This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie, the podcast where we explore the latest shows we see, sharing our insights and opinions on the performances, storylines, and everything in between.

[0:08] Richie Grasso: In today's episode, we're discussing the New York City Center Encores production of High Spirits playing at the New York City Center in New York City.

[0:15] Jeff Malone: Whether you can't catch the show in person or you want to expand your thoughts after seeing it, this episode is for you.

[0:20] Richie Grasso: And as always, we want to inform you that this episode will contain spoilers.

[0:24] Jeff Malone: So if you're ready to dive into this production, stick around with us.

[0:27] Jeff Malone: I'm Jeff.

[0:27] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie, and we're thrilled to be your hosts for this episode.

[0:30] Jeff Malone: But before we start the conversation about High Spirits, here are a few words from our advertisers.

[0:35] Richie Grasso: Welcome everyone to a new episode of Half Hour with Jeff and Richie.

[0:38] Jeff Malone: Today we're discussing High Spirits.

[0:40] Richie Grasso: What happens when death doesn't do you part?

[0:43] Jeff Malone: Based on Noël Coward's beloved play, Blithe Spirit, this musical combines his classic dry-witty humor with a delightfully brassy and whimsical score by Hugh Martin of Meet Me in St. Louis and Timothy Gray of Love from Judy.

[0:55] Richie Grasso: This improbable farce, full of haunted hijinks, has rarely been seen in New York since its original Broadway run in 1964, when it earned eight Tony nominations.

[1:04] Jeff Malone: So this is your chance to see it brought back to life.

[1:06] Richie Grasso: No clairvoyant needed.

[1:08] Jeff Malone: Directed by Jessica Stone of Kimberly Akimbo, this madcap musical stars real-life spouses, Phillipa Soo and Steven Pasquale.

[1:16] Richie Grasso: Yes.

[1:16] Jeff Malone: And before we really get into this, the show will have been closed by the time you're listening to this.

[1:20] Richie Grasso: So this is for everyone that did see it or wants to know more about High Spirits, which is great.

[1:25] Jeff Malone: So today, as we said, we're talking about High Spirits, the Encores! production.

[1:30] Richie Grasso: And my theater hot take is that High Spirits is like the first Encores! revival I've seen since Jelly's Last Jam that actually feels like the series is doing what it promises, which is resurrecting a forgotten musical and staging it like it belongs in 2026.

[1:45] Jeff Malone: Yeah, that's a great way to put it.

[1:47] Richie Grasso: And I think this is one of the first times in a while, other than Jelly's Last Jam, I'll agree, where I'm seeing something that is not extremely mainstream.

[1:55] Jeff Malone: Yeah, that is a forgotten show of sorts that is completely revived, full of vibrancy and color and humor to be brought to modern audiences and say, hey, does this work? Does this not work? Let's enjoy this or try to find the wonderful moments in it.

[2:10] Richie Grasso: And I thought that was what this did so well. All the performances were wonderful, and I really, really enjoyed this.

[2:15] Jeff Malone: Yeah. So let's get into this overall production now.

[2:17] Richie Grasso: So it's City Center Encores! We've kind of got this down pat now with how many shows we've seen over the last three years. Where do you think this kind of fits as a production and show?

[2:29] Jeff Malone: So I think what's interesting is we, you know, talking about Encores!, we could talk more at the end about City Center Encores! in general, but I feel like lately in the last few years, City Center Encores! is really pumping big show titles where they're full costume, full set, full orchestra, and like almost close to a full Broadway production.

[2:47] Richie Grasso: In other words, it's the out-of-town but in town to get producers to come and say, hey, let's put this on Broadway now for a run.

[2:54] Jeff Malone: And does that model work for some shows? Yes. However, I felt like we were straying away from the purpose of City Center Encores!.

[3:01] Richie Grasso: Because ever since it happened with Chicago, where Chicago, the original run, as most people know, wasn't the most successful. And then the movie was highly successful later. But before the movie, there was this Encores! production where, like, let's put the orchestra on stage and put everyone in black and just use chairs and go.

[3:17] Jeff Malone: And look, twenty-something years later, it's still working.

[3:19] Richie Grasso: So that was a high success story. And then nothing wrong with that. But I think that it's important to remember that I personally think one of the City Center Encores! missions is to take shows that would probably, and I use that word with weight, would probably never make it to a Broadway revival.

[3:36] Jeff Malone: Right.

[3:37] Richie Grasso: I'm sure if someone said, hey, let's do this really big High Spirits Broadway revival production right now with no out of town, with no maybe one workshop, people would be like, um, what is that? You know, Blithe Spirit's a little different. It's more of a famous title show. We've seen revivals on that. Angela Lansbury was in that in one of the latest revivals, right? So I get that, but I think this was an opportunity to say, hey, let's bring this score back to life, no pun intended. Let's bring some big names in, big names that would maybe never do this show for a six or eight-month contract, but they'll do it for a couple weeks. And let's try this.

[4:07] Jeff Malone: And when you hear the full orchestration, you see the stars doing the witty humor and the choreography and the story, which is so funny and bizarre in some ways and silly. I think it just roots itself in what I found to be the purpose of Encores!. And this was nail on the head for me.

[4:25] Richie Grasso: Right. And I think, like looking at the actual book and score of this piece here, we have High Spirits. I look at this and I say, hmm, I wonder what it was like in 1964 when this show actually first came to Broadway. And where does it kind of sit on the timeline of like what we're seeing in musical theater today? You know, that was like one of the things that we were talking about when we left the show is like, where would this kind of fall from like a plot book perspective?

[4:51] Jeff Malone: I think it fits because it's mirroring off Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, which was already a well-working plot, right? So I think what's interesting about this is I can't help but see High Spirits and keep thinking of Bewitched, which was that like, you know, in the 50s, 60s TV show of like the witch that shows up and then she just disappears, or I Dream of Jeannie. There was that time of jazz and like silly farcical, like magical moments of TV era of the 50s and 60s. And I think that this kind of mirrored some of that.

[5:21] Richie Grasso: What was happening in 1964? Well, arguably speaking, 1965 is roughly very roughly the age where golden age theater was ending. And we were getting a resurgence of new style of theater with Hair coming in and in the early 70s with Pippin and some of these different rock and pop sounding scores, right?

[5:38] Jeff Malone: Right.

[5:39] Richie Grasso: But we were getting the end of this jazz era of musical theater, which was orchestral jazz. It was either orchestral or it was small combo band jazz. This was orchestral jazz. When you look at this orchestra and you see all the wind instruments and the string instruments and the percussion, and you see it, and you're like, wow, this is really big band, but times ten. What just in time right now is big band, but that's a smaller band. This is orchestral jazz. And I think you didn't see, you don't see as much of that anymore today. So I think that was also what made this special.

[6:13] Jeff Malone: Yeah, like I look at that and I say, hmm, okay, I kind of understand what they were saying or creating here. I understand that, yes, we were leaving a certain classic golden age musical theater behind, and we were trying to figure out how to bring new sounds into an orchestral piece. And that's what I really got from something like this. The songs were written in a structure that was a little bit more like verse-chorus-verse-chorus, like a modern pop song, rather than just a storytelling musical theater piece, which I was like, hmm, okay, that's interesting. That probably made sense in 1964 when this was happening.

[6:54] Richie Grasso: And then I kind of look at the book and I say, uh, all right, it's cute. I kind of found the book. It's like, it's very cute. It's silly, it's whimsical, it's these great stock characters here, the husband and wife fighting, the dead ex-husband, the wife that Madame Arcati. Like, there's all these fun characters, right? And then there's this like sense of 60s pop culture in it with like we're going to the groovy coffee shop cafe. And that was like the, Sweet Charity does that. Oh, there's a moment in Sweet Charity with, you know, they have that like, you know, the fun sixties kind of vibe song to it. So there was elements of like, let's add some pop kind of feel to it. You could tell they were trying to do that in this extension.

[7:31] Jeff Malone: Yeah, they had this like mod 60s vibe, with the dress of the ensemble, like around Madame Arcati's character, like those songs were created around that, that she was more of this like Bohemian mod style.

[7:46] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and then when you get a little bit more into like Charles and Ruth and Elvira, they're more of like this fancy classic group of people here that are not anywhere close to what's happening with like Madame Arcati's role.

[8:03] Jeff Malone: Right. And I think from a plot and concept perspective too, I look at this and I say, you know, the act one ending is like, oh wow, did he just like die? Like, we don't really know, spoiler, you know, spoilers here. I know you're not for people who can't see it anymore when this comes out because it's already closed, but you really think that like he's being so led on by this ghost that he almost wants to die to be with his ex-wife, and then later on when she's like, oh no, the car, the car, and then Ruth's the one, like it's so madcap comedy that way. Like I didn't know the plot too well before going. I don't know Blithe Spirit too much, and I didn't know this at all. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. That's interesting.

[8:36] Richie Grasso: And then when the poison and the drink and at the end, and then the maid, you always like in classic comedy, it's the butler and the maid that you want to be like, well, you know, you're gonna be like, there's a reason for them to be in this show. And then, like, it was just all came together, and I think there's some silly fun, it almost felt filmic to me. The bike riding scene. I could see that being all, you know, and then there's this like, it felt like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, like the magical countryside of England where this was maybe set right in but riding a bike down the hill, like the motor coach and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and the magical moments. Like I just, and that was early 70s, right?

So I feel like there's this sense of whimsy to it that felt filmic and felt fun, like it was probably fun for them to do, and it was based on a play, right? That was written before. So, like it was just a smart musical adaptation of a play. Sometimes I see plays, I'm like, this doesn't work as a musical. I thought this did.

[9:29] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I agree with that. I think like this at the time probably was just pure entertainment. There's not really a full message when you're leaving. It's comedy, it's farce, it has all of those moments. It and it's written like a true musical theater piece here where we're ending act one on a cliffhanger that when you come back and you realize like, oh my god, what's gonna happen at this point? And then we're like talking about detail, two feet down onto the landing, like all that dry humor was so funny, and it worked really well, right?

[10:02] Richie Grasso: So all right. Well, I think this is a good time to kind of switch over to the actual production here.

[10:07] Jeff Malone: But first we're gonna take a quick break.

[10:10] Richie Grasso: Okay, and we're back.

[10:12] Jeff Malone: So let's kind of get into the overall direction and design of this Encores! piece now.

[10:16] Richie Grasso: So I, you know, remember, we always see almost always see orchestras on City Center Encores! productions to see them up there in the stars.

[10:25] Jeff Malone: Yeah, the stars are up there, these beautiful 60s globes are hanging, right? Those curved staircases.

[10:29] Richie Grasso: This is a David Zinn set that works so well for the space. There's this magical black curtain in the back where things kind of appear and disappear, and it's a very two-dimensional field. There's no diagonals, there's no circles, there's no major other than just like we're gonna just kind of do this forward facing, and that's fine. And I think that worked for this.

[10:48] Jeff Malone: I don't always think that works for every show. I also don't think this was the most directed thing I've ever seen. It was fine. Like it worked for what this needed to be. It was very concert-style performance, and it was very simple in that.

[11:01] Richie Grasso: As it should be, though, because it is Encores! That's the encore.

[11:02] Jeff Malone: It is Jessica Stone that directed this, Kimberly Akimbo at Water for Elephants. Where do you kind of feel like what slightly was working a little bit more in the staging of this?

[11:14] Richie Grasso: Well, the magical elements worked really well. I really loved the use of levels. We were up with the orchestra, we were down, and it felt like we were in the house. Then it felt like we were in the coffee shop, right? I will say, slightly shifting over to Ellenore Scott's choreography. That was strong for me when you are dealing with a very limited amount of time and almost no scenery, but just a bare stage, and you have to do all these dance numbers. Not only did that work, but I will say something. That bike ride song, yeah. That was pretty incredible. I'm sorry. I'm gonna say that. Like with the handlebars and not cluttering the stage with a ton of clunky bikes, but putting her on a bike that's on a platform on wheels and she's pedaling in place. It's so funny. And then everyone's bike riding, like you really thought they were like riding to the house.

[11:58] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[11:59] Richie Grasso: And what a like Mary Poppins-esque feeling of a moment for Madame Arcati, just like, I'm going to the house on the bike, and she loves her bike. And so, like, there's just something about the whimsy of the staging of that. The staging, the choreography was very strong to me. I was very, very impressed with this choreography.

[12:16] Jeff Malone: Yeah, you know, I think when looking at this piece here, I think what Jessica did well was bringing it back to the root of Encores!, you know, and making this more of that concert style. It wasn't perfect. It didn't need to be perfect. I actually thought some of the flubs and mess ups within the show that we saw kind of like worked in the funniness of the piece.

[12:37] Richie Grasso: Um, I probably would say that I maybe wanted a little more magic. And there's a couple moments, but I almost feel like they were almost forgotten because there wasn't enough of them.

[12:49] Jeff Malone: Yeah, and also a little bit more comedic beats.

[12:54] Richie Grasso: Yeah.

[12:54] Jeff Malone: Yeah. I think that's what I would have wanted her to kind of direct more into this piece that I thought like we sometimes were missing some of like the witty comedy that's written in here, and we weren't laughing at what was actually in the book. We were laughing that they were kind of just messing up.

[13:09] Richie Grasso: Yeah, you know. And there wasn't, I won't say messing up. There wasn't really messing up moments. There was more like listen, I will say this is probably the heaviest use of binders I've ever seen in an Encores! production.

[13:20] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[13:21] Richie Grasso: And I don't mean to be disrespectful if I say heavy use because it is a concert.

[13:25] Jeff Malone: Right, and it's allowed.

[13:26] Richie Grasso: And it's totally allowed. And most times they do it in one song to kind of say, hey, we're using the binders, and then they put them away. This was pretty heavy, where like if they were off by a page, it was very noticeable and they're flipping through the page, you know, because there's a lot of books seen here.

[13:38] Jeff Malone: There's a lot, yeah, right.

[13:39] Richie Grasso: Um, but it almost kind of felt like, oh, this is going to be the true Encores! production of the season where like there's no opportunity that this is going beyond like these two weeks.

[13:51] Jeff Malone: Yeah.

[13:51] Richie Grasso: And we're just gonna have fun with it. Whereas sometimes we've seen in the past, like with Mattress or Ragtime Parade, Into the Woods, like it almost felt like the trajectory was that those shows were gonna transfer, so we need to make this perfect and present it that way. And that's not like what this was about. This was more of like staying to the root here of the city. And that's why I think, and yes, and even the costumes were simplistic enough, but nice. The makeup when Ruth comes back in dead and Katrina Lenk's character comes back, right? There's those moments, and I think, okay, this like all came together, and it was lit very nice, the orchestra was lit very nice, the whole thing just came together. And when you see that they don't have a lot of time to do that, it's pretty impressive.

[14:32] Richie Grasso: Um, but I want to ask you a question, Jeff. So now I want to go into a little bit about some of the casting. What do you think about some of the casting decisions of my experience?

[14:39] Jeff Malone: Well, I think that the casting decisions here were great. I mean, we have a, uh, let's call it a Broadway Star Vehicle quartet here of names that really stand out. Steven Pasquale, Phillipa Soo, Katrina Lenk, and Andrea Martin, I think are like shining stars here in like perfect casting for this. I loved what they all brought to their roles. I think like I'll be one to say this all the time. I have like I had so many issues with Phillipa Soo because she was in Amelie, and that was not my show when it came out. But she has grown and grown as so much as a Broadway performer for me that I loved her in this. I loved her in Camelot. I mean, I obviously love her in Hamilton, right? And I and she always sticks for me because like I'm now I'm like, what is she gonna be doing?

Yeah, and the same with Katrina Lenk. I think like she was a big standout in this show for me this time because I wasn't a huge fan of her in Company, and I really loved her in The Band's Visit. And now seeing her in this, it was like great to see her kind of change the lane of what I kind of expect from her. Yeah, she's playing, and I don't mean this with any disrespect, but she's playing more of an age-appropriate role here. Bobby didn't feel quite working for me in Company, I will say that, but for her in that role. But this just felt real. This was one of the strongest things I've seen Katrina Lenk do, and she sings that big number. And I'm like, okay, you're owning this song, right? Right.

For sure. And that's like probably one of the most memorable songs in the show that she sings too. So it's like she gets that great moment here in act two, and she's talking about what it's what why don't I dine and live my life in the stars in the heavens with all the dead famous people before me? Great song. I think I leaned over to you at the end and said, this is a really well-written song. I just thought that was very good.

[16:22] Richie Grasso: I agree with that. And who's kind of standing out for you now?

[16:25] Jeff Malone: Okay, so all those people for sure. Andrea Martin, I don't think that woman could do anything wrong. I think she had a couple of flub moments, but it was so funny in our performance. She was off by a page, and then someone helps her flip the page back, and she said, no, we did that already. And then she's like, it was like 10 minutes into the show. She's like, well, we have two and a half hours of this to go. Like it was so funny. And then later she had another one with her accent and she lost her accent. She's like, wait, I gotta get my accent back. Yeah, it was so funny. She's just charming, she's lovable, she's in this whimsical, silly fun role. She's so comfortable on the stage, singing, acting. I hope we just always keep seeing her. She does serious roles well too, right? But I just think this is just so her comfort, and I just love her, and I think she's just so good at what she does. She's a standout for that.

[17:10] Richie Grasso: Yeah, and Rachel Dratch is in the show too.

[17:12] Jeff Malone: Rachel Dratch. She plays the maid. Listen, she brings what we want from Rachel all the time. Like it's that SNL humor that she just knows how to bring into the stage, and it's like she's not reinventing the wheel.

[17:29] Richie Grasso: No, it's exactly what people want from her. Don't change it.

[17:33] Jeff Malone: Yeah. And you know, I just think like that is funny. And she has this like, oh, oh, slow down with speed up. No, no, no. The whole bit with her running around in the beginning was so funny. She's just and she just delivers so well. And we're gonna see her on Broadway in a few months. So she's in Rocky Horror Show.

[17:50] Richie Grasso: Which is great. And I, you know, what I really kind of applaud all of them to in this show is like I think they know what the heart of Encores is, and it's like they weren't trying to be perfect for, you know, lack of a better saying here. I think it was more of like, we know what this is, let's put on this show in the right way, and people are gonna have fun with it. Like, I don't think anyone was sitting in there kind of saying, like, oh, I'm wasting my time with this. And I have a little bit of a theory, and I wonder if there's a theory, and I could be so wrong with this, but I wonder if they're ever told, hey, by the way, this might transfer to Broadway. So you might, we can't make you, but you might want to memorize your lines really quick, and we're gonna add a lot of our costumes and we're gonna make this really because there's a chance it might transfer versus shows like, hey, I don't know if this is going to transfer, so like we're just gonna really keep this true to the concert form.

I hope they're not. Maybe, maybe that's the point of this. Maybe this is a business model after all, right? So maybe that there is something to be said about that. And maybe we, you know, we have The Wild Party coming up and we have La Cage coming up, which are both big shows. I mean, I'm not saying High Spirits couldn't transfer, but there's a, we saw Bat Boy where there was almost no scripts, you know, that was the Gallup performance, but you wonder, like, okay, I don't know if I think like a conversation that's had behind the scenes before they go do this. But I do think that there was some intention, maybe around Bat Boy. It had never been on Broadway. Maybe that was the idea that, hey, maybe we can transfer this or move it to like a new world stages or something where it would just kind of run because it has such a cult following.

You know, I think, you know, we talk about this with Matt Koplik a lot about Encores and how there is always such a moment around like, is it gonna transfer to Broadway? And like we've always said to him, and he always says to us, like, it's not about that. That's not what Encores is about. And they kind of have to get that mentality out of their head that everything's transferring to Broadway, because it seemed like that was what was happening as of recent. And now it seems like it's kind of going back to more of its root. And maybe that's like with artistic directors changing and knowing like what this was, you know. So I would be very curious to see what happened.

[20:05] Richie Grasso: Totally, totally. Well, now it's time to take a quick break, and when we get back, we'll get into our own questions about the show and an open conversation about Encores and our half minutes.

[20:15] Jeff Malone: Okay, and we're back. So let's kind of get into our own questions here and some more topics about Encores in general.

[20:22] Richie Grasso: Yeah, like I and I think it's nice that we kind of talk about Encores as a whole, right? Because I think we look at this and we say, okay, you have High Spirits, Wild Party, and La Cage aux Folles. Those are three very different shows. They've all been on Broadway. One has been revived many times, and the other two have not been revived. Do you ever, and I guess my question for you, Jeff, would be like, do you ever think that when they're deciding the Encores seasons, they're saying, let's do one big title show that's gonna sell no matter what, that could do an easy revival transfer, and then the others not? Do you ever think that?

[20:50] Jeff Malone: Because it just seems like every year, Once Upon a Mattress did a transfer, Into the Woods did a transfer, Ragtime did a transfer. They've had this running record of like they're averaging, and this is a rough estimate. Every year to every other year, something's transferring. I think it kind of just works in the current Broadway climate right now. I think because Broadway is so expensive, doing the tryout right now in Encores and them saying, hmm, let's kind of put a season together and see what kind of sticks. And then it's easier for us to kind of transfer something to Broadway in a concert style. It's not as expensive. So that's why I think when they're thinking about the casting decisions here, they're kind of looking at some of the bigger things like Ragtime and putting Brandon and Joshua and Casey in those roles too as like that's something that could transfer.

The same thing when it was with Once Upon a Mattress and Sutton is transferring as the lead there. The same with Parade and having Ben Platt and Michaela Diamond. You know, I think like that kind of stuff is maybe kind of happening since Into the Woods.

[22:00] Richie Grasso: Because it was Parade first or Into the Woods. I always get the order mixed up.

[22:03] Jeff Malone: I think it was Into the Woods first.

[22:04] Richie Grasso: Into the Woods first. And then it kind of, yeah. So down that line there, and I look at something like this, and I'm saying, oh, if anything from this season, maybe it's La Cage. I mean, we have Billy Porter starting in that. That's a big name that could easily transfer to the big stage. So, you know, maybe, maybe that's what's going into consideration. I don't, I mean, that's what I would probably be doing if I was the artistic director.

[22:28] Jeff Malone: Right. I would always just want to make sure that we're going back to remembering the things like High Spirits and saying there is this show that got eight Tony nominations that was pretty popular that people liked, and I just can't see this ever being revived anytime soon. So let's do that. There's so many Broadway shows. You would if you go back to Tony performances in the 70s and 80s, you'll be like, what the title of the show is that? I've never seen that again on Broadway. That's what I'd love to see more of. And the rights are available, and those scripts are just sitting on shelves. And another thing is like, I would love to know like how many high schools or colleges or regional theaters did High Spirits in the last 20 years.

Probably not many. I'm sure there's a few. There's always someone doing a show somewhere. But I don't, I don't, I'm not saying, and I don't mean to be negative, like flop or like the no-name show. I'm just saying these are shows that were not, you know, I what was also happening in 1964 or 1965 was like, you know, Roger Hammerstein, and that's always done, right? Lerner and Loewe and things like that. But you know, this wasn't a blockbuster run for the show in 1964, but it was considered, I think, a success. It just never got, it had eight Tony nominations. It did not win for Best Show, but it still, you know, was nominated. But I guess I'll say, like, if you opened up the newspaper next in a few months and said, oh, next year's City Center Encores season, The Music Man, Hello Dolly, I'd be like, we can just put those on Broadway with this.

We did, you know, in the last 10 years, right? So I always look at it like sure, but like, you know, I think we just, you know, I think like usually Encores's gala production tends to be more of like the more known show, yeah, and then they do something a little different, like they're doing a different style of La Cage now. And they're even doing Wild Party, not the, you know, arguably, some people think the Andrew Lippa off-Broadway one is a little more famous and more done than the Broadway one, so it'll be interesting to see.

[24:23] Richie Grasso: Yeah, like La Cage has been revived multiple times, it's very, very popular. But they have not done an all-black La Cage. So that they're doing that. They're trying something different with that show, which is great. I think the same thing with Wild Party. They're doing the LaChiusa version score, and that I think everyone thinks it's gonna be the Andrew Lippa production, but it's not. And there's so many, there's so many shows I think of though, and I say, like, okay, like if they announced, oh, Legally Blonde is gonna come to a city. I'm like, no, I think that could just go right to Broadway. Like, I think we need to understand that some things could just go right to Broadway and maybe no, unless they're reworking a book or they're reworking a score, or they're trying to like figure out some problems along, you know, sure, right?

But I always think like, you know, some things like it's just, it's gotta be a cool and also difficult process to sit in a room with these people that run City Center Encores and figure out what their season's gonna be. But I think like what we're getting at here, though, is like we really enjoyed seeing something like High Spirits here last season. We really enjoyed seeing Love Life as a show. Like, when would you ever think you were gonna be seeing something like that? It was like, yeah, that's something like you don't think you're gonna see, and we loved seeing something like that, which was great.

[25:32] Jeff Malone: So well, let's get ready to wrap this segment up with our half-minute segment. This is when we each give each other a topic, as of you've been listening the last few weeks, and we gotta go on for a half minute or 30 seconds about that topic. So we're gonna make this all about our High Spirits conversation. Who wants to go first?

[25:50] Richie Grasso: Um, for half a minute. I think I'm gonna give you the half minute first.

[25:55] Jeff Malone: Okay. So we're doing half minute for High Spirits here. And Richie, I want you to give me your half minute on the purpose of City Center Encores.

[26:07] Richie Grasso: Okay, perfect. Red Cup. Okay, my personal thoughts are the purpose of City Center Encores are concert performances of lesser-known shows that have not had a million Broadway revivals. Put the binders on stage. Let us see the orchestra. It's okay if we make mistakes, we're trying new things out. It's even okay if the audience doesn't feel like this works anymore because then we realize maybe there's a reason why the show hasn't been done in 60 years, right? And I understand that. Maybe some we should be putting in some of the titles that are just sitting on shelves and not necessarily putting these titles up that are the big, big popular names.

[26:44] Jeff Malone: Yeah. I gotta come on and on. Great. That's my thoughts on City Center Encores.

[26:50] Richie Grasso: Okay, we're getting ready to go over to you, Jeff now. And for 30 seconds or a half minute, I want you to talk about the fabulous Andrea Martin. Go.

[26:58] Jeff Malone: Okay. 30 seconds on Andrea Martin. What can I say other than that she is comedy gold? I find that her comedic timing is always perfect. She's like the mother of Broadway that everyone wants in a show. And she brings so much comedy, so much fun, so much expertise in how she delivers a line that she can do nothing wrong, in my opinion. And I would love, love, love, love to see her in something else very soon. That's it.

[27:30] Richie Grasso: Okay. Great. We love our chat, our half-minute sections. Amazing. Love Andrea Martin. Love Encores. There's so much that we're excited for. And I can't wait for The Wild Party coming up.

[27:43] Jeff Malone: Yeah, and La Cage, two huge, great shows. My gosh. What are your final thoughts on High Spirits at City Center Encores, Jeff?

[27:52] Richie Grasso: Listen, sorry, y'all that when you're listening to this, you're not going to be able to see it now. But High Spirits was a lot of fun. So if you did get to see it, I hope you enjoyed it just as much as we did. It was fun. It was a fun night out in this brutal cold time of year. Um, and I can't wait for The Wild Party and La Cage later on.

[28:11] Jeff Malone: Totally agree. Loved High Spirits. I want to try to listen to this. I think there must be an off-Broadway cast recording somewhere. I gotta listen to that music again. I just love and I love a full overture and a full-on track like that where you see the orchestra playing this music. It's just you don't see orchestras a lot. And when you do, sometimes they're just small bands on Broadway now. That's nothing wrong with that. But I just love this production. I thought all the performances were great and it was funny. And maybe we'll see High Spirits again sometime in our life somewhere. Who knows?

[28:36] Richie Grasso: Yeah. Cool stuff. Well, that does wrap up our discussion of this episode. We hope you enjoyed our deep dive into High Spirits. And remember, we want to hear from you. Continue the conversation with us on Instagram and TikTok at Half Hour Podcast. And drop us a comment on Spotify and let us know your thoughts on High Spirits. Please also leave us a review. Your reviews mean so much to us. And remember to subscribe to our channel for all past and future episodes. Until next time, I'm Jeff.

[29:01] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie. Sang Tata for now. Bye.