Four chairs on a platform draped with an elegant Oriental rug
from the Shaver Ramsey collection, a piano, four singers and an
experienced director, Bernie Cardell.
The recipe for an audience-pleasing evening of Stephen
Sondheim’s memorable music — in a beautiful setting: “Side By Side
By Sondheim.”
Cherry Creek’s Shaver Ramsey Showroom has provided the space for
the newly formed Cherry Creek Theatre to perform its shows, backed
by a kaleidoscope of carpets on every surface.
The opening number is the familiar “Comedy Tonight” from “A
Funny Thing Happened On the Way to The Forum,” performed by Stephen
Day, Susie Roelofsz, Zachary Shannon and Amanda Mendez with a
smooth blending of voices. The first two are veteran Equity actors
while Shannon and Mendez are younger singers.
The program continues with familiar songs from “A Little Night
Music,” Company,” “Westside Story” (Sondheim’s lyrics and
Bernstein’s score), and the less well known “Pacific Overtures” and
“Musical Follies.”
Brief narratives included a story about the 15-year-old Sondheim
taking a musical he had written to show to the great Oscar
Hammerstein, who gave the youngster a crash course.
Songs vary from the funny “I’m Not Getting Married Today” from
Company to the more subdued “Bring in the Clowns” from “A Little
Night Music.” Performers also offer brief backgrounds on the
musicals, but mostly, they sing — individually, in pairs and as a
quartet.
“Side By Side” is the appropriate finale.
Mark Rossman, Chair of Cherry Creek Theatre announced that the
next production, in October, would be Agatha Christie’s “Unexpected
Guest.”
