Went to see Sondheim on Sondheim so I thought I'd enter a little review of it here on the blog. I don't think this will come as a surprise to anyone who knows me but I LOVED it. Seriously, Stephen Sondheim is a GOD!
I went expecting a revue of Sondheim songs - basically a concert - not really what I want when I'm seeing a Sondheim show, but then again, Sondheim is a god so it's not like it was going to be bad. And, don't get me wrong, concerts are great and all, it's just that I'm not a big concert fan. So, I went in expecting some great songs, sung well by some good actors and that was that...except that wasn't that. The show was so much more than a few musical theater actors wandering around the stage and singing. There was this really interesting revolving, moving set of television screens which had images and interviews playing on them. The show followed Sondheim's life roughly chronologically and playing on the screens were clips from all different interviews Sondheim has done in the past (and I suspect one or two that he did specifically for this show). He would talk about how he came up with certain songs, or why a particular song was cut from a show or altered to serve the show better and interspersed with these interviews, the actors would perform the songs he was discussing in the interviews. It was pretty cool. And the actors are extraordinary. Barbara Cook, Tom Wopat and Vanessa Williams headline the show and they are wonderful.
Now, when I saw it, it was still in previews and there were a couple of technical glitches that they were still working out. I assume by now those glitches have been un-glitched. There was only one disappointment I had with the Sondheim songs and it was regarding a song from Company. In the versions of Company that I know and love there is a song called "Getting Married Today." It is one of my all time favorite Sondheim songs. It's about a woman who is about to get married and she starts to panic and realizes that she can't get married after all and it's one of those Sondheim, tongue twisting, really fast, lyrically beautiful and funny songs that I just LOVE watching an actor really nail.
"Great, Jess, so what's the problem?" Well, the problem, dear readers, with its presence in Sondheim on Sondheim was that they did a version called "The Wedding is Off" and it wasn't the same version. In fact it was almost a completely different song. So, my issue with it was twofold. On the first fold: I wished that I was hearing the version I'm familiar with because I love it. On the second fold: It wasn't clear if they were performing a version that was originally written but never performed or if they were doing a version that was simplified for this production because the actor didn't have the time to learn the more complicated version. And, honestly, either issue would have been fine, but I wish they had explained it. Since the whole show was sort of a behind the scenes glimpse into Sondheim's work and productions, the lack of explanation about that particular song felt kind of glaring. If it was a change made specifically for this show, I rather wished that they hadn't performed it at all...That being said, that was really my only "complaint" about the whole show. It was great fun all around and, for a Sondheim buff, it was an absolute joy.
