Review Roundup: THE BAND WAGON Opens at Encores!- All the Reviews!

The Encores! Special Event The Band Wagon is set to star Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell, seven-time Emmy Award winner Tracey Ullman, Academy Award nominee Michael McKean, Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award nominee Tony Sheldon, Tony Award nominee Michael Berresse and Don Stephenson. The Band Wagon began performances on Nov. 6.

A classic backstage musical, The Band Wagon tells the story of a washed-up Hollywood star (Brian Stokes Mitchell) who attempts to make a comeback by doing a Broadway show, and encounters an assortment of colorful characters: a British director (Tony Sheldon) who is a genius but has no business directing a musical, a leading lady who's never done a show before (Laura Osnes), and a composer and a lyricist who are at each other's throats (Michael McKean and Tracey Ullman). All the things that could never happen in the New York theater today.

Click here to see production photos from the show and here to watch a video preview!

Last night, the critics weighed in on the show, which has already been buzzed about for a Broadway transfer. What does this mean for the future of the musical? Check out what they had to say below!

Ben Brantley, NY Times: An urgent request to the helium suppliers of New York: Can you please deliver as many canisters of the stuff as you can spare to City Center, posthaste? There's a big, bright balloon of a show there that just won't inflate. Even hot air would be welcome, in a pinch. "The Band Wagon," which opened on Sunday as anEncores! Special Event that runs through next weekend, looks as if it could be a lark if it could ever get itself airborne. As it is, this adaptation of the beloved 1953 MGM movie musical lies on the stage like a peppy old friend who has been mysteriously felled by depression.

Elisabeth Vinsantelli, NY Post: With those stars and characters, you'd be right to assume the backstage romantic comedy features a lot of dancing - fabulously choreographed numbers like "Dancing in the Dark" and "Shine on Your Shoes" rightly belong in Hollywood's hall of fame... Why director Kathleen Marshall ("Anything Goes") decided to cast Brian Stokes Mitchell and Laura Osnes in these roles is a mystery. After all, the two are peerless vocalists but aren't particularly known for slinky moves. And so Tony and Gabrielle now bond through song rather than dance in the new adaptation by Douglas Carter Beane ("Cinderella," "Sister Act"). It's a little frustrating, to be sure, that their big love duet might as well be retitled "Singing in the Dark."

Matt Windman, amNY: What it does have is an absolutely fantastic cast including Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Osnes, Tony Sheldon, Tracey Ullman, Michael McKean and Michael Berresse. Too bad they can't all do a revival of a 1950s stage musical, rather than an unnecessary and problematic rewrite of a 1950s film musical that certainly wasn't broken in the first place.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: With its backstage milieu, its plot-driving let's-put-on-a-show spirit and its droll account of the clash between pretentious art and popular entertainment, the 1953 film has plenty of plum ingredients. And director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall's light-hearted production capitalizes on them with ebullience and humor. But while Beane's book does an admirable job of elaborating Betty Comden and Adolph Green's screenplay into a sturdy frame for the terrific songs by composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz, the resulting show is stronger on old-fashioned charm than 21st century viability.

David Finkle, The Huffington Post: Doing his level-best to give the rich material its due and, for the most part, succeeding is guest conductor Todd Ellison, decorating the air with his baton in front of a 12-person(!) orchestra. Further distinguishing the fun-filled evening is director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall, who--if you recall her Kiss Me, Kate revival--relishes the chance to give a tune-up (pun intended) to tuners from an earlier age. Not only does she keep the numbers busily percolating. she also grabs the chance to send up modern dance in a couple of sequences centered on an arrogant choreographer who looks down on the B'way stage. And her dancers couldn't be more eager and willing to go for it.

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: Light-footed and luscious, the classic 1953 MGM film, "The Band Wagon," is now an enjoyable stage musical, albeit one hauling too much tonnage. Despite its roster of great songs by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz - like the dreamy "Dancing in the Dark" and the anthemic "That's Entertainment" - the adaptation presented by Encores! lacks wow moments and seldom achieves lift-off.

Jesse Green, Vulture: But in fact such failings are not very significant in a light entertainment, and Beane gets a lot right. The book is swift, some of the jokes are hilarious (if out-of-period), and most of the rejiggering has been done with a savvy ear for structure. The order and alternation of the musical numbers is deeply satisfying, in an old-fashioned way. And no one could say there aren't enough of them, or that they aren't performed to advantage.

Linda Winer, Newsday: Brian Stokes Mitchell, away from the stage for far too long, has an uncharacteristically lighthearted touch as Tony Hunter, an aging, fading Hollywood star seeking to revive his career on Broadway. Mitchell doesn't pretend he can dance like the movie's Fred Astaire, but he taps in gangly high style and lets his creamy baritone enjoy the occasional croon in such haunting ballads as "By Myself." Unlike the dance-driven movie, the production is more motivated by strong voices and an unforced behind-the-scenes appreciation of the ridiculous.

Check back in the morning for the rest of the reviews!

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

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