Last night was opening night for the Racine Theater Guild’s “Side by Side by Sondheim,” a neat revue of his songs- some of his well-known hits as well as some of his songs that are much more obscure. This is something I’ve wanted to be a part of ever since 1983, and 24 years is a long time to wait for something! (I’ve also seen it twice at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater over the years, which only stoked my interest – two fine productions for which my friend Marshall played piano and was otherwise involved.)
All of us in this production knew that it was good – that the songs are terrific, staged very effectively, and performed by a crackerjack cast of 4 women and 3 guys – but still, this is not exactly “The Sound of Music” and it was hard to know if most of the audience would really appreciate the intricacy and subtlety of these songs nearly as much as we did. (Fueling my curiosity- Doug Instenes told the story of how when he got to see Side by Side by Sondheim on Broadway way back when, he hated it because he had just seen “Chorus Line” and this was SO different from that. . . Chorus Line was spectacular in every way and Side by Side was three people on a stage with three stools, singing songs with two pianos. That story made me wonder how some of our audience would react after having seen things like Guys and Dolls and Gypsy on our stage. Would this measure up by comparison?)
It did ! In fact, this went over like gangbusters, and I’m still a little amazed and more than a little bit relieved. They laughed at the funny stuff – they were still as statues during the quiet, poignant stuff – didn’t seem unduly bothered by the naughty stuff – and at the end of the evening, they were on their feet. So we seem to have a hit on our hands, which we hope will translate into stronger ticket sales for the rest of the run.
It’s been a great experience and it’s a great show chiefly for the seven people pictured above – a superb cast that has proven to be more than equal to the intricate challenges of this score. And more than that, they have been so much fun to work with – and so comfortable with each other and so supportive of each other’s efforts. And it’s a healthy mix of a couple of RTG veterans, a couple of relative newcomers, and a couple of people who are in their very very first RTG production. And here’s an interesting statistic for you- three of the seven performers sang at Tremper High School under Polly’s direction. . . and another is her sister . . . so Polly deserves some kind of plaque in the lobby for making all of this possible!
It’s especially neat to be doing this with Kathy because she is scoring a triumph with her breathtaking performances of “Send in the Clowns,” “Losing my Mind,” and “I’m Still Here” – perfect vehicles for her gorgeous voice. And truth be told, this show gives great vehicles to everyone. . . “Something’s Coming” for Ryan, “Broadway Baby” for Alexa, “I have a Love” for Rita, “I Remember Sky” for Dan, “Anyone can Whistle” for Keith, and “The Boy from” for Ann. . . which doesn’t even count all of the wonderful duets, nor “Pretty Lady” for the three guys and “You could drive a person crazy” for the ladies, plus the big spirited group numbers that really light up the place. Doug gets most of the credit for sorting out who should sing what numbers (no small task) and putting the songs together in an order that makes sense. And at opposite ends of the stage, Jane Livingston and I deserve credit for playing this complicated score on two grand pianos and managing to stay together most of the time. (Next weekend, Kate Potter Barrow steps in because Jane will be gone.) Kudos as well to the capable crew who has done such good work behind the scenes.
At the end of last night’s performance, as the cast stood arm-in-arm at the middle of the stage singing “Isn’t it warm, isn’t it cozy, Side by Side by Side?” and gently swaying to the beat, I found myself with a big lump in my throat. Part of it was just from the tremendous pleasure of being part of such a terrific production – one I’ve been waiting to do for so long – and so pleased that these seven performers have done such a fine job and are friends for life – but also because of some sad news I received about a week ago. The guy who directed the University of Wisconsin-Nebraska production that I saw back in 1983 – and who played first piano for it – was a gifted guy named Gregg Tallman, from whom I learned SO much in my first opera productions. He directed me in Puccini’s Il Tabarro, Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro, and Leonard Bernstein’s The Trouble in Tahiti. (Sometime I will write more about all that I learned from him.) Anyway, over the years I’ve wanted to get in touch with him to tell him how much I learned from him and how much appreciated him – sort of like I did when I got in touch with my high school voice teacher, Cherie Carl, and sent her a letter and long-overdue gift of appreciation. . . but my one or two efforts to track him down led to nothing and I wasn’t very persistent. While I was in Nashville, I wrote a post to my opera listserv about the people who had been most instrumental in getting me turned on to opera- and he was one of the people I wrote about and I mentioned how I hoped I would still be able to thank him properly, if he was still alive and I could find him. A good friend of his emailed me to say that, unfortunately, Gregg Tallman passed away in 2004 from AIDS – at the age of only 58. (The same age as my mom.) So I feel like I’m playing this show with a slightly heavy heart… heavy with regret that I allowed a door to close that I can’t open again. But I hope that all I have put into this production is some sort of tribute to Gregg and the indebtedness to him that I will feel for the rest of my life.
pictured above: Keith Hampton, Dan Martino, Rita Torcaso, Alex Hujik, Ann Mollerskov, Kathy Berg, and Ryan Clark- our fantastic cast – in the RTG Green Room right before Thursday night’s preview performance.