Photos: SWINGIN' WITH THE MUSIC OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM at Feinstein's/54 Below

The Swingin' With company played 54 Below on March 10th with their tribute to the late Stephen Sondheim. Led by bandleader Pablo Rossil, the Swingin' With shows take famous music and give it a new jazzy spin, and on this occasion, Mr. Rossil curated a group of four actors with strong associations to Mr. Sondheim, one singer with a hot new Sondheim album, and a hotter-than-fire band and presented one song from every musical for which Mr. Sondheim did the words and the music, beginning with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and ending with the 2004 production of The Frogs.

The band even took the center spot for two numbers, one from Pacific Overtures and one from Road Show. Mr. Rossil gave each guest some time to discuss their experience working with Mr. Sondheim on their particular show - Patrick Cassidy created the role of The Balladeer in the original Assassins, Ann Morrison was the first-ever Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along, Sarah Rice was THE Joanna in Sweeney Todd, and Ramona Mallory didn't just play Ann Egerman in the revival of A Little Night Music, her parents were Victoria Mallory and Mark Lambert, the original Ann Egerman and Henrik Egerman when Night Music opened on Broadway in 1973.

For her part, Eleri Ward discussed the resounding success of her acoustic Sondheim album A Perfect Little Death. The cast of six was charming, engaging, professional, and blissfully off-book (a growing rarity in group shows) and the band, made up of Nick Petrillo (piano), Dan Finn (bass), Chris Latona (drums), Summer Camargo (trumpet), Chris Lewis (reeds), and Ilai Macaggi (trombone), was sensational.

Find other shows to see on the 54 Below website HERE.

Visit the "Swingin' With" website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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