Review: Stephen Sondheim's ROAD SHOW at freeFall

“Sooner or later we’re bound to get it right.” --Wilson’s last line in ROAD SHOW

I am wary of anyone who dislikes and dismisses the works of Stephen Sondheim.  In my view, being an anti-Sondheimite is akin to hating the Beatles, Stanley Kubrick, Vincent Van Gogh and sunsets. You look down on the hater with one eyebrow cocked in both pity and disdain.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are plenty of good-hearted souls out there who do not bow down at the Altar of Sondheim; I just haven’t met him or her yet.

But not all of Sondheim’s shows are equal.  Nothing can match his greatest artistic accomplishment, Sweeney Todd, which also happens to be the finest musical written in the past fifty years.  Then there are the runners-up to that honor, including Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods.  There are beloved shows of his (his first solo Broadway musical, the hilarious A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) as well as some of his most impressively brilliant that are not as well known (Pacific Overtures, Assassins, Passion, Here We Are).  Even his notorious flops are interesting; if you doubt me, take a listen to Anyone Can Whistle and you still hear that genius that’s unlike any other.  To some of us, his failures are as important, and as artistically exciting, as his hits.  Thankfully one of his biggest failures, the magnificent Merrily We Roll Along, has been rightfully redeemed after its latest Broadway turn and now stands shoulder to shoulder with some of his very best work.

Then we get into the territory of Lesser Sondheim, shows you may not have heard of but deserve a listen and a viewing.  That’s where ROAD SHOW comes in.  This is one Sondheim work that may have eluded you, mainly because it went through so many incarnations and lengths.  In  Part 2 of the Sondheim Bible,  Look, I Made a Hat (his collected lyrics), it takes over 100 pages (pp. 179-291) to deal with the various versions of this single show: Wise Guys, Bounce, Gold! and ultimately the trimmed-down ROAD SHOW, which is now playing at freeFall Theatre until March 16th.

Sondheim had been interested in the story of the Mizner Brothers since 1953, when he read a New Yorker article on his way from L.A. to NYC (he had been a writer on the “Topper” TV series). This was long before his famed stint as lyricist for West Side Story and Gypsy.  The story haunted him for years (“more like an ache than a fever,” he wrote).  It would be another bumpy five decades--"the road to eternity”--before it would finally see fruition. 

ROAD SHOW (music & lyrics by Sondheim, book by John Weidman) is a brisk affair, so fast at times you can barely catch your breath, but that’s on purpose.  Imagine the Magic Kingdom’s old Carousel of Progress on fast-forward, bodies moving in and out, choregraphed like pieces in a game of Life. It’s never boring. But at times it’s also hard to connect with, like reading a Cliff’s Notes version of a story rather than the full breadth of a novel. But we get the full American experience—the American Dream, tainted as it always seems to be. It’s a small show carrying some pretty heavy themes.

Brothers Wilson and Addison Mizner are at the center of ROAD SHOW, set at the turn of the 20th Century and moving into the 1920s.  They are as different in personality and worldview as brothers can be--like a true-to-life Biff and Happy, or Loki and Thor in the Klondike fields of gold. One is a dreamer/artist and the other is a rapscallion/doer.  Addison was the “idiosyncratic architect”  and closeted gay man who would be responsible in the 1920s  for purveying the image of Boca Raton, which would later become one of our state’s major resorts. Addison’s brother, the scalawag Wilson, was a gamester and drug addict who lived big, gambled hard, and fell fast.  The two, always at odds but always needing one another, make for an enormously entertaining musical that globetrots to such vast places as California, Alaska, Hawaii, India, Hong Kong, Guatemala, New York, and our very own Sunshine State.

It's not about the destination; it’s all about the journey, both the actual physical journey and the more emotional one.  Addison says it best when his brother asks where guys like the two of them go after they die.  “I don’t think they go anywhere,” Addison says.  “I think they just keep going.”  It’s the story of their life, always hopscotching from one adventure to another, from failure to  success, and from being top of the world to bottom of the totem pole.  The key word: vicissitudes,  which is a change of circumstance or fortune.  A pendulum of sorts, always swinging from one extreme to another, and the real-life Mizner brothers experienced this over decades (and we do too, at just under two hours).  There is an Intermission in this version, although there wasn’t one in the original production; I’m still juggling whether or not I would prefer it with or without the break.

From the first note of “Waste,” you know you’re watching a Sondheim show.  His score sometimes brings to mind some of his other shows, a smidge of Sunday in the Park with George here, a dollop of Assassins there.  “Addison’s Trip” even has the feel of “Opening Doors” (from Merrily) to it.  But some of the ROAD SHOW songs remain top-tiered Sondheim, especially “Waste,” “Isn’t He Something,” “The Best Thing That Has Ever Happened,” and “Boca Raton.”

And now Bay Area theatre lovers and Sondheim fans (is that a redundancy?) get to experience the little-seen ROAD SHOW at freeFall.  Finally!  Having heard the music for years, I finally got to experience the show live.  Any Sondheim, even lesser-known works of his, is worthy of celebration, and that’s what it felt like.  A celebration of musical theatre’s greatest genius.  And the cast and crew at freeFall, as usual, do not disappoint.

Joey Panek is delightful as Addison (a true oxymoron—a grounded dreamer). We follow his journey, almost always being thwarted by the delirious Wilson (an incredibly strong Robert Teasdale).   The show is built on these two men’s broad shoulders, a pair of very different bookends, like comedy/tragedy masks sprung to life. Both are outstanding.  

Julia Rifino showcases such an amazing versatility (and gorgeous singing voice) as Mrs. Myra Terkes and an assortment of other characters. 

Drew H. Well is phenomenal as Hollis Bessemer, the man in Addison’s life and the moral voice of the show.   Greg Austin is a welcome newcomer as Papa Mizner, and Sara DelBeato gets my vote for Best in Show as Mama Mizner (her “Isn’t He Something!” is gorgeously rendered).  James Putnam rounds out the cast in a  variety of roles.

Michael Raabe, our area’s preeminent music director, leads one of the tightest groups of musicians you’ll find, each of them onstage throughout the show: Julie Paradies on violin, Dave Pete on reeds, and Bert Rushing on percussion. 

Tom Hansen’s set (created with Hansen Scenic) works quite well for the space.  With minimal room,  they are able to recreate seemingly the entire world with a mere bed and upstage façade.  Best are Dalton Hamilton’s lighting designs and on-point projections that excitedly beam from five different columns.  These glorious projections add so much to the intimate space, from mountaintops to trains, from black and white still frames to galvanizing locomotive engines. 

No one in the state directs a musical better than Eric Davis, especially when it comes to the works of Sondheim (especially more obscure ones like ROAD SHOW).  Mr. Davis dives deep into the material, finding layers so that each movement has meaning, it’s not just there to keep the flow going (a terrible excuse for blocking an actor).  Mr. Davis is a grandmaster at his peak, and he has created another terrific experience for local audiences.  I can’t wait to see which Sondheim he decides to tackle next: A reimaginig of Follies? A proper version of Pacific Overtures? Maybe (hopefully)  something like Passion? Or how about Sunday in the Park with George starring Mr. Davis himself who already has the beard for it? Anything is possible in his grasp, a Willy Wonka-esque artist who understands Sondheim and the onion-layers of meaning under those scrumptious words and music.

Sondheim deserves the best, and that’s what freeFall has certainly delivered with this intimate first-class production.        

I’ve been obsessing over ROAD SHOW ever since seeing it, playing the original cast recording, recreating the moments and the characters in my head.  It’s THAT type of show.  Yes, it’s one of Sondheim’s minor works.  But minor Sondheim is still better than just about everything else out there. 

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Stephen Sondheim’s ROAD SHOW runs at freeFall until March 16th.

Photo Credit: Noa Friedman

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