If you love Stephen Sondheim, you'll love Coronado Playhouse's production of Side By Side By Sondheim. If you love the excellent voices of Brett Daniels, Lisa Goodman, Julia Celano, you'll love director Daniel Logan's take on Side By Side By Sondheim. If you love the antics, both song styling and narrating, of Adrienne Renè, you'll laugh with Side By Side By Sondheim.
The revue is a true retrospective of Sondheim's work through 1975 and a bit beyond. (Actually, now would be the time for a full production of Wall to Wall Stephen Sondheim, which has been performed once: March 19, 2005.)
It is pure pleasure to hear the singers and narrator unencumbered by mikes and amplifiers in an acoustically balanced room. Tiffany Fenderson's set is a multi-tiered collection of seemingly random risers. Dale Goodman developed a lighting design that takes advantage of the unique set, highlighting each performer exactly right. This combination allows Logan to stage his cast in an almost infinite number of settings. His choreography adds even more to the revue. While the set design works well, the execution, while colorful, doesn't have the crispness one would expect. Helping are the colorful costumes by Angela Wills and some amazing hats reminiscent of Mardi Gras.
While numbers from Company and Follies are featured often, the show revisits Gypsy and A Little Night Music as well as lesser-known works such as Pacific Overtures, The Mad Show and Anyone Can Whistle. Daniels' "I Remember," from Evening Primrose, wows the audience.
Goodman and Celano's West Side Story offering of "A Boy Like That" and "I Have a Love" is so powerful, it brings images of the stage production. Goodman vamping her way through "I Never Do Anything Twice" from "The Seven Per Cent Solution" [film] is met with thunderous applause. Celano's "Broadway Baby" from Follies is an absolute joy to hear. And that's exactly the way this night goes. Kirk Valles, musical director, deserves kudos for his work with this talented cast.
All we have to do is close our eyes to visualize the setting from any of the shows represented. But don't close them too long or you'll miss surprise moments. Many of those are presented to us by René as she brings a very personal touch to her dialogue. She is unbelievably animated, interacting and singing with the others.
aThis cast and their director prove that a revue can have almost all of the elements of a fully-staged show; all it takes is excellence in all departments.
