Musical Puts Hit Songs Together

“Putting It Together” is the musical theater equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster. Just as Igor was dispatched to gather brains, arms, and legs from graves, so too does writer Stephen Sondheim pull together parts of other works to form a completely new whole. Opening tonight in the Loeb Experimental Theater, this revue of Sondheim’s work aptly combines songs from disparate musicals to form a “Reader’s Digest” of his oeuvre. For the director and cast, it’s simultaneously a simple, bountiful musical buffet and a complicated structural feat.

The show, Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s first production of the semester, amounts to much more than the gaudy, corporate-mandated greatest hits parade it could have devolved into. Cast member Adam M. Lathram ’10 notes Sondheim’s creative control in praising the show’s structure: “What’s interesting is that the songs are all very different, unique, and identifiable, but somehow [Sondheim] managed to weave a story from them.”

The cast consists of only five, unnamed characters—a young couple, an older couple, and a mysterious observer—who convene for one night at a penthouse cocktail party. There’s little dialogue. Single words, spoken by the observer, motivate the transitions from song to song. Fortunately, every actor in the cast is or has been a member of a Harvard a capella group, so they’re up to the vocal challenge.

Lathram is joined by fellow HRDC veterans Christine K.L. Bendorf ’10, Matthew I. Bohrer ’10, Walter B. Klyce III ’10, and Jordan A. Reddout ’10. This cast is especially seasoned when it comes to Sondheim. 2008’s “Sweeney Todd” featured not only Lathram and Bendorf, but also the musical director of “Putting it Together,” Benjamin J. Nelson ’11. Last fall, “Assassins” showcased Bohrer, Klyce, and director Stewart N. Kramer ’12.

For Kramer, who will helm the Dunster House Opera in February, “Putting It Together” marks his directorial debut. The most recent major revival of “Putting It Together,” which opened on Broadway 10 years ago, was a disappointment to him, sacrificing meaning in favor of cuteness and kitsch. “I know kitsch is sometimes unavoidable in musical theater,” he jests, “but I try to avoid it as much as possible.” For Kramer, the greatest challenge of this production was interpreting the narrative created by this sequence of songs, considering the context of each in its original show as well as its place in this one.

Another difficulty faced by the production staff is their quickly approaching opening date. Klyce acknowledges the difficulties of their timeslot, saying, “[Producing a show] so early in the year can be very hit or miss.” Smiling as he corrects himself, he adds, “But this one’s not a miss. It’s a hit.” Wary of the complications of scheduling rehearsals amidst classes, extracurriculars, and other auditions, the cast convened at the house of producer Megan M. Savage ’10 for a few days in August to discuss the show and learn the music.

The title of the show is taken from a song in “Sunday in the Park with George,” which appears in the first act. The songs Sondheim chose for “Putting It Together” come from both monster hits like “Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and lesser known works like “The Frogs,” a critical success that failed to gain a popular following. As Klyce puts it, “Some of the songs [in ‘Putting It Together’] you’ll know and love, the rest will make you think, ‘This is a great song, why haven’t I heard it before?’”

As fundamentally fragmented as the play’s structure may be, however, Kramer and his talented cast seem more than capable of pulling it off. Regardless of how it will be ultimately welded together, it is undeniable that they’re working with some rich ore.

Kramer, perhaps, sums it up best: “Sondheim is fantastic. This is a given.”