Sondheim: Smiles of a Summer Night

I am going! I am really looking forward to this concert.

I'll be there. I look like my profile pic so stop by and say Hola - I don't bite, well not unless you want me to

I was going to wear some headgear but "does anyone still wear a hat?"

I'm going. Front stalls but I don't know the exact seat number. No, I don't look like my profile pic!

londonmzfitz & I found ourselves sitting next-but-one to each other tonight in the front row. I didn't spot any board badges though & I think the other people that looked familiar in the audience I recognised from other events rather than profile pics on here. On the tube afterwards I then bumped into 2 actors I'm acquainted with who'd also been there so plenty of coincidences!

I thought the concert was excellent, though from my seat it was over-amplified at times. Amplifying the orchestra seemed unnecessary in a venue the size of Cadogan Hall.

Highlight for me included:
Laura Pitt-Pulford singing both my favourite songs from Into The Woods, Children Will Listen and You Are Not Alone.
Lucy Schaufer in everything she sang, because it's wonderful to hear an operatic voice in Sondheim, but especially a gender-swapped Johanna.
Janie Dee getting Send In The Clowns right this time (she messed it up in the ALNM concert at the Palace) & doing Not Getting Married Today brilliantly again. At the end of that number she kissed Fra Fee, who was singing opposite her, and he stayed on stage to deliver the next number, ornamented by 2 lipstick marks!
Tamsin Dowsett as Mary in Opening Doors from Merrily, which made me want to see her do the role complete as she seemed to really suit it. Having previously only seen her covering Madame Thenardier in Les Mis it was quite a difference!

That was a great concert
Lovely to hear such a large and wonderful orchestra.
Nice that Alex Parker didn't choose the normal batch of Sondheim songs and included lesser known ones. Great cast but Fra Fe and Janie Dee were my favourites.
Also great to see that the concert was so well rehearsed and not one of the singers needed to use a copy.of the score.

;-p

Actually I wear glasses in real life, having never been able to bring myself to stick something in my eyes on purpose. Though if anyone's trying to identify me in a theatre just look for the only person in the entire audience who's wearing gloves in the summer.

Well I liked Janie Dee. Getting married today was the highlight

The other soloists (with the exception of one) all had moments of excellence but it wasn't consistent. Although as we had a Vegas style Passion and a very fast Sunday (the piece is supposed to a fugue) then what can you expect?

And what was with the arrangement for Fear No More? Did I hear an off stage soprano? Eh?!

Still the orchestra sounded good

After Night Music and Putting it Together I was really looking forward to this, hey hum. I always think Sondheim is hard to place in a concert setting as the songs are so anchored in narrative. Unfortunately this performance only cemented my view