Review Theatre: Songs of Stephen Sondheim | Pizza on the Park | love and hate

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The Review - THEATRE by SEBASTIAN TAYLOR
Published: 23 October 2008

The songs of love and hate

REVIEW: SONGS OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Pizza on the Park

AMERICAN cabaret singer Steve Ross is back at the Pizza on the Park again this week for another display of his studied virtuosity on the piano and in song.
His new programme Good Thing Going: Songs of Stephen Sondheim and More is well balanced. The first half dips into classics drawn from the golden age of Broadway and Hollywood musicals, starting out with Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band and ending with several songs associated with Fred Astaire.
Devotion to good diction is one of Ross’s great attributes. So he’s able to deliver the tongue-twisting lines of the title number of Cole Porter’s Can Can in a way that every word can be clearly heard.
The second half is devoted to the songs of Stephen Sondheim, the modern flag-bearer of American music theatre, says Ross.
There’s some early obscure numbers followed by a variety of favourites from Follies, Sweeney Todd and Company.
His choice seeks to illustrate how Sondheim exploits the complexities and contradictions of being in love, wanting to be in love, loathing being in love, etc.
Some interesting lyrics supported by great music writing delivered with delightful panache by Ross in full flight.
Until October 26
08456 027 017

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