Coinciding with Steven Sondheim’s 80th Birthday celebrations this year, here is a chance to savour the flavour of some of the best of his shows. International man-candy Brock Yurich opens the show with Invocations and Instructions to The Audience from The Frogs. Within seconds he seduces the audience and whether from his gleaming smile or muscular gravitas, soon everyone is at his mercy. Adam Woodhouse and Gregor Firth add the slightly more assured touch of the older male lead. Firth’s rendition of Marry Me A Little from Company is especially noteworthy.
The stage is brought fully to life as Veronica Horta or Gayle Telfer-Stevens tread upon it. With Sondheim, the female parts are the juiciest and most cunning. These two firing off at one another through There’s Always A Woman is sheer musical platinum. Horta’s Sooner Or Later, sung by Madonna in Dick Tracy, is marvellous.
It is Telfer-Stevens, whose Ladies Who Lunch is second only to Miss Carol Burnett’s, that steals the show. When she sings Every Day A Little Death, the whole audience feel the pain of a woman neglected and overlooked, trapped in a hopeless marriage. In balance, her Not Getting Married Today was madcap, upbeat and glorious.
The band of talented young musicians, led by Neil Somerville, are note perfect. This is the most professional and polished production of Sondheim at the Fringe ever. Go see it and let them prove themselves Worthy of your Love.
5/5 
Zander Bruce
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