Birthday Concert, with Vroman, Salutes Sondheim in San Francisco, Dec. 5

By: BWW News Desk Nov. 07, 2005

Stephen Sondheim's birthday cake will once again be lit up on December 5th. A new tribute concert called Simply Sondheim--A 75th Birthday Salute will be performed at the Jewish Community Center of Kanbar Hall (3200 California Street at Presidio) in San Francisco on December 5th at 7:30 PM.

With funds to benefit the Mary Mason Memorial Lemonade Fund, the concert will boast performances by Lisa Vroman (The Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd in Concert), Judy Butterfield, James Brewer, Amy Dondy, Kelly Ground, Hannah Rose Kornfeld, Stephanie Rhoads, Steve Rhyne, Shay Oglesby-Smith, Kim Larsen and Tom Orr. Peter L. Stein and Lauren Mayer, who write Sondheim parodies, will also be featured in the concert. Tom Segal will direct and David Dobrusky is set to provide musical direction.

In addition to Sondheim standards, a number of obscure numbers will be performed. Butterfield will sing "I'm in Love with a Boy," which was penned in 1946--when Sondheim was 16. The living legend turned 75 on March 22nd. An array of other birthday tribute concerts, including Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Space and evenings at the New Amsterdam Theatre and the Hollywood Bowl, preceded the San Francisco concert.

The career of Stephen Sondheim, who is considered by many to be the greatest living composer-lyricist of musicals, has spanned almost 50 years since his Broadway debut in 1957 as the lyricist of West Side Story. After also penning the lyrics to Gypsy (with a return to mere lyric-writing for 1965's Do I Hear a Waltz?), Sondheim went on to write the scores for a litany of shows that challenged musical theatre conventions in theme, content and structure. Among his shows are A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins and Passion.

His latest musical, Bounce, closed out of town in DC before making it to Broadway but an expanded, limited-run production of 1974's The Frogs bowed last year at Lincoln Center to favorable reviews. After recent Broadway productions of Assassins and Pacific Overtures, a recently opened, high-concept revival of Sweeney Todd is a critical hit at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

Tickets for the concert are $60, and are available by calling (415) 292-1233. Visit www.jccsf.com for more information.

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Birthday Concert, with Vroman, Salutes Sondheim in San Francisco, Dec. 5

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