Hayes Theatre, June 26
6,5/10
Stephen Sondheim’s songs are too rarely lifted from their shows to stand alone, whether on records or in cabarets. They’re variously perceived as being too context-specific, too cerebral or insufficiently melodic. Being Alive is another reminder of how nonsensical this is. Letting his songs bump into siblings from other shows actually highlights their richness, not just musically and lyrically, but in terms of their humanity.
No one discusses the richness of the depiction of the human condition in the work of other writers of musicals, not even Rodgers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb or Lerner and Loewe. In this regard, Sondheim’s artistry has more in common with Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Chekhov. Instead of girls meeting boys and running off into the moonlight, flawed people delude themselves, well-meaning people regret, assassins confront their imminent execution, and, in his ultimate masterpiece, Sunday in the Park with George, an artist sings of the very impulse of the creative act.
Devised by director Sonya Suares and musical supervisor Luke Byrne for Hayes Theatre Co, Being Alive is certainly a treat for Sondheim fans, but it’s not all it could have been. Firstly, given the wealth of material at their disposal, it’s simply too short. At about 70 minutes, it seems we’ve only just settled in when they’re already sending in the clowns and switching on the house lights. No one would have blinked had we been asked to be engaged, stimulated and moved by the man’s songs for another half hour.
Then there are missteps, like having Not While I’m Around intrude upon Send in the Clowns. What were they thinking? That they had to squeeze something form Sweeney Todd in somewhere? That we’d grow bored while Blazey Best was trying to shred our hearts with Sondheim’s best-known song? Losing My Mind (Follies) and You Could Drive a Person Crazy (Company) are attenuated and forcibly mated in a way that neither song finds comfortable or pleasurable. Then they end with such a truncated Comedy Tonight (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) that it’s more fitting for an ad than a celebration of its creator.
Happily, there’s also much to admire, including Best underplaying Clowns: delivering the intimate musing of a vulnerable woman, rather than anything resembling a showstopper. Raphael Wong and Lincoln Elliot are blessed with attractive tenor voices, the former shining his on the luminous, mind-expanding Color and Light from Sunday in the Park, while the fourth singer is the livewire Kala Gare, whose fuller voice is an ideal foil for Best’s more brittle tone.
The indefatigable Michael Tyack directs the music from the piano, accompanied by bassist Amanda Jenkins and clarinettist Lillian Hearne, with Wong also playing cello on two pieces. If it’s not a perfect tour of Sondheim’s genius, it will still please his devotees.
Until July 12.