Ms Ruthie Henshall is starring in an Aussy version of Side By Side By Sondheim, one of my favorite soundtracks. I WOULD SOOO love to fly over there to see it. Loved Ruthie H in "Putting It Together".
Perhaps someone here could put together big Broadway/Hollywood version on Broadway? Maybe Ruthie, Patti Lupone and Hugh Jackman with David Letterman as host? Imagine that!!!!!
Maybe they are going to spruce it up for the concert with Broadway 'superstar' Ruthie (I will let you know) but that production in Australia at the moment is so basic...no set what-so-ever, a piano (or two) and a mediocre cast that is playing at Bistros and clubs for chump-change. I can't imagine the people producing this could organise a true A-list version of the show on Broadway.
Just Googled this one properly & there is a new version in Sydney Australia with the gorgeous Ben Lewis from Love Never Dies and Ms Ruthie H from what I can see. I don't know the rest of the cast but there is about 20 of them? How does that work? A friend of mine lives there and is seeing it. I think it is on in April.
I live in Melbourne but will probably do a trip up to see this version. Looks brilliant - lots of A-list Australian stars (can't wait to see Lucy Durack from Legally Blonde and Helen Dallimore from the London Wicked is in it too). And yes, the cast of Love Never Dies is in it.
Would probably travel to the States to see an even bigger cast. It is a great show.
I think you're completely missing the point about Side By Side By Sondheim; it was specifically devised to be an intimate, cabaret like approach to Sondheim's work up to 1976. It's smart, sophisticated, and (again) intimate. It's definitely NOT a big-budget spectacular.
It's also a very full evening, featuring no material from Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, Assassins, Passion, Bounce, Road Show, Dick Tracy, or Singing Out Loud.
Rather than make a mess out of a well-crafted piece by trying to figure out what to cut, what to add, and then blowing it up into a spectacle, it would make A LOT more sense to start from scratch and try to create a new revue, if that's what's wanted.
Of course, that didn't work unusually well for either Putting It Together or Sondheim On Sondheim. Neither one of those awkward evenings will ever come close to achieving the popularity Side By Side had in the 70s and 80s.
Putting It Together tried to shoehorn a story and Sondheim on Sondheim had some enjoyable stuff, but I felt the physical production was too large for such an introspective retrospective (can there be such a thing?)
Last year, I was involved in the Sondheim Unplugged series at the Laurie Beechman theatre. It was a fun night that featured really terrific singers and doing great music with just a piano. You'd get a mixture of cabaret and Broadway performers and always someone who had some connection to a Sondheim show on Broadway. To be able to sing on the same stage with Sarah Rice, Marni Nixon, Danielle Ferland, Len Cariou, Ken Jennings, Pamela Blair and Joy Franz (to name a few) was a great, great joy in my performing life. I think it's the only way taking Mr. Sondheim's songs out of context works.
I only know PUTTING IT TOGETHER from the DVD, and I quite enjoy it. SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, however, I did see live, and "awkward" is absolutely right, and then some. Yuck. What a sour apple.
I had the privilege of witnessing the Side By Side By Sondheim Australian concert on Friday night. I have to say it was one of the best nights outs to the theatre I have experienced in a long time - anywhere in the world.
The performances were absolutely sublime and some were up there with the best I have seen ever on stage or film/DVD. Anna O'Byrne (Love Never Dies) and Alinta Chidzey (West Side Story) blew me away with their West Side Story duo - absolutely once-in-a-lifestime stuff. Ruthie Henshall was all class. And Meow Meow performed single handily one of the best, most unique, comedic Sondheim routines I have ever witnessed.
I hope the people behind this go onto bigger things. It's true, this piece is often best as a minimalist piece of cabaret. But the version I saw on Friday took the essence of that and stepped it up to a magical thrill ride. Simply stunning.
I enjoyed Sondheim on Sondheim. I thought they presented the songs more in the context of their shows than Side by Side and I thought it more clearly presented the progression/development of his songs over time. I guess all of the revues have a different purpose though.
For this recent concert, I agree "A Boy Like That/I Have a Love" was really thrilling. Meow Meow was hilarious although I think the humour was mainly derived from what she added to the song (i.e. her ad libs, props etc..) than her take on the music and the lyrics....
I like how they reunited Rachel Beck and Michael Falzon from the Darlinghurst's ORDINARY DAYS with "The Little Things You Do Together". I enjoyed Ben Lewis' (Australian LND phantom) reflective "I Remember" (It was almost as if he was singing it as the Phantom lol), and Stephen Mahy's take on Bobby. "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" was also very funny...I don't know why Arthur Laurents complained that the strippers in the 2003 revival were "Scenery Chewing", should we expect anything less from this song?
I didn't think Ruthie Henshall was very interesting...
I'm not really familiar with how her voice has changed over time but at the moment she sounds fine...she might have been faltering a tiny, tiny bit by the end of "Losing My Mind" but her voice does not sound like it is on the outs by any means. I personally didn't see anything unique in her performance though (cf. Marin Mazzie, Donna Murphy, Bernadette Peters who have recently sung that song).
The version in Sydney with Ruthie headlining was a one night only concert, beefed up with major Aussie theatre performing alongside as a Charity Fundraiser, sort of a launch for the much much smaller more traditional touring version you are reffering to. Cheers
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Posted: 4/5/12 at 01:23am