Encores! Says 'Farewell' to Music Director Rob Fisher

The large rehearsal room has been turned into a glitzy, fashionable gathering and performance space, with towers of gold balloons standing in for columns, and enough glamourous celebrities to make any Broadway fan's heart flutter. Stars like Emily Skinner, Rebecca Luker, Nancy Anderson, Michael Cerveris, Walter Bobbie, Karen Ziemba and Patti LuPone mingle and chat and share memories. All of these stars are linked by one stage, and one musical director with a passion for reviving classic musicals: City Center, and Rob Fisher. For the past twelve years, Mr. Fisher has conducted and music directed the Encores! program at City Center, presenting concert versions of such classics as Fiorello!, Chicago, Pal Joey, House of Flowers, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and most recently, The Apple Tree. Under his musical direction, the series has grown into what Time Magazine called "one of the very best reasons to be alive in New York." As he steps down from his perch overseeing Encores!, City Center is sending him off with a celebrity-studded gala and concert featuring some of the stars of the Encores! shows he has conducted.

Walter Bobbie, who directed the Encores!' production of Chicago that is still running on Broadway, opens the evening with some warm remarks and memories of Mr. Fisher, who Mr. Bobbie called "an intuitive collaborator." A bright and energetic overture is provided by the "Demi-tasse" Orchestra (rather than the usual Coffee Club Orchestra). Legendary diva Patti LuPone comes to the stage to sing the original scandalous lyrics to "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" from Pal Joey as only she can, making the song even more sultry and languorous than usual. Soprano Rebecca Luker sings a whistful and lovely rendition of Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do." Emily Skinner, who sang "Refinement" in the recent Encores! revival of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, sings the song again, but with new (and hilarious) lyrics to honor Mr. Fisher. The final song, a medley of choral pieces performed at Encores! (and including a sung list of show titles) is performed with gusto and affection by the Encores Chorale. Mr. Fisher himself is then brought up to the stage to receive a special gift: the first page of the score to Fiorello!, his first musical for Encores!, and the final page of the score to The Apple Tree, his last. As he accepts the award, he remarks that his twelve years at Encores are like a child going from first grade to high school graduation. "I love my diploma!" he says proudly, and the chorus sings a fond four-part arrangement of "Happy Trails" to send him off.