Reviewed by Laura Kennelly
Could it be? Is this show like the best or the worst home movie ever? Maybe both. I don’t know what it is but almost all of it is great and makes for a great evening of song.
The subtitle of this latest Great Lakes Theatre offering calls it “The Revue of a Lifetime,” which is what it is. Created originally by Sondheim fans to celebrate the 80th birthday of Sondheim, a man who has had a hand in big Broadway hits since he first penned lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, the show features video clips of the composer himself plus a stage graced by eight live and lively and extremely attractive and tuneful performers who either have had or will likely have Broadway careers of their own.
Directed by Victoria Bussert (who admits to a big crush on Sondheim), the show moves quickly and entertainingly through dozens of songs he’s written words (and often, music) to. It’s easy to understand that crush when we’re reminded that he wrote “Something’s Coming” [West Side Story], “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” [Gypsy], and “Send in the Clowns” [A Little Night Music].
Choreographer Gregory Daniels and music director Matthew Webb (leading a small orchestra placed behind the main stage area) created effective visual and auditory support for the gorgeous ensemble cast consisting of Destan Owens, Pamela Myers, Ciara Renee, James Penca, Justin Keyes, Emily Walton, Marie-France Arcilla, and Brian Sutherland. These eight performers can (seemingly) handle any song or dance and their focus, always being “in the story,” added spirit and heart to the show.
The simple set consisted of a giant golden picture frame suspended over the stage with stairs leading up to a circular platform attached to a catwalk that gradually descended back to the stage. From the balcony it looked a little like a giant treble clef. Video clips of Sondheim speaking to “us” from his study as well as some stills from past productions were shown in the frame — making it like watching a television show. The cast, looking like tiny creatures, gazed up at the video frame as if to a god (and in fact, a cover of New York magazine with the title “Is Sondheim God?” was included once on the screen).
This video component of Sondheim’s astonishingly successful career that allowed us to “meet” the man was a good concept, but there were a couple of technical glitches that broke the spell. Switching from actors to video was also uncomfortable visually at times — just as I’d get used to looking in one place I had to switch media (that shouldn’t be a problem, perhaps, but it was). And, because the quotes from Sondheim songs and the man himself kept insisting “words are very important,” I’d have loved some supertitles for the patter songs.
Sondheim’s influence on American musical theatre has been enormous. In lesser hands his lyric-happy practice doesn’t always fly, but in this show with this cast it’s all Sondheim all the time and so it’s truly something good and it’s often great. It made for a terrific evening of theatre and once again (sorry to sound like a broken record) made me know New York may have more theatre going on all at one time, but it doesn’t have better quality than can be found here in Cleveland.
PHOTO CAPTION: The ensemble cast includes, from left to right, Destan Owens, Pamela Myers, Ciara Renee, James Penca, Justin Keyes, Emily Walton, Marie-France Arcilla and Brian Sutherland. An American regional premiere, “Sondheim on Sondheim” runs through July 8 as part of the KeyBank Broadway Series. (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.