Through August 9
SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM MusicalFare Theatre/Daemen College
Stephen Sondheim is one of the towering figures of the American musical theatre.
He’s been involved in musicals from “West Side Story” to “Pacific Overtures,” each time a little more completely, after learning from Oscar Hammerstein II.
He’s also author of “Assassins,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “A Little Night Music,” an amazingly wide array and thbre are lot more.
He’s getting the revue treatment in MusicalFare’s “Side by Side by Sondheim,” four people, two pianos.
It might remind you of the Shaw Festival’s Royal George Theatre in the days before there was a backstage and an orchestra pit so that musicals were handled by two pianists, one on each side of the stage.
Sondheim is deservedly thought of as a cold writer, seldom with the flare and happiness of the best of Hammerstein, instead songs like “Another Hundred People” or “Losing My Mind.”
There’s something of the observer about him, an outsider who watches and comments on “The Ladies Who Lunch” or “Send in the Clowns.”
That’s why it’s so interesting here to listen to Kelly Bocock Natale’s version of “I’m Still Here.”
This is a strong cast, Bocock Natale, performer and choreographer Bobby Cooke, Jenn Stafford and John Kaczorowski.
Cooke can dance.
Stafford can sing, especially on the high end.
Kaczorowski mixes both well.
But, Bocock Natale offers life in the words, doing something with Sondheim’s often cold world, as with “I Remember.”
Director Chris Kelly and music director Theresa Quinn wind up in a situation where the music and words are never overwhelmed by the two unmatched pianos.
That mix is what Sondheim specializes in, words and music.
In the old days, this was what MusicalFare did, revues on stage, perhaps of a single writer or of a time or a style, before moving into full productions.
The show also again proves how deep the bench is locally for musical theater performers.
With a revue, the audience can just sit back and listen, since there is obviously no plot to parse.
Instead, this is just a chance to listen to some of Sondheim’s best, without the plots for shows like “Assassins” or “Company.”
That’s why it’s worth going to “Side by Side by Sondheim,” to just listen to the music and not worry about the plots or the stories.
Listen to it.
A.W.
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