Wonderful Sondheim tribute
Today to hear (and watch) the London Gay Men’s Chorus celebrate the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim (‘Sondheim Songtime’) at the Cadogan Hall.
This close to 170 strong Choir with a quarter century and more of choral history had been planning a completely different 2022 season until Sondheim’s death last year catapulted them into this concert.
It was a challenge (how do you select even 150 minutes of Sondheim out of the very many hours of great music that exist; how do you, as a chorus, present some of his best work which is staged with multiple characters, and where his genius of interactive lyrics is not best suited to massed choirs?)
I cannot comment on the song choice, based more on what you could afford (reluctantly) to leave out, rather than what you wanted to sing, but you achieve the staging challenge by, well staging it.
So Chorus members slipped away and re-appeared in costume (some wonderfully bizarre) and soloists sang moving solos, aided on occasion by Jenna Russell – a very long standing (and awarded) actress who played a handful of Sondheim musicals on and off the West End (I saw her at the Menier) and knew Sondheim.
The first half closed with a beautiful rendition and staging of the first act closing number (‘Sunday’) from ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ where the Chorus’ black shirts were shed to reveal ‘pointillist’ Hawaian garb as a salute to the artist at the centre of the play (Jenna Russell reprising her Olivier Award winning role in the West End).
Sondheim’s comedy was well served in these stagings and it is not to downplay Jenna Russell’s amazing contribution to say that she appeared not the only professional to be singing at the Cadogan.
I cannot urge you to see it, that boat has sailed, but if you like Choral singing – catch more of the LGMC’s concerts.