waltz?
70, Girls, 70
Bugsy Malone
The Grass Harp

What are the "guidelines" they use to pick the show? Are there any set in stone?

I would love to see something like Working at Encores

Anyone Can Whistle
Inner City
A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine
On The Twentieth Century
Ballroom
Seesaw
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Flora, The Red Menace
New Girl In Town
Fiorello!

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Updated On: 9/27/04 at 05:26 PM

I second Two Gentlemen of Verona

I thought about Mack & Mabel, but I think that it's getting a full-scale Broadway revival in the next year or two (Herman said in an interview that after La Cage, plans are in the works to bring back Mame and Mack & Mabel).

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What exactly is Encores! and when is it held? I have heard of Kristin Chenoweth doing quite a few but never knew what it meant.

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Sorry, I made a mistake before: "Mack & Mabel" starts at the Goodspeed Opera House on October 1st, not the PaperMill. Sorry again, I just checked it.

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Margo, Encores has already done Fiorello. I think it was in the first season.

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Actually the first ever Encores! presentation with Jerry Zaks, Faith Prince, Liz Callaway, et al.

Wicked4lyffe - Encores! is a seires that performs three concerts of musicals that have unappreciated or rarely heard scores. Top Broadway professionals star in them. Yes, Kristin Chenoweth has done quite a few. She was in Strike Up the Band (pre-Charlie Brown) and then she was acclaimed for her performance as Daisy Gamble/Melinda in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. This spring she will star in The Apple Tree, a 1966 musical comprised of three one act musicals by Bock and Harnick. It was originally a vehicle for Barbara Harris (also the originator of Daisy Gamble in On a Clear Day . . .). Kristin will play Harris's roles.

I would much rather see Hollywood/Ukraine revived. It is such a delightful show.

Plus, I would LOVE to play Samovar again.

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I didn't even know that I posted that three times! OOPS! Sorry guys!

But, Margo Channing, may I ditto Anyone Can Whistle. I was listening to the OBC today and I realized how this is a show that deserved a second hearing. Perfect? No, but it is a direct precursor to the triumphs Sondheim would win in the 1970's. It is an important show, one that should no be discarded. Making the statement "It was ahead of its time" seems sort of dramatic because I think everything happens at a specific time for a reason, but this is a show that we should all be reminded of. A full scale revival? No. But an Encores! hearing would be perfect.

I heard it very strongly rumored for this year's seires to be a birthday girft for Sondheim's 75th, but apparently it was dropped (not too upset, however, because I have wanted Encores! to do The Apple Tree with Kristin Chenoweth for some time now and they actually are ) Perhaps next year. Encores! seems to be a year delayed on these celebration type things, No Strings which was supposed to be part of the 2002 Richard Rodgers centennial was delayed a year because of Vanessa Williams's involvement in Into the Woods, but happened (without Vanessa) in 2003. Maybe next year we will actually get Anyone Can Whistle. If we do, it will be the biggest flop (in number of performances) that Encores! has presented yet (with Pardon My English's 33 performance record a close second). But it is important to honor one of if not the most prolific Broadway composer living today.