at a Disney+ Nonfiction Storytelling Showcase in October that her own high school musical experience helped shape who she is as an actor, and more important, as a person. The series airs a new episode each Friday, with a new group of people, in a new town, doing incredibly brave things in front of a camera.Los Angeles High School, class of 1975, resurrects its production of “Anything Goes.” Adults in their mid-50s tackle “Pippin” in Louisville, Ky. In Flint, Mich.
“Encore!” is not a reality competition, though. It’s a study in transformation, encapsulated in eight miniature story arcs per week. “There’s something about having adults sing, perform and tap dance that’s a bit ridiculous and entertaining, but it forces you out of your box,” said executive producer Richard Schwartz. “I don’t think you’d see the same sort of emotional breakthroughs and transcendence if this was your average reunion in a banquet hall.”
The hourlong show, which is now well into its 12-episode run, grew out of a 2017 ABC special of the same name. The Disney+ version is also executive produced by Bell and the show’s creator, Jason Cohen, as well as Schwartz, Alycia Rossiter, Will Gluck and Jim Roush. “We always knew there’d be a lot of humor putting people into these situations as adults,” said Cohen, who says he was not a high school thespian but played Daddy Warbucks in a summer camp production of “Annie.” “What we didn’t expect is the amount of emotion when these people got back together, both in rejoicing over what they were doing and in reliving tough times.”