‘Encore,’ on Disney Plus is a bit of a weird show, and it (mostly) works for me.  It’s part musical, part reality, part bizarro. The premise – basically a reunion show for high school theater kids who have to re-mount a show they did in their youth, with them reprising the roles they played then. This produces odd reactions – for the most part we get a bunch of middle-aged people trying to recapture youth, as they try to reconcile with what might have beens, and then add to that the pressure of mounting a show in five days. Of course, a lot of them are out of shape, so there is a bit of a struggle there, but by golly you are with them and triumph as they persevere. At times, there seems to be too much going on, and even other times, it feels a bit cruel – as we see them realize that a lot of their dreams have not been fulfilled, and they try to redeem themselves for  performance, but you know (and they say) they have to go back to their boring hum drum life. I like the musical parts in different ways, although, it was odd to see a middle aged person play ‘Annie’ int hat red laced costume. When a Hackensack high School reprises ‘Grease.’ we see now a fat and balding Danny Zucko doing a hand jive. The musical nerd in me is satisfied, and there is enough reality drama there. But, some episodes are tough watches, as you can tell their musicalities have faded. but, I like this show quite a lot – I feel invested in all these people, and want them to succeed. I wish they released all in one, so you can binge, instead of releasing them week by week – I am four episodes in and want more, more, more.