‘Side by Side by Sondheim’
Presented by Readers Theatre Plus
Show: 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, May 29-30, and June 5-6; 2:30 p.m. Sundays, May 31 and June 7.
Where: Sunland Golf & Country Club, 109 Hilltop Drive
Tickets: $12 in advance at Sequim Spice & Tea, Purple Haze Lavender; also, Odyssey Books in Port Angeles; $15 at door
Directed by: Carol Swarbrick Dries; Music direction: Linda Dowdell
Features: Ric Munhall, Janice Parks, Jim Dries and Swarbrick Dries and Dowdell and Darrell Plank on piano.
Music and lyrics: Stephen Sondheim, plus music by Leonard Bernstein, Mary Rodgers, Richard Rodgers and Jule Styne
Sequim Gazette staff
Twelve years later and Stephen Sondheim is making a comeback in Sequim.
Readers Theare Plus presents “Side by Side by Sondheim,” a musical revue at Sunland Golf & Country Club’s Clubhouse from May 29-31 and June 5-7. The performances serve as the group’s annual fundraiser with silent auction items and a raffle to pay production costs of their other plays year-round benefiting local non-profit, non-religious and non-partisan groups.
“Side by Side by Sondheim” has some history in Sequim with it serving as the last show performed in the Howard Wood Theater, now above Doodlebugs, 12 years ago. Now Readers Theatre Plus is bringing it back similarly to its run on Broadway — with three singers, two pianos and one narrator.
Some of Sondheim’s finest songs come to the stage together from “Gypsy,” “West Side Story,” “Company,” “A Little Night Music” and many more.
“We are so excited to bring ‘Side by Side by Sondheim’ back to the peninsula,” said director Carol Swarbrick Dries. “Stephen Sondheim gives such a sensitive voice to the human dilemma. Our cast of professional actor/singers and accompanists promises to bring that sensitive voice to life for our audiences.”
This production features Janice Parks, Ric Munhall, Jim Dries and Swarbrick Dries singing and Linda Dowdell directing music and playing piano with Darrell Plank.
Swarbrick Dries starred in the show on Broadway and has directed and performed in it several times since then.
She said the smaller cast gives the audience a chance to better get to know each of the singers and the material.
Readers Theatre Plus is a group of troubadours that produces staged readings as benefits for local non-profits. Local businesses and artists are encouraged to donate a service, art, or craft to the annual auction with donations all tax-deductible. For more information, visit readerstheatreplus.com.
