|
by Linda Sullivan Baity
Putting It Together is a "review" with a difference: It actually tells a story. The set-up is five lonely people thrown together in a luxury Manhattan penthouse: an unhappily married couple confronting their 25th wedding anniversary, a randy colleague from the host’s publishing company, a comely young maid who wastes no time in joining the revelry, and a mischievous uninvited guest whose presence is never really explained—but who cares!
The show was developed partly in response to repeated requests for an updated version of the popular show Side By Side By Sondheim. Because the composer didn’t want just another copycat compilation, he and director Julia McKenzie came up with the cocktail party premise as a reason to stitch together dozens of numbers from Assassins, Company, Dick Tracy, Follies, The Frogs, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George and Sweeney Todd. (Visit the Sondheim Guide website.) The result is an original and thoroughly cohesive theatre piece that stands on its own without betraying the wildly disparate origins of its magnificent music.
Putting It Together premiered in Oxford, England, at the Old Fire Station on January 27, 1992, directed by McKenzie, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, and starring Diana Rigg as the Wife. The show was next seen Off-Broadway in 1993 at Manhattan Theater Club, featuring Julie Andrews, Stephen Collins, Rachel York, Michael Rupert and Christopher Durang. Five years later, a somewhat expanded version was mounted at the Mark Taper Forum with an ensemble that included Carol Burnett, John McCook, Susan Egan, John Barrowman and Bronson Pinchot.
Although Mackintosh initially denied that a Broadway transfer was in the works, Putting It Together opened the following year at the Barrymore Theater and played 22 previews and 101 performances. Burnett, Pinchot and Barrowman from the L.A. cast were joined by Ruthie Henshall and Sondheim veteran George Hearn. One of the final performances of its sold-out New York run was taped by the Broadway Television Network, shown on HBO, and later released on DVD.
|
|
SCR’s production is being directed by Nick DeGruccio, whose prodigious
musical comedy chops were showcased in last season’s A Year With Frog
and Toad. He garnered kudos in 1997 for directing the West Coast premiere
of Putting It Together at the Colony Studio Theatre in Silverlake.Visit his website.
SCR’s stellar cast includes Broadway veteran Harry Groener, Mary Gordon Murray, Niki Scalera, Dan Callaway and Matt McGrath.
Putting It Together begins previews September 11 and continues through
October 11 on the Segerstrom Stage. It promises to be quite a party, and
you’re invited!
Watch a preview of the design for Putting It Together.
|
