The cast of “Side by Side by Sondheim”.Stephen Sondheim is everywhere lately. He’s got an annotated book of lyrics out. His show Company just got a star-studded revival in New York, featuring everyone from Patti LuPone to Neil Patrick Harris. And The Kennedy Center brings Bernadette Peters to D.C. for a new take on Follies this month as well.
It’s only fitting that Signature Theatre, kind of a Sondheim shrine in its own right, would want a piece of the action. It delivers with “Side by Side By Sondheim”, a winning musical revue celebrating the composer’s early work. If it’s a complete retrospective you’re after, you’re out of luck — besides the fact the show does not include later Sondheim vehicles like Assassins and Into The Woods, it’s pretty heavy on songs from Follies and Company. But “Side By Side” still satisfies the hardcore fan with some obscure gems like the bawdy “I Never Do Anything Twice”, a madame’s anthem from The Seven Percent Solution and the plaintive “I Remember” from the bizarre-sounding television movie Evening Primrose. And if you’re just a casual musical theatergoer, you’re still left with a festive collection of 30 songs with nary a clunker in the bunch.
Taking us through the evening are three accomplished singers — Nancy Anderson, Sherri L. Edelen and Matthew Scott — and two skilled piano players, Jon Kalbfleisch and Gabriel Mangiante. The trio of vocalists exhibits a game, genuine-seeming enthusiasm; even if some of their choreography and interplay can feel a little cheesy at times, you never doubt that they’re having a good time with the material. Kalbfleisch and Mangiante get to show a little personality as well — though the show lacks any sort of plot, songs are interspersed with anecdotal facts about Sondheim’s music writing and biography. (Just listen to that awkward, saccharine lyric that Leonard Bernstein was proposing for “I Have A Love” — okay, maybe you have to be there, but it’s good fun for musical theater geeks.)
Since it’s really just about the songs (the spare set is a lit backdrop with sheet music scattered at every angle), Side By Side really allows the audience to concentrate on Sondheim’s lyrical mastery. Anderson delightfully patters her way through songs like “Getting Married Today”, a tune about cold feet that goes by as quickly as a Micro Machines commercial. Sondheim’s status as a chronicle of romantic dissatisfaction comes to life in songs like the obsessive “Losing My Mind”, the rueful “Send In the Clowns”, and the noncommittal “Marry Me A Little”.
The production strikes a nice balance between comedy and pathos. Scott is pure optimism and hopeful anticipation as he sings the gorgeous “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story, but he’s just as fun to watch strutting in his scanties during Gypsy’s “You Gotta Have A Gimmick”. Each performer boasts a similar range (Edelen brings down the house with “I’m Still Here”, Follies‘ ode to one broad who’s seen it all). Side By Side succeeds by using a formula that you really can’t mess with — throw some of musical theatre’s greatest songs at a group of impressive, charming performers, and you can’t help but have a good time.
Side by Side By Sondheim runs through June 12. Tickets are available online.
