Playhouse revue headed for New York

Tom Titus

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

That old joke is being revived at the Laguna Playhouse these days

since it was announced that “Moving On: A Celebration of the Work of

Stephen Sondheim” -- a review the playhouse produced in 2001 in its

professional and American debuts -- will indeed be displayed at the

famous New York showplace.

A concert version of this tribute to the patron saint of the

American musical is ticketed for two previews and eight performances

in Carnegie Hall’s new Zankel Hall from Sept. 30 to Oct. 10. Oh, and

the show also has a new title: “Opening Doors.”

The piece originally was conceived by British director David

Kernan as a 70th birthday bouquet to Sondheim. Kernan also created

the familiar revue “Side by Side by Sondheim” some 25 years ago. The

playhouse picked it up for its premiere engagement, which ran from

Oct. 30 to Dec. 2, 2001, for 32 performances and five previews, also

under Kernan’s direction.

The Laguna production featured a hometown Broadway star, Teri

Ralston -- who headlined the Broadway productions of Sondheim’s

“Company” and “A Little Night Music.” Also on the bill were Ann

Morrison, who starred in the original production of Sondheim’s

“Merrily We Roll Along,” and David Engel, who appeared with Carol

Burnett in the Sondheim review “Putting It Together.”

The concluding number of “Moving On” featured the song “Back in

Business” from the movie “Dick Tracy,” which had a special meaning in

that particular time frame, not quite two months after the Sept. 11

terrorist attacks. The Laguna production was dedicated to the victims

of that tragedy.

The score of the newly christened “Opening Doors” includes 41

songs, in whole or in part, that appear in 14 Sondheim musicals, four

movies and one television play.

While most playgoers date Sondheim from his lyrics-only

contributions to “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” in the late 1950s, his

actual first musical was called “Saturday Night.” And, yes, it’ll be

represented in “Opening Doors,” along with such better-known shows as

“Sunday in the Park With George,” “Into the Woods,” “Company,”

“Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the

Forum” and others which haven’t yet made their way into this

neighborhood of show business.

Sondheim’s work is particularly topical locally. Laguna’s

community theater group, the No Square Theater, just recently staged

“Into the Woods” and Ralston helmed a special production of “Follies”

at the Irvine Barclay Theater a few weeks ago.

Up the coast a ways, the Newport Theater Arts Center is planning a

production of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” later

this season. The Huntington Beach Playhouse produced “West Side

Story” last year and “Gypsy” is next up at the Westminster Community

Theater.

Interspersed among the songs in “Opening Doors” are recorded audio

excerpts from a candid 40-minute interview the creators conducted

with Sondheim, sharing personal observations about his childhood, his

creative life and career, love and posterity.

Sondheim at Carnegie Hall. Well, he’s certainly had plenty of

practice.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.