Sorry for the delay!
Full disclosure, this being a tech run I only saw the first half of the show before I had to leave for another engagement, but it's definitely an event worth seeing.
(Potential SPOILERS ahead?)
The stage is simply set with a bed and a chair, the orchestra upstage center of the action, and a massive projection screen at the rear of the stage that is used to show imagery of New York. There are 2 sets of couples (Bernadette & Norm, and Jeremy & Cyrille) as well as a dancer representative for each of the 4. The dancers are shadows for each performer, expressing through movement what the singers are conveying through song. Each of the couples exchange partners over the course of the evening, climbing into bed with the other's significant other, and the rotating dancing couples perform gorgeous pas de deuxs as the couples sing their hearts out in the beds.
John described this piece as first and foremost being a celebration/exploration of New York City, and these couples are our gateway into what is an incredibly inventive night of reorchestration and the reinvention of some of Sondheim's most beloved songs. I won't give too much away, but the singers are in great voice (especially Jeremy Jordan, he makes full-voiced B flats seem effortless). For the most part most of the melodies are completely intact, but the orchestrations give (IMHO) an incredibly satisfying New York Jazz sound to the numbers.
A few standout numbers:
Bernadette with Broadway Baby
Jeremy Jordan with Losing My Mind (intelligent direction) and Giants in the Sky (simply, stunningly beautiful, and like no version of the song I've ever heard before)
Norm with Someone is Waiting
Cyrille with You Could Drive a Person Crazy
If y'all have any questions, ask away, I'll do my best to answer, though again I left before they had finished teching the whole show.
It really will be a beautiful night at the theatre, if only because it's been awhile since I've heard Sondheim sound this gorgeous.
A few parting shots:
Ladies Who Lunch/Agony mashup sung by Bernadette
Send in the Clowns is a dance
You get to hear the new song "Rainbows" written for the Into the Woods movie
I Wish I Could Forget You is the finale
"He found something that he wanted, had always wanted and always would want— not to be admired, as he had feared; not to be loved, as he had made himself believe; but to be necessary to people, to be indispensable."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise
Updated On: 11/13/13 at 10:29 AM
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