Michelle F. Solomon, ATCA, FFCC

Palm Beach Dramaworks closed out its final weekend of A Little Night Music (which was to take its final bow on July 19, but was extended to July 26 and rightly so), but there's another fantastic concert work just around the corner with 110 in the Shade.

The full-length concert presentations at Palm Beach Dramaworks are delightful and with a minimalist approach — musicals are presented with the book and the score intact. There is limited musical accompaniment and not much in the way of staging and set design.

Previous performances of the summer concert series included Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella, Kander & Ebb's Zorba, George Furth and Stephen Sondheim's Company, musical theater standards Man of La Mancha and Camelot.

Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim's 1973 A Little Night Music, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, is a perfect selection for a concert series since it is basically a chamber opera.

Based on Ingmar Bergman's sensuous 1955 romantic comedy Smiles of a Summer Night, the book feels a bit Chekhovian in nature as its plot chronicles various infidelities during a weekend in the country in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden.

For PBD's concert series, actors hold scripts, musical stands are propped about the stage, there is little to no set design. Video projections in this Night Music created the atmosphere  — a lush garden of flowers, a nighttime romantic scene of a  hanging moon, all created by Sean Lawson. The musicians sat on stage atop a sort of wooden turnstile that would move slightly – the extent of the stage design by Dustin Hamilton.

The talented trio (sometimes a quartet when one of the chorus singers, Georgia Mallory Guy, doubled on oboe), musical director Kevin David Thomas, Christopher Glandorp on cello and Phil McArthur on violin, created full sounds that made one forget that there wasn't full-orchestral accompaniment. Tastefully done in keeping with the minimalist effort were the era-inspired costumes by Linda C. Shorrock, which helped to establish the setting, too.

There was so much talent packed into one cast, both acting and vocal, that soon into the two-act concert, it was easy to forget that there wasn't a set and orchestra. The actors knew the score and their lines so well that even on opening night they kept scripts close at hand for, perhaps, security, but there was nary a glance.

Director Lynnette Barkley is to credit for the way the actors glided, moved and danced around the stage, and that their full investment was evident in each scene to create a full effect.

Kim Cozort Kay plays Desiree Armfelt, the aging actress who spends her days traversing the country headlining a second-rate touring troupe.

There wasn't a peep (nor a dry eye) in the audience during the mezzo soprano's singing of the most popular song from the show, Send in the Clowns.

William Michals as lawyer Fredrik Egerman portrays a man faced with a mid-life crisis. His former romance with Desiree creates a rift in his new marriage to his young wife, the virgin Anne (a fantastically talented Lillie Ricciarrdi).  Other players who complicate matters throughout are: Count Carl-Magnus (the imposing Aloysius Gigl), Desiree's current flame, and his wife Charlotte (the perfectly dry Ruthie Stephens), Desiree's wealthy mother Leonora (veteran actress Joy Franz, who commands the stage in every scene she's in — what a pleasure to be in the presence of her talent), and minister-to-be Henrik, Fredrik's dour son (wonderfully captured in all of his guises by Clay Cartland).

Cristina Flores as the Egerman's maid, Petra, captures beautifully one of the best songs that arrives late in the second act – a typical Sondheim story-themed tune about what a peasant girl dreams of, The Miller's Son. Catherine League as Desiree's daughter, Frederika, doesn't have much to do, but the actress finds something in the part to be an integral part of the action.

The aforementioned Guy, Brittany Baratz, Angela Miller, Alex Jorth and Matthew Korinko are the sturdy and dependable quintet of lieder singers. Although they are background as a Greek chorus, each makes a sizeable contribution.

Night Music was so enchanting on a summer night, we're ready for Shade up next. 110 in the Shade, which opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks on Friday, Aug. 14  at 8 p.m. and runs through Aug. 23.

With lyrics by Tom Jones, music by Harvey Schmidt (you may recognize those names from the legendary The Fantasticks). N. Richard Nash wanted to make a musical out of his play The Rainmaker and approached Schmidt and Jones.

110 in the Shade is described by PBD as a richly evocative and touching musical about desperation, desire, and hope.

Clive Cholerton directs the PBD concert with choreography by Michelle Petrucci, and musical direction by Howard Breitbart.

The production stars Jessica Hershberg, last season's Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella, as Lizzie; William Parry, who had the title role in the 2014 concert production of Zorba!, as Lizzie's father, H.C. Curry; Cooper Grodin, who recently played the title role in a national tour of Phantom of the Opera, as Starbuck; and Shane R.Tanner, Herman in Fella, as File, the emotionally damaged sheriff who is in love with Lizzie.

The cast also features Clay Cartland,   Nick Duckart, Stephanie White, Lauren Bell, Nikki Allred Boyd, Chris Brand, Alex Jorth, and Matthew Korinko. Scenic design is by Dustin Hamilton, costume design is by Linda C. Shorrock, lighting design is by Thomas Shorrock, and sound design is by Richard Szczublewski.

 

A Little Night Music plays its final performances this weekend on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, July 26 at 2 p.m.

110 in the Shade will play 14 performances, including a specially priced preview on Thursday, Aug. 13. Evening performances are Wednesday through Saturday at  8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.; matinees are Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $42.

Performances are in The Don & Ann Brown Theater, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, Ticket info (561) 514-4042 Ext. 2, or www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.