Word: sondheimer
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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This production marks the fourth annual Sondheim cabaret to benefit AIDS patient care at New England Deaconess Hospital. Judging from the masterful performances and energy displayed in Love is in the Air, another splendid Harvard tradition has taken root...
Unlike most popular music, which functions best as dance music or as the soundtrack to a video, Sondheim's works reward close listening. The rhymes are breathtaking. Whereas most lyricists are content with two words, Sondheim often rhymes three, four or, in "Two Fairy Tales," 15 words. He also plays with consonance, matching pinch, punch, pauch, pouch and pension...
...song which lasts only a few minutes, the sentiments Sondheim expresses through words and melody can be quite subtle. But with careful modulation and precise diction, the cabaret cast makes almost every song accessible. In many Harvard musicals the leads sing considerably better than the supporting cast. However, in Love is in the Air each vocalist does an impressive job, though Lynda Doctoroff stands out for her clear, powerful voice and considerable acting ability. And David Eggar, the pianist, both provides skillful accompaniment and shows his own talent during the piano solos of such songs as "Being Alive...
Director Jennifer Giering has pleasingly combined disparate elements of Sondheim's works. Solos are balanced by ensembles, slow pieces by quick ones. Some songs are utterly disheartening; in "The Miller's Son," Doctoroff earthily proclaims her intent to sample as many men as possible before she's "stuck with just one." But the gloom is immediately lifted by the hilarious "Buddy's Blues," in which Greg Schaffer complains, "you say I'm terrific, but your taste was always rotten...
Giering's interpretations of individual songs are also skillful, with a few exceptions. One feels particularly gratified to see "I Remember" done in an appropriately mournful manner, in contrast to a previous year's downright cheerful version. And Giering demonstrates her ability to distinguish between Sondheim's sensibilities and his characters'--the word "fag" is restored to its place in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" after a previous year's cabaret had censored that song...