Marry Me A Little. Songs by Stephen Sondheim. Conceived by Craig Lucas & Norman Rene. The Stage Door Theatre, Prince of Wales pub 150 Drury Lane, London WC2b to 13 April 2024.

5✩✩✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“An enchanting evening beautifully sung”

This splendid production of Sondheim’s mini-musical – it runs for an hour – made from songs dropped from other shows is the first production in this new dinner optional theatre which, if it carries on as it has begun, should be a welcome addition to the West End fringe. Directed with style and the necessary precision by Robert McWhirr, because if things go wrong it could be a messy affair, Lucas and Rene came up with the idea of two lonely New Yorkers sitting alone in their apartments on a Saturday night bemoaning their plight in song. It has been staged in various versions – there have been a same sex couple, sometimes it has been two couples and sometimes the pair do meet at the end. But not here. We have just a Man and a Woman. Played and sung beautifully by Markus Sodergren and Shelley Rivers the lonely hearts, who live on different floors of the same apartment building, never meet. The show’s gimmick of having them perform simultaneously in the same set is not a new one but it was inspired by Lucas and Rene to use it as the basis for this mini musical/ song cycle Sondheim show. It is hugely effective, but it the risk factor is that they must never intrude on the other’s space as they sit on the sofa, prepare for bed, empty the fridge, knock back a drink or two or watch television or look out the window at the world where it is all happening - if things went wrong it would be disastrous as it would be funny and shatter the mood totally. The skill with which they avoid a clash – what they actually do, quite apart from the songs used, is for the director to decide - adds to the impetus of this enchanting evening . The songs selected have varied in production since the show was first staged off Broadway in 1980 so presumably what one gets from songs cut from other shows like Company, Evening Primrose, Follies and Anyone Can Whistle, is what McWhir wanted to use. One pleasure of the evening is that neither Rivers nor Sodergren is miked, the acoustics of the room being perfectly attuned to the human voice. They also create perfectly rounded late twenty somethings on the shelf for no good reason, Aaron Clingham at the keyboards provides superb backing and the set by David Shields could just be what either character’s one room flat would have looked like. Add that it is a West End night out that will not require taking out a loan to afford and this is as good as it gets.

Cast

Shelley Rivers – Woman.

Markus Sodergren – Man.

Creatives

Director – Robert McWhir.

Musical Director – Aaron Clingham.

Designer – David Shields.

Lighting – Richard Lambert.