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Given that we are in the season of celebrating the delights of sensuality and couple–hood, I’m tempted to wax metaphorical and declamatory all at once: Singing with another person and doing it well can be as satisfying as sex.
Ok, it was a simile, technically, but the point is made. Good singing is erotic, and the audience at Hammer Entertainment’s Sondheim review must be going home happy. There is some very good singing indeed.
Stephen Sondheim, to continue the analogy, is a master of erotica – not pornography, mind you; that would be Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sondheim’s musicals are a cut above the common fare. They are delectably sophisticated, brilliantly witty, nuanced and mature. His lyrics tickle the verbal brain, and his use of rhythm boggles the mind of musicians and non–musicians alike. Probably the works he’d be most known for would be West Side Story and Sweeney Todd – they were both made into movies, after all.
Urbane and cosmopolitan, Putting It Together is the perfect musical review for those whom hallmark sentimentality just won’t appease. This show touches both the frustrating absurdity of love, and its profound meaning. It’s not often there’s a show that will touch equally the blissfully coupled, the satisfied singleton, and the miserably lonely both in and out of relationships, but this really is Valentines viewing for anyone who has ever felt love.
As one would expect from a musical review, there is no explicit plot, but rather a collection of songs strung together in a loose and abstract frame work. From a variety of Sondheim’s shows selected by the Maestro himself, songs like “Unworthy of Your Love,” “Being Alive,” and “Pretty Women” will delight fans and newcomers equally.
Director, Eric Canaria, has a assembled a well trained and good looking cast of five performers to undertake the vocal acrobatics that is the singing of Sondheim. They sail through the very difficult score with confidence and aplomb that is a joy to behold and a serious temptation to jealousy for performers in the audience.
Ryan Miller, as the Master of Ceremonies, it must be said, stands out as a leader in a very strong ensemble, absolutely owning some numbers. This man has big diction. Stacy Milford, and Haley Midgette as representatives of the female gender, carry a disproportionate load while wearing considerably less clothing and precarious shoes, dismissing male pretensions to gender superiority. Jason Dick and James Medeiros are both generous performers with the vocal ability and performance power to do the music justice and make their fellow performers shine. They all did very, very good work.
The eight piece band were faultlessly in the right place at the right time, present but not intrusive. At the Westside the band is usually positioned on a balcony upstage, which means the actors can end up competing with a highly visible concoction of instruments, music stands, score lights, and musician shoes. For this show they are tastefully screened behind a sparkling semi–transparent drape.
The Westside concert theatre is a classy venue with comfortable dinner theatre seating, and handsome fixtures that make for a nice sense of occasion. The set was designed by Canaria and certainly functioned very adequately, but some input from a serious design co–ordinator might bring a level of professionalism to match the performances. Could the splashes of colour in the costumes tie in a little better? Could that set piece have a finished underside, instead of an unsightly gape?
These are just suggestions for a group that is really coming into it’s own, with regularly appearing high quality performers, and ambitious projects brought to increasingly satisfying fruition. By turns hilarious, raunchy and deeply moving, Putting It Together brings Hamilton the best of Stephen Sondheim in the depths of winter when we most need him. V
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
presented by Hammer Entertainment.
Feb. 10–12, 8pm. Feb. 12, 2pm.
Westside Concert Theatre.
434 King St. W., Hamilton.
hammerentertainment.ca
tix: (905) 777–9777
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