''Encore! '' is an American

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series hosted and executive produced by

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

and

Will Gluck Will Gluck (born November 7, 1978) is an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, songwriter, and composer. Life and career Gluck is the son of American academic and Japanologist Carol Gluck and architect Peter L. Gluck. He began ...

. Based on a pilot special aired on

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on December 10, 2017, the series premiered on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

on November 12, 2019.

Premise

''Encore!'' reunites the cast members of high school musicals to recreate their performance years after they originally performed.

Production

Development

A television special, also titled ''Encore!'' and hosted by Bell, aired on ABC on December 10, 2017. It reunited the cast of a 1997 South Hills High School production of ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story ...

'' to recreate their original performance. In April 2019, Disney+ ordered a series based on the special, to be hosted and executive produced by Kristen Bell. When asked during the

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about the future of the series, creator Jason Cohen said, "Obviously, things right now are a little bit funky, with the coronavirus, and things have been thrown into flux a bit. But we are hoping we can do more."

Episodes

Special (2017)

Season 1 (2019–20)

Release

''Encore!'' debuted on November 12, 2019, on the

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in 4K HDR. Episodes were released weekly rather than all at once.

Marketing

A first trailer of the show was released on August 23, 2019, at the

Panel at

D23 Expo D23: The Official Disney Fan Club is the official fan club for The Walt Disney Company. Founded in 2009, the organization is known mainly for its biennial exposition event, the D23 Expo. The name ''D23'' refers to ''D'' for ''Disney'' and ''23' ...

2019.

Reception

Critical reception

The

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website

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reported a 68% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 6.75/10, based on 16 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "While it often feels more like a dress rehearsal, ''Encore!'' has just enough charm to keep theater lovers in their seats–though everyone else may duck out at intermission".

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Lorraine Ali of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' praised the concept of ''Encore!'' and called it original, found the series humorous across the goofs and the dialogues of the performers, and claimed that the stories and emotions provided by the cast members manage to add depth to the show. Joyce Slaton of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' rated the series 4 out of 5 stars, praised the depiction of positives messages, such as perseverance and teamwork, while complimenting the presence of role models, citing their honesty and emotional take with their stories. Gretchen Smail of ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave a 6 out of 10 rating, stated that the series provides a feeling of nostalgia through the performers reconnecting with their past, but found that the format of the show does not allow the cast members to come with a story sufficiently developed about themselves.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Encore! 2010s American documentary television series 2019 American television series debuts English-language television shows National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming Disney+ original programming Television series by Disney