Side by Side by Sondheim - Q & A

Side by Side by Sondheim - Q & A

A new production of the Stephen Sondheim revue Side By Side By Sondheim will play at Sydney’s Seymour Centre from April 12 – 16.

Side By Side By Sondheim celebrates musical numbers from the early part of Sondheim’s career, such as West Side Story, Gypsy, Company and A Little Night Music, and features musical theatre standards including Losing My Mind, Broadway Baby, Being Alive and Send In The Clowns.

The production will star Amelia Cormack, Enda Markey and Margi De Ferranti, with Television personality Jessica Rowe narrating.

The cast members, and director Neil Gooding, share their thoughts on Stephen Sondheim in our Q & A.

Margi De Ferranti

What is your favourite Sondheim song that you sing, solo or shared, in the show?

As a solo, I love the challenge of making ‘Send in the Clowns’ and ‘I'm still here' work for me, now that I have finally reached an age, where I have a right to sing them!

As a team, I think we are going to have a lot of fun with ‘Gotta get a Gimmick’!

What are the particular challenges or joys for you?

Remembering the words!! The sheer tautology in a Sondheim lyric, makes you work hard as an actor, to give them their full value, and do them justice!!

This, at the same time, is an absolute joy!

You are singing the song out of its original musical theatre context. What allows it work out of context?

Have no fear, we must do our research and work the song out in context, then, we can create our own back story to make it work out of context. Sondheim's obsession with relationships, which is a recurring theme, can work in any given situation

What makes singing a Stephen Sondheim song special for you?

Stephen Sondheim is the William Shakespeare of musical theatre. It is an honour and a gift to sing his songs. Once you have worked out your surroundings, Sondheim makes it easy to "just sing the songs" no acting required!

Do you have a particular favourite Sondheim line, rhyme or turn of phrase?

"When a person's personality is personable, he shouldn't ought to sit like a lump, it's harder than a Matador coercin' a bull, to try to get you off of your rump...." Sheer genius!

Do you have a favourite Sondheim song that you aren't singing in the show? What makes it special?

Take your pick!!! It's just a joy to watch such wonderful performers sing these songs. The sheer talent of both Amelia and Enda is phenomenal! But I have to say the one dearest to my heart and that has recurred so often in my life, is ‘Another Hundred People,’ which Amelia sings amazingly. I had the pleasure of singing that song in front of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1999, at The Sydney Opera House, for a concert called "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow". I just swoon when those strings come in and it is a song that has turned up in my career over and over again. I love it!

Enda Markey

What is your favourite Sondheim that you sing, solo or shared, in the show?

Anyone Can Whistle’ is a definite favourite for me.

What are its particular challenges or joys for you?

It's a song I've performed many times before, but it's been really lovely getting to rediscover it again for this show. It's a brilliant example of how simple and beautiful Sondheim's work can be.

You are singing the song out of its original musical theatre context. What allows it work out of context?

In Side By Side By Sondheim, the songs are linked by theme, and that helps them work out of the context of their original show. Some of the songs work wonderfully in their own right, such is the brilliance with which they're written.  As a performer, I do think it's important to create a context for the song to work, so that becomes a more multi-dimensional experience for me as the performer, and for the audience too.

What makes singing a Stephen Sondheim song special for you?

I've been involved in quite a few Sondheim projects over the years. One of my first jobs after leaving college was in Follies. That led to a concert of Sondheim songs in Dublin as well as appearing in an Irish production of Side By Side By Sondheim. A lot of these songs have a sentimental importance to me. The other reason is that they're just so good. The detail in the songs is incredible and they are a joy to perform. And to hear! I think Side By Side offers a lot to people are already familiar with Sondheim's work, but also it's a great introduction to this incredible body of work.

Do you have a particular favourite Sondheim line, rhyme or turn of phrase?

Another tough one! I admire just about every lyrics he's written for their precision, intelligence and wit. The first ones that spring to mind are from ‘Beautiful Girls’ (from Follies): "Beauty celestial, the best you'll agree ..."  and "This is how Samson was shorn, Each in her style, a Delilah reborn!"

Do you have a favourite Sondheim song that you aren't singing in the show? What makes it special?

I have a couple!  "Send In The Clowns", sung so wonderfully by Margi de Ferranti is a special moment in the show. Amelia Cormack singing "Losing My Mind" is wonderful. I feel very lucky to be working with these two great talents.

Amelia Cormack

What is your favourite Sondheim that you sing, solo or shared, in the show?

Solo -  'Losing My Mind' and duet 'A Boy Like That/I Have A Love'.

What are its particular challenges or joys for you?

I just love how dramatic and real 'Losing My Mind' is - it expresses something so universal, that feeling that someone is literally making you crazy. And 'A Boy Like That/I Have A Love' speaks to the little girl inside me. I always wanted to play Maria, so getting to sing it is a dream come true.

You are singing the songs out of their original musical theatre context. What allows it work out of context?

I think the songs in 'Side By Side' have been chosen really well - they're all songs that connect to universal themes, and that work on their own. I also think that's why Sondheim's music is so incredible.  It's intelligent and yet direct - it's able to be clever, without being alienating. I think if we're good enough performers, context isn't needed - it's a revue-style show, I guess that's the context, so the audience know what to expect.

What makes singing a Stephen Sondheim song special for you?

The challenge of it - you really feel you've achieved something when you master his work. With something like 'You Could Drive A Person Crazy', which is INCREDIBLY difficult, I can see a lot of fist pumping going on once we've got that down.

Do you have a particular favourite Sondheim line, rhyme or turn of phrase?

His rhymes are incredible - I still think 'I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a basket?' has to be one of the most genius rhymes in the history of the spoken word.

Do you have a favourite Sondheim song that you aren't singing in the show? What makes it special?

The Last Midnight - it's such an incredible song to sing.  It's big, belty, and such a splurging of bile from The Witch - it's a song you can really sink your teeth into.  As you can probably tell, I love the more dramatic stuff.

Neil Gooding

How difficult is it to make Stephen Sondheim's work outside their original context?

It is surprisingly easy – particularly with the songs that have been selected for Side By Side By Sondheim. There are certainly many of his songs that would not work out of the context of the show, but the songs that have been included are so well written, both musically and lyrically, that they work just as well as stand-alone pieces. The audiences may interpret them slightly differently outside of their original context, but they still work just as successfully – and have an emotional impact.

What approach have you taken?

The show is basically a staged concert. We have two Steinway pianos on stage, which leaves only a relatively small amount of space for staging and movement. So, like in any good production, the show relies heavily on the cast and the strength of the written material. On both of these fronts, we have been blessed. The cast of Margi De Ferranti, Amelia Cormack and Enda Markey is extraordinary. The quality of the singing is astounding.

Jessica Rowe is going to be a gorgeous surprise to the audience as the Narrator. And then, we have also enlisted Nathan Wright to put some movement to certain songs. The end result is going to be classy, sophisticated – and brilliantly sung.

Obviously a show like this will appeal for the Sondheim fans, but will it appeal to a broader audience?

Well, I guess we will know that a couple of weeks. Like all of Sondheim’s work, I believe that it is easily accessible to a broad general public audience. With this show, it would not really matter whether you have seen all of the songs in their original context in the musicals or not. It would still be enjoyable, even to a person that has never heard any of Sondheim’s work previously.

Do you have a particular favourite Sondheim line, rhyme or turn of phrase?

Personally, my favourite work of his is Assassins. I love all of his musicals, but Assassins just fascinates me. In terms of favourite lines in Side By Side By Sondheim, I am currently loving a particular line in ‘I’m Still Here’ from Follies. In the song, we here a woman singing about a long career as a performer, and a long and fascinating life, where she lists all of the major events that she has seen and survived. Having gone through this extensive list, she then sings “I got through all of last year – and I’m here”.  I find that fascinating.  It turns the song from being retrospective...into something very immediate which opens up a whole universe of new questions. I find myself thinking.....now I want to know what happened last year.  And, it is unanswered. Which is frustrating...but brilliant.  That is amazing writing.

 

The original production of Side By Side By Sondheim began in London in 1976 to overwhelming success, where it ran for four years.  The Broadway production opened in 1977, and enjoyed an incredible run of 390 performances -- largely unprecedented for a simple revue. To this day, Side By Side By Sondheim remains one of Sondheim's most-performed shows.

The original Australian production opened in Canberra in 1977 for a four-night season prior to opening at Sydney’s Theatre Royal on September 27. The cast was Jill Perryman, Geraldine Morrow and Bartholomew John, with John Laws (and subsequently Noel Ferrier) as narrator.

http://www.sidebysidebysondheim.com.au

Cast photograph by Kurt Sneddon.

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.