Nominally,
Sondheim: Putting It Together is a sequel to the anthology show
Side by Side by Sondheim, which selected some of the composer's songs for individual performance by a small cast in a revue format. In practice, it's closer to Marry Me a Little, which attempted to build a new show out of existing
Stephen Sondheim songs. The five characters in
Putting It Together are upper-class types having a dinner party, with songs from such
Sondheim shows as Company, Follies, and Merrily We Roll Along, which treated such people prominently, interpolated into the proceedings. The songs are terrific, of course, and the cast is talented; this off-Broadway production marked
Julie Andrews' return to the theater for the first time in decades. But the story doesn't really work, and the treatment of the material is sometimes odd, as when Christopher Durang finds himself singing "I [YOU] Can Drive a Person Crazy," originally written for a female trio in Company. Nevertheless, when
Andrews takes on "Getting Married Today," it's easy to forgive all. ~ William Ruhlmann