High Spirits Off-Broadway Reviews

Musically, the production is at its most rewarding. The score and arrangements have the unmistakable mix of warmth and drive — those bongos! — of Broadway’s golden age, and the orchestra, under Mary-Mitchell Campbell’s direction, smoothly seg...

Musically, the production is at its most rewarding. The score and arrangements have the unmistakable mix of warmth and drive — those bongos! — of Broadway’s golden age, and the orchestra, under Mary-Mitchell Campbell’s direction, smoothly segues between lush finesse and brassy energy. If Lenk does not bring enough finger-snapping verve to “You’d Better Love Me,” she is more at ease in the slinky “Home Sweet Heaven” and in her duet with Pasquale “I Know Your Heart.” How can one resist being swayed by the line, “I’m drawn to you but I’m on to you”? Of such pleasures Encores! is made.

Picture Andrea Martin on a bicycle. You’re already giggling. Now imagine her surrounded by ensemble members who are holding handlebars, dancing as if cycling, pedaling away in place while singing about how she loves to swoop, she loves to swerve, s...

Picture Andrea Martin on a bicycle. You’re already giggling. Now imagine her surrounded by ensemble members who are holding handlebars, dancing as if cycling, pedaling away in place while singing about how she loves to swoop, she loves to swerve, she loves each highway and byway and curve. She’s also wearing a cloak and gesticulating wildly. First question: What could be more immediately funny? Second: Does this song have anything to do with the plot of High Spirits? Not really, although you might make the old fish-and-a-bicycle joke about how little this musical needs this number, but the absurdity is absolutely essential. Why come see a show like this if not for the joy of watching a ham on wheels? It’s musical comedy.

Even though “High Spirits” is a nearly forgotten antique, Encores! has cast it with flair, bringing real Broadway stars to the stage. In addition to Lenk (“The Band’s Visit”) and Martin (tons of stuff), there’s Steven Pasquale (“The Bri...

Even though “High Spirits” is a nearly forgotten antique, Encores! has cast it with flair, bringing real Broadway stars to the stage. In addition to Lenk (“The Band’s Visit”) and Martin (tons of stuff), there’s Steven Pasquale (“The Bridges of Madison County”) and Phillipa Soo (“Hamilton”) in the roles of the husband and wife whose stiff-upper-lip marriage disintegrates under Elvira’s laser-focused high-jinks. Playing the very British couple, Pasquale and Soo are cast against type and can be thankful that “High Spirits” is a limited engagement.

If City Center’s starpower could be supplemented with the kind of technology at work at Harry Potter and Stranger Things, High Spirits could tap into the best of both worlds, this one and the next. In any case, a fuller production would surely prov...

If City Center’s starpower could be supplemented with the kind of technology at work at Harry Potter and Stranger Things, High Spirits could tap into the best of both worlds, this one and the next. In any case, a fuller production would surely provide, as this version does, a refreshingly civilized and invigorating entertainment. And as they used to say, boy, do we need it now.

Choreographer Ellenore Scott (Ragtime) adds a few more flourishes—“Go Into Your Trance” is a fantastic nod to Sweet Charity’s “Rich Man’s Frug”; her terrific ensemble of dancers will make you want to go home and do the Watusi. Afterward...

Choreographer Ellenore Scott (Ragtime) adds a few more flourishes—“Go Into Your Trance” is a fantastic nod to Sweet Charity’s “Rich Man’s Frug”; her terrific ensemble of dancers will make you want to go home and do the Watusi. Afterward, mix yourself a very dry martini and raise a glass to Noël Coward, Encores!, and, as they say in another classic, “the two most glorious words in the English language”: musical comedy.

It's been 60 years since my 16-year-old theatre nerd self eagerly hopped aboard a Trailways bus in Baltimore and headed for New York and the Alvin Theatre. That's where the musical High Spirits waited to greet me with my never-to-be-forgotten first B...

It's been 60 years since my 16-year-old theatre nerd self eagerly hopped aboard a Trailways bus in Baltimore and headed for New York and the Alvin Theatre. That's where the musical High Spirits waited to greet me with my never-to-be-forgotten first Broadway show. Not a touring company or summer stock, mind you, but the real McCoy! Fast forward to last night, when this now-New Yorker hopped aboard a subway and exited at New York City Center, where the Encores! production of High Spirits is in joyous swing, fully living up to the promise of its title and leaving both the aging veteran and the teenager inside me very happy indeed.