Porter's Sondheim Revue Being Alive Begins in CT 8/24

Westport Country Playhouse will bring the legendary talents of Stephen Sondheim to its stage with Being Alive, a world premiere musical revue, August 24 through September 9. Sondheim served as an apprentice at the Playhouse in 1950. 

The new work, conceived and directed by award-winning musical theatre performer Billy Porter (Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Grease, Smokey Joe's Cafe) will combine music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim with text by William Shakespeare.

"For Being Alive, Porter has jazzed, blues'ed and hipped Sondheim's songs, creating a completely new perspective on classics including 'Anyone Can Whistle,' 'Send in the Clowns,' 'Children Will Listen' and 'Being Alive,' woven together with Shakespeare's eloquence," state press notes.

"The concept came to Porter's mind nearly 10 years ago when he saw something at a benefit performance that he thought 'was just electric:' Sondheim's music paired with the balcony scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. According to Porter, there was something about this blend of wildly different works of theatre art that made him sit up and take notice," state press notes.

"I remembered that, and so that's sort of how it came about," Porter said. "I wanted to tell a story that was universal, and the themes in Shakespeare and the themes in Sondheim are....We're revisiting the interpretation of the material, so now it is not just the original versions of the songs," Porter noted.  "They are funneled through the African-American musical idiom, which is the other element, I think, that makes it pop off of the page. 

Cast members of Being Alive are Natalie Venetia Belcon, who was in Broadway's Tony Award-winning Avenue Q; Chuck Cooper, who received the Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in The Life and an Audelco Award for Caroline, or Change; Joshua Henry, who was in In the Heights; N'Kenge, who received an Arizoni Award nomination for the title role in Aida and a Helen Hayes Award nomination for 3 Mo' Divas; Leslie Odom, Jr., who was in Rent; Ken Robinson, who appeared in Ain't Misbehavin' and Jelly's Last Jam; and Rema Webb, who is currently in The Lion King.

The production team for "Being Alive" includes AC Ciulla (Footloose), musical staging; James Sampliner (Legally Blonde), music supervisor; Mark Berman (Rent), music director; Allen Moyer (Grey Gardens), set design; Anita Yavich (Anna in the Tropics), costume design; Kevin Adams (Spring Awakening), lighting design; and Brett Jarvis (Kiki and Herb: Alive on Broadway), sound design.

Stephen Sondheim's career has spanned nearly 50 years.  Along the way he has won seven Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, an Academy Award and a 1993 Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award.  His many musicals include Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Assassins, and Passion.

The Playhouse is located in Westport, CT.  Visit www.westportplayhouse.org for more information.

Photo by Kathleen O'Rourke - from left, bottom row, Ken Robinson, N'Kenge and Joshua Henry; top row, Leslie Odom, Jr., Natalie Venetia Belcon, Chuck Cooper, Rema Webb and Billy Porter

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