By Steve Simmons – posted 1:26 p.m., Feb. 7, 2022
For those hungering for a Stephen Sondheim fix, or who simply want to pay tribute to the late musical theatre master’s genius, International City Theatre (ICT) has the answer. The theatre company will present Sondheim’s most rarely performed revue Marry Me A Little, Feb. 11-27 (previews Feb. 9-10) at its home in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center (for details see below).
A Review With A Twist
Unlike other Sondheim revues like Side By Side By Sondheim, Putting It Together and Sondheim On Sondheim, that present song after song from the composer/lyricist’s transformational canon (close to 20 shows) and explore the composer’s life and process– Marry Me A Little is a different animal.
Conceived by playwright Craig Lucas and Norman Reno in 1980, the conceit or gimmick of the piece is to have a man and a woman in their separate apartments in the same building (while occupying the same space on stage) singing 17 songs that were cut or dropped from Sondheim shows. The couple doesn’t meet, but through the songs they interact and live in each other’s dreams, recollections and fantasies, not knowing they live one floor apart.
International City Theatre
“I was intrigued by that essence of loneliness,” says director Kari Hayter. “These are two people longing for something better or different for having a partner or friend and asking ‘where am I now?’”
Written between 1954 and 1973, the castoffs featured in the show were originally written for Sondheim hits like Company, Follies and A Little Night Music. And they join undiscovered gems from unproduced shows.
Drawn To It
While this is Hayter’s first experience with the piece, she’s well acquainted with Sondheim having directed shows that were solely his, Into the Woods and A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and West Side Story, where he contributed lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s score.
To cope with the revue’s unorthodox structure– one song following the other with no dialogue, in solos and duets, often in counterpoint—some directors have created a backstory for the couple, and even had them communicating on social media. Hayter is sticking to the original conceit and leaving it up to audiences to discover for themselves if they know each other? Have they met? Seen each other in the hallway? Are they former lovers or friends? “I want audiences thinking, ‘I wonder if they’re dating or broke up or will get together,’” says Hayter. “Adding a storyline might make it feel specific to the people on stage and I want them to feel like everyman and everywoman. After all, the theme of love with all its joys and disappointments is universal.”
“I want people to listen to the music and lyrics and focus on Sondheim’s brilliance and make that the destination,” says Hayter. “A secondary storyline complicates things, and the piece loses its charm.”
International City Theatre.
For Nick Tubbs, playing the man (Katy Tang plays the woman), he views the couple “as relative strangers who may have interacted and are hungry for a relationship. I know the feeling of living alone and talking to yourself as you make a breakfast of a boiled egg and toast and turning it into a three-act play.”
He’s happy to be coming back to Sondheim after having played the Balladeer in Assassins at the Pico Playhouse and Paul in Company for the then Cabrillo Music Theatre, both in 2015. “The lyrics are wordy,” says Tubbs, “Sondheim put things so eloquently, and we’re so fortunate to have these songs.” One of his songs Upstairs, Downstairs, cut from Follies, spotlights the dense internal rhymes Sondheim is famous for with lines like: She sits at the Ritz with her splits of Mumm’s/And starts to pine for a stein with her Village chums.
Drawn to shows that highlight relationships, Hayter, who teaches musical theatre at the AMDA College of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, reached out to ICT artistic director/producer caryn desai (sic) about helming the show. “I knew this musical was right up my alley,” says Hayter. “I love the intimacy. Marry Me A Little puts audiences in a position to create a fantasy in their own minds. The sense of play and imagination comes alive in this show. We should all use our imaginations and indulge in fantasies. It makes one braver, more available and more vulnerable. Ideas Stephen Sondheim certainly explored in his ingenious songs.”
One of Tubbs’ favorite songs, and the one he auditioned with, is All Thing Bright and Beautiful, not the familiar hymn, but an idealistic look at love for a young couple cut from Follies. The man sings: You’ll have all things/Bright and beautiful/Everything forever, ask me/Everything forever, every day.
It’s About The Songs
Without dialogue to rely on, all the man and woman’s thoughts are told through songs, a delight for Sondheim fans, because Sondheim’s castoffs are better than most composer’s best work. They range from light and bouncy to serious and heartbreaking, and even a languid song about golf, Pour le Sport, written for the unproduced The Last Resorts.
There are discoveries like Two Fairy Tales, cut from A Little Night Music and songs that were precursors to big hits. From Company, the show presents Happily Ever After, which Hal Prince thought was too pessimistic to end the show. So Sondheim turned it into his anthem Being Alive. This show’s lusty Can That Boy Foxtrot! was replaced with I’m Still Here. The Girls of Summer, incidental music for N. Richard Nash’s play of the same name, is a direct link to Company’s The Ladies Who Lunch.
The pure love song So Many People from Saturday Night has become a cabaret standard along with There Won’t Be Trumpets from Anyone Can Whistle.
Hayter also loves the idea of putting the songs into a new context and having some sung by a different gender than originally planned. “Because these songs didn’t work, we can create a world where they stand alone,” says Hayter. ‘In this looser narrative they can exist, and the characters are free to live in their own minds and imaginations.”
One of her favorite songs in the show is A Moment With You from Saturday Night. (The show was to mark Sondheim’s Broadway debut but was shelved when the lead producer died. It was finally produced in 1997.) “It’s so simple and sweet and fun,” says Hayter. Some of the lyrics are: It took-/In no time at all-/Wilbur Wright/Years to learn to build something that flew/ But my heart took flight in no time/By spending a moment with you.
Moving On
“We’re not letting COVID-19 stop us,” says Hayter. She and her cast have been rehearsing together on stage since mid-January, putting it together, if you will, in a few weeks. “Hopefully the surge will be over,” says Hayter. “We’re lucky it’s two performers and a solo grand piano (music director and pianist is Diane King Vann) with lots of solos.”
“These are challenging times and in 2020 we took a big hit,” says desai. After doing three shows virtually, “we are hoping to be live for the full season.” She’s programmed A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath, The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez, Athol Fugard’s Valley Song and Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Tenor.
She chose Marry Me A Little last year, “because I was looking for a small show and I wasn’t sure where we’d be with the pandemic,” says desai. ”We’ve had to pivot to keep going and find ways to serve audiences and add to their quality of life because that’s what theatre does for society.
“I like plays that talk about loneliness,” says desai. “We’ve all been through a period of isolation so a play about making connections is timely. I guess it was a good call.”
The timing, so close after Sondheim’s death, is purely coincidental, says desai. “But it’s going to be a nice tribute and a great way to start the year. “What Stephen Sondheim contributed is amazing,” she adds.
“I’ve loved his work since I was a student. His lyrics are thought provoking and he understands human nature. One of her favorites in the show is the hopeful Marry Me A Little, cut from Company. “I like it’s idea that you have to be ready for everything,” says desai. It opens: Marry me a little/Love me just enough/Cry, but not too often/Play, but not too rough/Keep a tender distance/So we’ll both be free/That’s the way it ought to be/I’m ready!
The Long Beach Performing Arts Center is at 330 East Seaside Way, Long Beach. Previews will be 8 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 9-10. Performances will be at 8 p.m., Thursdays, Feb. 17 and 24; Fridays, Feb. 11, 18 and 25; Saturdays, Feb. 12, 19 and 26 and at 2 p.m., Sundays, Feb. 13, 20 and 27. Tickets are $55 for the opening night gala (Feb. 11) with a post-show reception with the actors; $49 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; $52 for Sunday matinees and $37 for previews. Proof of vaccination is required for admission and masks (covering both mouth and nose) must be worn during the performance. For tickets and more information, call 562-436-4610 or visit www.InternationalCityTheatre.org.
Steve Simmons is an accomplished writer and editor who writes about a wide array of topics including entertainment. His successful experience at the Beverly Hills Courier and other publications set the stage for his blog. Contact Steve at steve.simmons0211@gmail.com or 626-788-6734.
