Review: SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM in Good Hands at Lyric Stage

Sondheim on Sondheim

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Conceived (and directed on Broadway) by James Lapine, Inspired by a concept by David Kernan, Video Created and Designed by Peter Flaherty, Orchestrations by Michael Starobin, Arrangements by David Loud; Directed by Spiro Veloudos; Music Director, Jonathan Goldberg; Choreography & Musical Staging by Ilyse Robbins; Scenic Design, David Towlun; Costume Design, Gail Astrid Buckley; Lighting Design, Chris Hudacs Projection Design, Seághan McKay; Sound Design, Andrew Duncan Will; Production Stage Manager, Julian Tremblay; Assistant Stage Manager, Danielle Pancoast

CAST (in alphabetical order): Leigh Barrett, Mala Bhattacharya, Maritza Bostic, Christopher Chew, Aimee Doherty, Davron S. Monroe, Sam Simahk, Patrick Varner

Performances through February 21 at Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-585-5678 or www.lyricstage.com

Sondheim. To borrow from his own lyrics, "Say it loud and there's music playing, Say it soft and it's almost like praying." There's Sondheim music galore playing at the Lyric Stage Company as Producing Artistic Director and recognized Sondheim expert Spiro Veloudos directs an octet of Boston musical theatre performers in Sondheim on Sondheim. In effect, the composer/lyricist is the ninth member of the ensemble as he appears onscreen, larger than life, providing intimate commentary on his life, his process, and his words and music. The video affords the opportunity to sit through a master class with the master, and the living, breathing actors demonstrate his brilliance with their starry interpretations.

On board with Veloudos are Music Director Jonathan Goldberg on piano and Choreographer Ilyse Robbins, whose musical staging nicely mixes stillness and movement as befits the moods of the songs. There are more than three dozen musical numbers taken from nineteen Sondheim shows produced over a 62-year period. Rest assured that many well-known favorites are on the playlist, but it is interesting and fun to hear songs that are not as familiar, some of which were cut while the shows were in development. One new song about Sondheim was written especially for the revue and opens act two. It is fittingly titled (if only nominally tongue-in-cheek) "God."

Each of the cast members has performed Sondheim's work before, and six of them in earlier Lyric Stage productions. It is a real treat to see Christopher Chew bring the title character from Sweeney Todd back from the dead ("Epiphany"), and Leigh Barrett revisits Sally Plummer (Follies) with her aching rendition of "Losing My Mind," a devastating piece given extra emotional heft by pairing it in a medley with Aimee Doherty's pathos-infused "Not a Day Goes By" (Merrily We Roll Along). Barrett does more of the dramatic heavy-lifting, capturing the quality of desperation in a couple of Fosca's selections from Passion, and "Send in the Clowns," arguably one of Sondheim's most recognizable, if not best, compositions (A Little Night Music). To her credit, Barrett finds her own way to interpret it and not sound like anyone else. She gets to lighten up and let her hair down as Mama Rose giving instructions to a bunch of less-than-talented curly topped "kids" in "Smile, Girls" which was cut from Gypsy.

In lieu of the well-known, breath-challenging "Getting Married Today," Doherty plays the harried bride-to-be in "The Wedding is Off," cut from Company, and shows her range (among other things) in "Ah, But Underneath" from the 1987 London production of Follies. Her take on Sara Jane Moore ("Gun Song," Assassins) gets a major assist from her 70s-style pantsuit and a wig that could do battle with that thing on Donald Trump's head. Doherty, who played the witch in the acclaimed 2014 Lyric production of Into the Woods, also pairs up nicely with Chew on "Children Will Listen."

"Gun Song" has particular resonance in the current zeitgeist of the people vs. the NRA, and Veloudos makes sure that Chew, Patrick Varner, and Sam Simahk are menacing as three of the assassins - Czolgosz, Booth, and Guiteu - in love with their guns and the power they get from their weapons. The tension is broken with Mala Bhattacharya's lovely soprano voice trilling through "Do I Hear a Waltz?" which Sondheim proceeds to disparage from the screen as a musical that never needed to be. Undaunted, the delightful Bhattacharya gives it a big, bold finish. She and Varner blend their voices beautifully on "Happiness" (Passion) before being joined by same sex couples to put a twist on the traditional view of the song and reflect Sondheim's confusion about his own sexuality when he wrote the show.

The format of Sondheim on Sondheim is well-designed with the video segments interwoven with the musical numbers. For example, after Sondheim explains about the numerous changes made in Company, Simahk and Chew each sing a cut song before Davron S. Monroe dazzles with the show's stirring eleven o'clock number, "Being Alive." His powerful voice is made to order for "Is This What You Call Love?" (Passion) and he conveys the bearing of the angry soldier lashing out at the lovestruck Fosca. Rounding out the ensemble is the winsome Maritza Bostic who makes her case in "Now You Know" and "Opening Doors" (Merrily We Roll Along), as well as making a solid contribution to the group numbers which are among the highlights.

It is no aggrandizement to heap praise upon the efforts of Goldberg and his orchestra of seven musicians. Their playing is vibrant and passionate on its own, yet entirely complementary to the vocalists, and sound designer Andrew Duncan Will maintains a perfect balance between them. Scenic designer David Towlun surrounds the video screen with little light bulbs and has an open staircase stage left that descends to a center platform. Chris Hudacs deals successfully with the challenge of lighting the stage for so many different moods from the numerous musicals and coexisting with the projections by designer Seághan McKay. The one design misstep is that Gail Astrid Buckley creates costumes for only some of the scenes from some of the shows (Merrily We Roll Along, Passion, Assassins), but mostly the actors are dressed in drab gray and black (sometimes ill-fitting) clothing that could be from their own closets. Although the adage says that clothes make the man, it is a minor concern. In Sondheim on Sondheim, it is the music and the lyrics that the man makes that matter, no matter what anybody is wearing.

Photo credit: Mark S. Howard (Davron S. Monroe, Maritza Bostic, Mala Bhattacharya, Aimee Doherty, Sam Simahk, Patrick Varner, Leigh Barrett, Christopher Chew)

To post a comment, you must register and login.