| Side By Side by Sondheim | |
|---|---|
 Windowcard for the original Broadway production | |
| Music | Stephen Sondheim Leonard Bernstein Mary Rodgers Richard Rodgers Jule Styne |
| Lyrics | Stephen Sondheim |
| Book | Revue |
| Productions | 1976 West End 1977 Broadway 1977 Australia 1978 U.S. tour 2007 West End revival 2011 Australian revival 2015 London revival |
Side by Side by Sondheim is a musical revue featuring the songs of composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song "Side by Side by Side" from Company .
The musical had its origins when David Kernan was asked by Cleo Laine and her husband John Dankworth to put together a revue as a benefit for The Stables, a theatre they owned in Wavendon. Kernan contacted director Ned Sherrin and suggested that they do a revue of Sondheim material. Producer Cameron Mackintosh saw the benefit revue, which featured Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, Kernan, and Sherrin as the narrator, and agreed to produce it. [1]
In the TV documentary Cameron Mackintosh: The Music Man, Mackintosh admits that he never saw the benefit performance, but Christopher Biggins did, and Mackintosh went on Biggins' recommendation.
The musical is in the form of a revue, with various sections tied together by being from a particular Sondheim musical, or having a common theme, and all of it is tied together by the Narrator. He explains what show the songs are from, and in some cases provides background on why a song was written. He also notes comparing and contrasting Sondheim themes for the audience. As the cast enters, they sing "Comedy Tonight", and then "Love Is in the Air"; the Narrator explains that the latter song was the original opener for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, but was dropped in favor of the more explicit lyrics of "Comedy Tonight". The Narrator notes that a theme that Sondheim has explored in many of his works is marriage, which introduces the next set of songs. Next are the unknown songs, one cut and one from a television program ("I Remember"). The medley from Company follows, and Act 1 closes with Follies, with the Narrator pointing out the different musical styles Sondheim has used in these songs, such as Vaudeville ("Buddy's Blues"). The female trio sing "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" as the act ends.
Songs included have varied from production to production; the following is the song list from the original Broadway production
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The revue had its première on May 4, 1976, at London's Mermaid Theatre, where it ran for 59 performances. It subsequently transferred to Wyndham's Theatre, and then the Garrick for a total of 806 performances. Ned Sherrin directed, but Sondheim also worked with the cast and made many suggestions. Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, David Kernan, and Sherrin comprised the original cast. [1]
Hal Prince produced the Broadway version, and persuaded Actors' Equity Association to allow the original British cast to transfer with the show. The production, again directed by Sherrin, opened on April 18, 1977, at the Music Box Theatre, and later transferred to the now-demolished Morosco Theatre. Between the two venues, it ran for 384 performances and six previews. It is one of the few shows to have the distinction of its entire cast being nominated for Tony Awards (Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical). A subsequent 1978 U. S. national tour starred Martin, Larry Kert, Barbara Heuman, and Hermione Gingold as the Narrator.
The Australian production opened 21 September 1977 at Canberra Theatre, [2] and subsequently toured to Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. The cast included Jill Perryman, Geraldene Morrow, and Bartholomew John, with Noel Ferrier was the Narrator. John Laws was featured as the Narrator for the Sydney season, as well as on the cast album. The Australian cast recording was released by RCA in 1978. [3]
A revised production produced by John Edward Thomas ( Little Women and Lizzie the Musical ) and directed by Rob Marshall made its debut September 29, 1989, at Playhouse Square's State Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio. The cast featured Paige O'Hara, Marsha Waterbury, and Kurt Peterson, with music direction by Brad Garside.
A London West End revival opened at the Venue Theatre on May 1, 2007, and closed June 23, 2007, after 62 performances and four previews. The cast included Abbie Osman, Alasdair Harvey, and Josie Walker, with rotating narrators. The musical was directed by Hannah Chissick, with musical staging by Adam Cooper. [4]
Numerous international productions have been mounted, including a production in Ireland in 1996, which starred Rebecca Storm, Brendan O'Carroll as the Narrator, Susie Fenwick, Enda Markey, and Sarah-Jane Bourne.
A production at the Seymour Centre in Sydney ran in 2011, and starred Amelia Cormack, Margi De Ferranti, Enda Markey, and Jessica Rowe as the Narrator. This production toured Australia in 2012, with Rachael Beck and then Lucy Maunder replacing Amelia Cormack; Michael Falzon replacing Markey, and Geraldine Turner replacing De Feranti. [5] [6] [7]
On Friday 20 April 2012, a gala performance of the show took place at Theatre Royal, Sydney. Headlined by Ruthie Henshall [8] and starring an array of Australia's leading musical theatre talent, including Rachael Beck, Geraldine Turner, Peter Cousens, Enda Markey (who also produced), Lucy Durack, Ben Lewis, Stephen Mahy, Amanda Muggleton, Michael Falzon, Virginia Gay, and many more.
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Laurence Olivier Award | Best New Musical | Nominated | |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Tony Award | Best Musical | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | David Kernan | Nominated | ||
| Ned Sherrin | Nominated | |||
| Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical | Julia McKenzie | Nominated | ||
| Millicent Martin | Nominated | |||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Julia McKenzie | Nominated | |
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.
Blood Brothers is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell and produced by Bill Kenwright. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers."
Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer, and comedian. She was the lone female singer of topical songs on the weekly BBC Television satirical show That Was the Week That Was, and won a BAFTA TV Award in 1964. For her work on Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Side by Side by Sondheim (1977) and King of Hearts (1978), both for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other television roles include her recurring role as Gertrude Moon in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) and Joan Margaret in Grace & Frankie (2017–2022).
Valentine Ruth Henshall, known professionally as Ruthie Henshall, is an English actress, singer and dancer, known for her work in musical theatre. She began her professional stage career in 1986, before making her West End debut in Cats in 1987. A five-time Olivier Award nominee, she won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Amalia Balash in the London revival of She Loves Me (1994).
Hey, Mr. Producer! was a concert honoring theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh, performed in June 1998 as a benefit for the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and the Combined Theatrical Charities.
Putting it Together is a musical revue showcasing the songs of Stephen Sondheim. Drawing its title from a song in Sunday in the Park with George, it was devised by Sondheim and Julia McKenzie. The revue has received several productions, beginning with its premiere in England in 1992, Broadway in 1999 and the West End in 2014.
Enda Markey is an Irish-born, Sydney-based, theatrical producer and former singer and actor. He is the producer of the stage productions Side by Side by Sondheim and the international tour of Boublil and Schonberg's Do You Hear The People Sing?, and the Australian revival of Willy Russell's Blood Brothers.
Jonathan Martin Biggins is an Australian actor, singer, writer, director, and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage and television as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programmes.
Rachael Elizabeth Beck is an Australian stage and television singer-actress. From 1991 to 1994 Beck had a major role on the popular sitcom, Hey Dad..!, as Samantha Kelly. From 2006 to 2008, Beck appeared on all three seasons of Seven Network's celebrity singing competition It Takes Two, as a singing coach successively for Mark Furze, Ernie Dingo and Mark Wilson. She has appeared in the Australian musical theatre productions of Cats (1985), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1995–96), Les Misérables (1995–96), The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Singing in the Rain and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Beck released her first solo album This Girl on 7 March 2014.
Amanda Harrison is an Australian actress and singer, known for her roles in Wicked (Elphaba), We Will Rock You, and for originating the role of Paula Pokrifki in the world premiere of An Officer and a Gentleman. She has performed in cabaret several times, including her current production Up Close and Reasonably Personal which she is expected to perform at Melbourne Cabaret Festival in June 2014 and recently David Harris, Michael Ball, Lea Salonga and Marie Zamora for Enda Markey Presents Do You Hear The People Sing at Shanghai Grand Theatre. She voiced characters for Get Ace an animation series released in January 2014. She appeared with Mig Ayesa, Michael Falzon and Carly Thomas-Smith for three performances of The Music of Queen - Rock and Symphonic Spectacular. The concert series began on 7 February 2014, at Sydney Opera House supported by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra before three performances in Perth, Western Australia between 13–15 February.
Trisha Alexandra Crowe is an Australian classical pop soprano. She has achieved success as a solo guest artist in concerts with Australian symphony orchestras and in musical theatre.
Sondheim on Sondheim is a musical revue consisting of music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim for his many shows. It is conceived and directed by James Lapine. The revue had a limited run on Broadway in 2010.
David Stanley Kernan was an English actor, best known as an interpreter of the songs of Stephen Sondheim. Kernan appeared in stage musicals and was a soloist in various British variety shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s including That Was the Week That Was (1962–1963).
David Harris is an Australian actor and singer. In Australia, he is best known for his performances as Chris in Miss Saigon, Fiyero in Wicked and Emmett in Legally Blonde having received Helpmann Award nominations for all three leading roles. Harris also starred as the Baker in Victorian Opera's production of Into the Woods and, in America, as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables opposite Terrence Mann in 2015. He has released two solo albums. Since early 2023, he has played the role of The Duke of Monroth in the Broadway theater production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical.
Michael Falzon was an Australian musical theatre/rock tenor actor, and producer, who ran his own production company, Good Egg Creative.
Stephen Mahy is an Australian born tenor from Sydney, NSW, best known for originating the role of Bob Gaudio in the Australian production of Jersey Boys. After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2006, Stephen toured the country in Miss Saigon, covering the lead role of Chris and playing the role to every audience in the country. Mahy toured nationally in Grease, playing the role of Kenickie alongside notable cast members Rob Mills, Gretel Scarlett, Anthony Callea, Lucy Maunder, Todd McKenney and Bert Newton as Vince Fontaine. In 2015, Stephen joined the cast of The Rocky Horror Show, playing the role of Brad Majors alongside Craig McLachlan, Amy Lehpamer, Jayde Westaby, Bert Newton and Richard O'Brien, just to name a few. He featured in "Stephen Schwartz in Conversation" at Sydney's Theatre Royal, where he performed on stage for the noted composer.
Lucy Maunder is an Australian cabaret and theatre performer. She originated the role of Lara in the Australian premiere of Doctor Zhivago in 2011 opposite Anthony Warlow, and toured with her own cabaret Songs in the Key of Black in 2013, releasing an album with the same name. Also in 2013, Maunder toured with the national touring company of Grease playing the role of Rizzo. In 2021-22, she starred as the adult Alison Bechdel in the Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company's co-production of Fun Home.
Anna O'Byrne is an Australian actress and soprano singer best known for her portrayal of Christine Daaé in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the original Australian production of Lloyd Webber's sequel, Love Never Dies, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award.
Elise McCann is an Australian actress and musical theatre performer most well known for originating the role of Miss Honey in the Australian production of Matilda the Musical and as Lucille Ball in Everybody Loves Lucy.
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends is a tribute revue honoring musical theatre composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh.
