WNY Theater: Compilation of Sondheim’s ‘cut’ songs goes by in a flash at Kenan

By Nathan Andrew Miller
(All photos by Jeff Tracy)

If you’re a regular attendee of the theater, you may be familiar with the concept of a “Director’s Note,” tucked away in the program somewhere. It’s the item that unfortunately gets skipped, or is deemed “intermission reading.” Well, you can’t read the “Special Note about Marry Me a Little from the Director” at the Kenan Center’s Taylor Theatre at intermission — because there isn’t an intermission. This unique theatrical adventure is 60 minutes, and you’ll want to have read the note to gain the full experience.

Briefly, Marry Me a Little is a show full of Stephen Sondheim “cut songs,” songs that didn’t make the final version. Except, as Director Kevin Leary points out, in the case of the show’s eponymous song being added back into Company. Being completely sung-through, and made up of songs that weren’t necessarily meant to pair, Leary has constructed a beautiful world of two New York apartments, sharing an invisible middle wall, that can be broken when the fantasy world of The Man and The Woman manifests in their song moments.

Marry Me a Little debuted Off-Off Broadway in 1980, and re-opened Off-Broadway in 1981, a revised version, with a new concept and several songs added or cut (the irony!). Then the revised version was performed Off Broadway in 2012.

The version produced at Kenan, using the original libretto, is set in modern day and features Sydney Conrad and Aaron Gabriel Saldana, uniting again on the Taylor Theatre stage after appearing in A Grand Night for Singing.

Leary, his concept for the show well-established with his beautifully crafted Director’s Note, pulls the audience into the world of these dreamers. Conrad and Saldana immediately show their story-telling acumen in the show’s opening number “Two Fairy Tales.” It’s really artful Sondheim, two stories being sung simultaneously at points, pairing off at points, and both rendered with earnest enjoyment by their actors. Patrick Towey, at the piano and also serving as musical director, spends the evening interpreting the songs with the actors onstage. They’re a living, breathing, trio.

And oh, these actors. They’re all over town, performing in all kinds of different things, and always with success. To note — Saldana is performing during the week in Diary of a Wimpy Kid school time performances, then doing Marry Me a Little at night!

Conrad has one of the old-school musical theater voices. She soars as a soprano, never forcing or oversinging — and some of this score is very high — but then takes an almost Vaudevillian turn in “Can That Boy Foxtrot,” a song that wasn’t landing in Follies. In fact, we have Follies to thank for most of the songs in this revue — check out Ted Chapin’s incredible book Everything Was Possible for an oral history of the project. Conrad has a chance to flex her comedy muscles in this piece, something that she doesn’t get to do enough and that she shows a natural knack for. There’s a moment with a stair that’s so incredibly human — I’m still cackling thinking about it.

I have known Saldana for — I think — as long as he’s been performing in Buffalo. I have long admired his singing voice, so natural and free, but feel he has truly settled into his own as a well-rounded actor. And so, imagine the delight this reviewer felt while watching him cover the entire scope of emotion throughout the evening. “Silly People” is a highlight, with its raw emotional performance. Here an actor opens wide, exposing his soul, and it’s really well-rendered.

The true focal point of the evening, however, comes in the fantasy sequence that begins with “Your Eyes are Blue” and concludes with “A Moment With You.” The former begins on the couch in the fantasy realm of their apartments, Saldana and Conrad just staring into each other’s eyes. So simple. So honest. So touching. I have goosebumps still, thinking about how these two performers fall into this fantasy love.

So, in conclusion, how can you resist a production like this? I would urge and compel any of those who value theater as an art form to PLEASE get to the Kenan Center to see this production in its final weekend. You will feel more deeply in this intimate space, with no bad seat, a great lobby area to enjoy a pre-show beverage, and theater as it’s meant to be seen and heard. Kudos to the Kenan team for executing yet another stellar production — and especially to Em English, production stage manager extraordinaire, for keeping it all running!

A note for transparency’s sake: Nathan Andrew Miller has previously worked at the Kenan Center’s Taylor Theatre as a stage manager and director.