News of a vaccine has given the world an encouraging glimpse to an end of this relentless wait. Still, projections for a return to even a semblance of normalcy remain distant. The suffering, death and damage will persist for months to come. For those in industries and fields flattened by the economic toll of this pandemic, survival is becoming less and less sure. In the arts community, fund raising has ratcheted up to near wartime levels. Everyone is looking for creative ways to offer entertaining salable content that people can watch and listen to from the relative comfort of their homes.
For us on the consuming end, this is tough. Options proliferate and choosing between an outright gift to a dance company, performance venue or theatrical troupe and subscribing to a single or multiple performance opportunities is far from easy. Virtual performances may pale in comparison to live events but they are at least enough of a panacea to mildly pacify our craving for the real thing. From that vantage point, 54 Below’s Sondheim Unplugged, depending on your tastes, could be considered a little bit priceless.
It’ll help if you like musicals, supper clubs, piano, Sondheim and people with Rolls Royce voices. Located in the cellar at 254 W. 54th St in Manhattan, Feinstein’s 54 Below can justifiably be called swank. Beautifully outfitted to radiate the feel of a classy and cozy 1920’s supper club; complete with upholstered red leather booths and golden glows, it’s one of those rare and special places where you can slide down from hectic streets to bathe serenely in the soothing sounds of music.
At the end of December, the restaurant/cabaret premiered Sondheim Unplugged where several artists, each performing individually and accompanied by a lone pianist, sing through the large and sumptuous canon of one of America’s greatest composer/lyricists. It had originally been estimated that up to 80 entertainers would be rotating through the stage by the time the program was set to end on January 9th. Since the Sondheim show has been extended to January 23rd, that number will likely increase.
One recent weekend’s lineup delivered everything you could wish for in a setting that felt as peaceful as a late-night stroll on secluded beach. You can do yourself a big favor and make an extra effort to maximize your personal comfort should you choose to “attend” one of the shows. The bigger the screen and the more welcoming your easy chair, the more you’re going to enjoy the illusion of being at the club. Soft lighting and a delicious cocktail won’t hurt either.
Hosted by Phil Geoffrey Bond, whose fearsome knowledge of the musical stage; coupled with a delivery style that carried whiffs of breezy raconteur, made set-ups to the evening’s song list as entertaining as the music itself. Mostly, it just reinforced what you already knew; Sondheim is a genius, a prolific musical wizard whose creativity has the force of Vesuvius.
With Joe Goodrich on piano, six singers leisurely sauntered through both the less and the very well-known of the Sondheim songbook. From Company, West Side Story, Dick Tracey, Follies, Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George, the musical odyssey touched on the sublime, the commonplace and the glorious.
As a venue, this virtual experience turns out to be a wonderful opportunity to see in solo performance the individual talent that fuels Broadway’s electrifying irresistibility. You’d be hard pressed to call out a favorite performer from the evening. Lucia Spina, Nicholas Rodriguez, Darius de Haas, Natalie Douglas, T. Oliver Reed and Telly Leung may not be names that carry the same recognition as a Bernadette Peters or an André De Shields; but they too are Broadway veterans with formidable musical gifts that were gleaming on a recent Saturday night. Watching and listening to them melt into the material to more fully reveal the beauty of each song felt like a gift. One that you might be tempted to repeat more than once before Sondheim Unplugged leaves at the end of the month.
54 Below’s Sondheim Unplugged
On demand
$25
through January 23, 2020
