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Side By Side By SondheimSide by Side by Sondheim is a revue of the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim with additional music by Leonard Bernstein, Mary Rodgers, Richard Rodgers and Jule Styne and a narration written by Ned Sherrin. A major new production opens next week in London for a limited twelve week run. Sandra Giorgetti takes a look... Dateline: 27th April, 2007Something familiar, The Book of Kells it isn'tFrom little acorns mighty oaks do grow is a familiar adage and one which certainly rings true with Side by Side by Sondheim, a revue of Stephen Sondheim's material, that has modest origins dating back to 1975. Cleo Lane and John Dankworth approached David Kernan (who, at the time, was in the London production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music) to help them with an event to raise funds for The Stables, their theatre in Wavendon, and the centre for their music charity. Could he, they asked, persuade Jean Simmons, his on-stage lover, to sing at the concert. After much persuading it was agreed and they performed six Sondheim numbers which went down a storm. From there the idea of a full revue was born; David Kernan contacted Ned Sherrin with whom he had previously collaborated and wrote to Stephen Sondheim for permission to produce a compilation show of his work; back came a telegram: "By all means have a go, but apart from the Book of Kells I can't think of anything more boring." Contrary to Sondheim's prediction the revue was successful, sufficiently so for nascent producer Cameron Mackintosh to move the show to the Mermaid Theatre in London, subsequently transferring it to the West End, notching up a total of 806 performances before the production closed in April 1978. Hal Prince produced the Broadway show, initially with the original London cast of Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, David Kernan and Ned Sherrin as narrator. Productions followed in Chicago and on tour, Australia and Ireland with further cast recordings being made all before the decade was out. To this day Side by Side remains one of only a handful of shows to receive Tony Award nominations for all the members of the cast. It was also nominated for Best Musical. Not bad for a fundraising event for a sleepy Buckinghamshire village. And not bad for a composer who was only in his mid-40s. No harm came to the broke but adventurous Cameron Mackintosh either who admits that at the time he "needed [the] kudos of producing something as classy as Sondheim". What makes Side by Side by Sondheim such a hugely popular show - of which there have been hundreds of productions in many different countries - is, of course, that the audience gets an evening of great entertainment. Classy classicsThe song list, which is often revised from production to production, always contains a satisfying mix of the familiar with more obscure pieces, with everyone guaranteed to recognise at least the classics such as "Send in the Clowns" and "Losing my Mind" and yet be engaged by the equally well-crafted but less well-known songs such as "Barcelona" or Pretty Lady". Sondheim can be written-off as being 'too clever' and his work too inaccessible, but Side by Side challenges that view head on. The delightful comedy of "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" or the sheer naughtiness of "I Never Do Anything Twice" is clear evidence that this guy can be fun. The charge that his songs do not work out of context is similarly belied, and if people have resisted Sondheim in the past Side by Side is the perfect show to demonstrate that there is nothing to be scared of. Even though the show was assembled whilst his greatest works were still unwritten, there was a vast amount of quality material to choose from as Sondheim's cannon already included A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, A Little Night Music and Follies for which he wrote both the lyrics and the music. There were also pieces for which he was only lyricist. From this part of his career comes the hilarious show-stopper "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" from Gypsy for which Jule Styne wrote the music and the tongue-tying "The Boy From...Tacarimba la Tumba del Fuego Santa Maliga Sacategas lo Onto del Sol y Cruz" - music by Mary Rogers. With the selection on offer in this show, the full range of emotions and extent of Sondheim's creativity is covered in one evening, plus for devotees there is the wonderful rhyming and acerbic wit that they like so much in "Could I Leave You?" and "The Little Things You Do Together". Indeed, something for everyone in one night. Musical stools at The VenueTraditionally the cast of Side by Side has been three vocalists - two female and one male - and one non-singing narrator all of whom have worked with the minimum of props on a set comprising only of a stool each - an idea hit upon by Elisabeth Welch in a previous Sherrin revue as she didn't fancy standing all evening. The accompaniment is two pianos. Sherrin's witty words that provide structure to the evening are being shared by a number of celebrity narrators for the production which opens next week at The Venue. At the time of going to press, the narrators are (in order of appearance) Christopher Cazenove, Les Dennis, Barry Cryer and Angela Rippon, a range of personalities as wide as the material they will be introducing. And there is no room for retiring violets here for these four will be stepping into some pretty big shoes; Hermoine Gingold, controversial Australian broadcaster John Laws as well as American puppeteer Burr Tillstrom with puppets little boy Kukla and his friend Ollie, a one-toothed dragon, have all taken a turn as Narrator over the years - occasionally also doing a turn! The rest of the cast - Alasdair Harvey, Abbie Osmon and Josie Walker - are no strangers to the West End either, nor to Sondheim's work. Most notably last year Alasdair Harvey appeared in Sunday in the Park with George in London and Josie Walker was seen at the Crucible Sheffield in Assassins. Both have previously worked under Side by Side director Hannah Chissick during her tenure as Artistic Director of Harrogate Theatre, during which job she staged both Side by Side by Sondheim and Putting It Together (a later revue-style show devised by Sondheim and Julia McKenzie which uses songs from different shows around a loose storyline). For this production musical staging is by Adam Cooper, who is probably better known as a performer with the Royal Ballet and Matthew Bourne than a choreographer despite some noteworthy credits, whilst musical supervision is undertaken by Michael Haslam. The latter is known to Sondheim aficionados as musical co-director for a recent charity gala of Side by Side by Sondheim as well as an arranger and MD to Maria Friedman amongst other activities. His non-Sondheim credentials are similarly noteworthy (Play Without Words, The Producers, to name only two). This major new production has been assembled at short notice because of the late availability of The Venue. It may be that this haste caused the "technical difficulties" that resulted in the last-minute cancellation of the first preview night, but with the talent that producer Neil Laidlaw has lined up this show is bound to be one worth waiting for. "Side by Side by Sondheim" runs at The Venue, Leicester Place, Leicester Square, London WC2 until Saturday 14th July 2007 at 8pm, with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 3pm (except Wednesday 2nd May). On Tuesday 1st May the performance starts at 7pm.
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