We just finished the last performance of “Side by Side by Sondheim” at the Racine Theater Guild – and in many ways this was the best performance of them all and the most enthusiastically received. The audience was heavily populated both with family and special friends- and a fair number of astute theater types who were in a position to really appreciate what happened on that stage – and between all of them and a cast that was giving 110%, the place was on fire!
One special challenge for this second weekend was that we switched pianists- from Jane Livingston to Kate Potter Barrow – but we did so without missing a beat! Kate is very comfortable in collaborative situations like this, and we have made so much music over the years at church and with Caritas that we are practically one mind when it comes to music. That certainly helped us get it together, since time was severely limited for rehearsal. (Kate was out of town until this past Tuesday night, so we only had Wednesday and Thursday for rehearsals before the weekend performances began – but you would never have guessed it from how secure we managed to become in that short amount of time. My hat goes off to her.)
Lots of neat things happened in this second weekend, and one of them was that Kathy really took it up a notch in both “Send in the Clowns” and “Losing my Mind,” singing them with an intensity and expressiveness that I frankly didn’t know she was capable of delivering. The former was heartbreaking- and the latter was searing- and as I sat there playing the piano, I kept thinking to myself: This woman is an amazing singer!
But for all the great moments in tonight’s solos, my very favorite moments were the group pieces because it was in those that you got a glimpse at the remarkable chemistry between these cast members. . . the kind of chemistry that a director dreams about. I loved the big splashy “Comedy Tonight” which opened the show. . . “Side by Side” which ended it . . . “You gotta have a gimmick,” which brought the house down for the end of act one. . . the exquisite “Pretty Lady” sung by the guys . . . “You could drive a person crazy” and “Can that boy fox trot,” sung by the women. . . and believe it or not, it was during that last piece, one of the funniest and naughtiest songs of the night, that I actually got weepy tonight, as I realized that we were doing this for the last time. This has been so tremendously fun and gratifying, and it is so sad for it to be coming to and end, even if it’s also a bit of a relief. (This takes SO much time.) But it was tremendous fun while it lasted.
pictured: The cast as they appeared in the final measures of “You gotta have a gimmick.” It was my idea to make this the end of act one and for us to have all the cast members come out at the end of the number, each one with their own odd gimmick.