Encores! is taking two steps back, one step forward with the announcement of its 2026 season. The series suffered a previous attempt to go “relevant” in 2022 with “productions where artists reclaim work for our time through their own personal lens”, choosing two mediocre black-themed shows. The poor reception of those productions prompted a return in the following years to its original goal of presenting great theater.

Next year’s three offerings under new artistic director Jenny Gersten will be an all-black version of the much revived La Cage Aux Folles (1983), the haunted musical comedy High Spirits (1964), and George Wolfe’s short-lived The Wild Party (2000). (Separately, City Center will also present a gala revival of the off Broadway musical Bat Boy (1992).) Gerston notes that “all have narratives about understanding and respecting our differences” and stresses their importance “at a time when it’s so easy for us to get lost in our own echo chambers”. In particular, she says the black La Cage will “center voices that are also marginalized because of their background”.

Gersten claims to be focusing on what she calls the series’ mission of presenting the original orchestrations of old musicals, but one can be forgiven for assuming that her choices are driven less by quality than the theme of “acceptance”. She notes, “All four of these musicals encourage us to think about how we can expand our consideration to people who aren’t like us.”

Yuk. Does she really think that this is what Encores! fans are looking for? My guess is that most of the core audience for the series just wants good entertainment. La Cage is a fun ride whose story is happily rather old-fashioned at this point, but talk about an echo chamber: I hardly think that gay black voices are marginalized these days unless the director is planning to address homophobia in the black community, which may still be relevant. (I suppose we should be grateful that the genders aren’t being switched into male impersonators, though I shouldn’t give them any ideas.) Can’t they just put the show on for its great music without beating us over the head about its “message”? This show is not necessarily even something that Encores! should be doing in the first place given its still-potent commercial prospects. Revivals of the piece aren’t hard to find, including a production scheduled at St Louis’ MUNY this summer with a largely black cast, and Broadway itself has had two highly regarded revivals that each won a Best Revival Tony. (It’s had at least a dozen full-scale revivals here in Tokyo.) The Encores! production itself sounds suspiciously like a warm-up for another Broadway run. I just wish they had devoted their resources to a show less taken. (Here’s my modest idea for an update of the book.) If they want a Jerry Herman show, how about the virtually forgotten Mame? A huge success in its day, it hasn’t been seen in a major NY production since a failed revival in 1983 and offers a terrific female lead role with a spectacular score (arguably even better than La Cage) that deserves another hearing.

High Spirits is a fantastic choice, a decidedly minor work based on Noel Coward’s evergreen Blithe Spirit about a wacky medium who bunglingly calls up the ghost of a man’s first wife. The original production had little staying power in the year of Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl and has never been revived. But from what I can gather from reviews and recollections, it’s a sheer feel-good piece with a joyous score from Broadway’s Golden Age, the kind of forgotten show that Encores! was made for. This is the work least likely to be revived again and the one I’m most interested in seeing. (I’m not sure how this fits the theme of understanding and acceptance, but I can’t wait to see how they justify it.)

The Wild Party has its fans (I’m not one of them), but with the drugs, orgies, sexual abuse, minstrels, violence, murder and other such pleasantries, it is not family fare. That in itself doesn’t rule it out as an Encores! candidate, of course, but Gerston’s comments suggest that it was selected for reasons other than its score, for better or worse. Let’s see what they come up with.

I suspect that the new young powers-that-be at Encores! have no real knowledge or interest in the glories of old Broadway, and maybe that’s true of audiences as well. It may also be that the most likely titles have already been done, are unavailable or are too difficult for some reason, such as the loss of the original orchestrations. And any choice obviously needs the right combination of actors and creative team. I can suggest a few candidates – Flower Drum Song, Carmen Jones (imagine that with a full orchestra!), Redhead, The Student Prince – but I’m sure it’s not as easy as it looks. Still, I do wish they’d keep the focus on the music and stop blathering on about how good these shows are for us, like some sort of theatrical castor oil. It gets tiresome.