And the Sondheim shows keep on coming! Given the endless stream of revues and full-on revivals, you’d think he was the only Broadway composer worth paying attention to. There’s a saturation point for everything, and Sondheimania is looking at it.
But maybe the latest compilation of his tunes, “A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair,” would add an icing of novelty on a familiar cake. After all, this Encores! production is souped-up by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Stephen Sondheim doesn’t swing like George Gershwin and Cy Coleman, so this was an interesting experiment.
But while the concept is daring, the execution is timid — even, at times, downright bland. The new orchestrations are pleasingly brassy but conservative — nothing remotely comparable to, say, John Coltrane’s 14-minute version of “My Favorite Things.” And the singers are mostly from the Broadway world, so they perform in the expected Broadway style.
Of course, when said style is done by Bernadette Peters, you pay attention.
The evening’s biggest payoff is her take on “Broadway Baby” and “The Ladies Who Lunch.” She’s slyly funny on the first and makes the second sound fresh by trading the customary roaring anger for sad resignation. Through sheer personality, acting skills and showbiz chops, Peters single-handedly rescues the show from cocktail-lounge hell.
Norm Lewis (“Porgy and Bess,” TV’s “Scandal”) and Jeremy Jordan (“Newsies”) are serviceable but lack any sense of passion or urgency. At least Lewis does debonair well, even if it wears thin quickly. Jordan sounds half-asleep half the time, delivering lifeless versions of “Another Hundred People” and “Losing My Mind.”
The lone performer from the jazz world is Cyrille Aimée, a French-born newcomer who scats nimbly but has little vocal personality and doesn’t seem to realize that lyrics tell stories.
To frame the show, director John Doyle (“Sweeney Todd,” “Company”) simply has the singers pair off in evolving couples. This doesn’t add up to a whole lot, but it’s innocuous enough. Still, we could have done without the quartet of dancers who shadow the singers, performing Parker Esse’s cruise-ship choreography.
At this point, you have to wonder what’s the next frontier for Sondheim. A cover album by Miley Cyrus?