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

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 4:39pm

Jus announced. Anyone else excited for this? I enjoyed the original production at the Public. I think the score is pretty damn great, but the overall story isn’t very compelling.
I’ve been listening to the score for the past few days and have been thinking I’d like to see another production of it, so it’s funny this was just announced.

Also, Working and Promenade will fill out the season.

Updated On: 7/23/19 at 04:39 PM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 4:47pm

How exciting! I love the score for Road Show. I struggle with which cast album I prefer because Bounce has Gavin Creel, but overall I think Road Show was an improvement.

I see Working will be the revised version with Lin-Manuel Miranda's contributions. Is this the New York premiere of that version?

[natashalost]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 5:07pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/WORKING-A-MUSICAL-PROMENADE-and-ROAD-SHOW-Fill-Encores-Off-Center-2019-Season-20181218

WORKING: A MUSICAL will play June 26 through 29. An updated version of the show will be directed by Anne Kauffman and features a book by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, including songs by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers, and Susan Birkhead, and James Taylor. 

PROMENADE will play a two-night-only presentation directed by Laurie Woolery.

ROAD SHOW, with music and lyrics Stephen Sondheim and a book by John Weidman, will play July 24 through 27, and will be directed and choreographed by Will Davis.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 5:11pm

I've never even heard of Promenade before but it sounds interesting. I may give the album a listen.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 6:57pm

Oh, good. WORKING with new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda. Because why wouldn’t there be.

[JBC3]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 7:13pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Oh, good. WORKING with new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda. Because why wouldn’t there be."

Agree 100%

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 7:19pm

Lin wrote those songs for Working about a decade ago for the production that played at the Old Globe, then at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse in 2011, and off-Broadway at 59E59 in 2012. It was a great production, and the new songs fit in well with the old ones. I believe there was a cast recording of the Old Globe production, but I am not 100% sure.

This looks like a great season! I've always considered Road Show to be underrated (Gary Griffin's production several years back made a great case for the piece), and Will Davis is a really exciting director making bold and interesting choices. And Promenade should be a great way to honor Maria Irene Fornes, who recently passed away. I urge anyone unfamiliar with her work to check her out--she was one of the greatest writers of experimental theatre of her time, but her work is not produced all that often today.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 7:24pm

I hated it at The Public but I will definitely be there to revisit this show.

[Cesare2]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 7:41pm

Saw the original incarnations of WORKING and ROAD SHOW at Chicago's Goodman Theater.  (WORKING back then had a through story!)  Liked BOUNCE much more than ROAD SHOW.  After so much rewriting, it seems like they lost interest in the story.  In any event, so happy they're doing PROMENADE.  The cast recording is great, but by no means complete.  It was the show that opened the off-Broadway Promenade Theater.  A few years ago, Carmines' THE BONUS ARMY was revived at the Judson Church, where Carmines was once a minister.  According to the revival's program, the score had to be reconstructed from performance tapes, which might explain why Carmines' work is rarely performed these days.

Updated On: 12/18/18 at 07:41 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/18/18 at 9:05pm

I enjoyed Doyle’s production of Road Show, but it couldn’t overcome the fact that the musical doesn’t make a strong enough case for dramatizing the story of the two brothers. The score of Road Show, on the other hand, is the best version of the various incarnations of the score. I remember seeing an early preview and my jaw dropped because I wasn’t expecting “Waste” to be such a fabulous and superior revision/replacement of the Bounce title song/opening, and Hollis’ surprise lyric was particularly shocking at the time.

“Waste,” “Isn’t He Something?,” “Talent,” “You,” “The Best Thing That Has Ever Happened,” and “Get Out/Go” are all spectacular first rate Sondheim songs. I would highly suggest seeing this concert for the score, being that the overall show isn’t one of Sondheim’s best projects. I am excited to see what a new and fresh director will do with the piece.

Updated On: 12/18/18 at 09:05 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 12/19/18 at 2:23am

I haven't gotten around to listening to the released cast album so maybe it'll just be easier to see Road Show to understand the songs in context. I usually find it easier to sit through an album as a way of revisiting a show rather than the other way around. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/19/18 at 9:54am

Hopefully Sondheim can get Gyllenhaal to do ROAD SHOW, since it’s going to take something like that for me to muster up any excitement for this show.

[DrowsyKaye]

Posted: 12/19/18 at 11:08am

Will Davis is easily one of the most exciting, original theatre directors working today, and his penchant to drastically reinterpret the classics (his production of PICNIC in Chicago was a revelation) makes me super excited to see how he's going to take on this piece.

What a brilliant season they've curated for this. Long live Off-Center.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 12:15pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Encores-Sets-Cast-for-ROAD-SHOW-Raul-Esparza-Brandon-Uranowitz-and-More-20190624

Wow this is quite a cast!!

[Kad]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 12:38pm

This cast actually got me excited about revisiting this show. 

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 12:48pm

I know the chances of a commercial run for Road Show is unlikely, but I can't help but think this feels like the cast of a full fledged revival of the show. Wonderful and diverse choices.

[lynnetoomey]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 1:11pm

This is a PERFECT cast for this piece. Really excited about this!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 1:18pm

ljay889 said: "I know the chances of a commercial run for Road Show is unlikely, but I can't help but think this feels likethe cast of a full fledged revival of the show. Wonderful and diverse choices."

This is a fabulous "one-week run off-Broadway" cast, but NONE of these names mean enough for a commercial run. Unless the Encores production got reviews on the level of Color Purple and some deep-pocketed risktaker or nonprofit wanted to try to move it to a smallish house before the Tony cutoff. And even then, it wouldn't be a sure bet.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 1:44pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "ljay889 said: "I know the chances of a commercial run for Road Show is unlikely, but I can't help but think this feels likethe cast of a full fledged revival of the show. Wonderful and diverse choices."

This is a fabulous "one-week run off-Broadway" cast, but NONE of these names mean enough for a commercial run. Unless the Encores production got reviews on the level ofColor Purpleand some deep-pocketed risktaker or nonprofitwanted to try to move it to a smallish house before the Tony cutoff. And even then, it wouldn't be a sure bet."

I agree with you. The show has no chance of a commercial run. But this is a first rate cast. It feels like a top notch cast that Roundabout would pull together for a revival. A concert staging of Road Show didn’t necessarily need this strong of a cast, so I am rather impressed. 

Updated On: 6/24/19 at 01:44 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 1:52pm

I saw Bounce at the Goodman and listened to the cast recording for Road Show.  I don't think there is any cast that could get me to waste time and money on the show again.

[binau]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 2:06pm

Well this sounds like a step up to me. Sorry but Michael C and Alex G sound awful and boring to me. Were they really the best they could do?

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/24/19 at 2:35pm

Uranowitz is playing the younger brother? That's... interesting. He's not really the right type for the part.

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 12:10am

My least favorite Sondheim score. I have tried and tried to listen to it all the through after the first listen. I am out to lunch but Raul makes it really enticing!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 12:34am

I love the score. “Best Thing That Ever Has Happened” is probably one of my favorite Sondheim songs.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 6:14am

I got my ticket to see ROADSHOW and i am making a short trip to NYC in July...i love the score and have always wanted to see any production of this over-looked Sondheim musical...plus the casting sounds great to me...and i totally agree about "The Best Thing To Ever has Happen"...great love song and i believe Sondheim's one and only gay love song...