Being Alive: The Music of Stephen Sondheim (Hayes) ★★★

Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Hayes Theatre Company. 25 Jun – 12 Jul, 2025.

Being Alive, the new Sondheim revue at the Hayes Theatre, pulls together a quixotic assortment of the great man’s tunes – from fan favourites to some more obscure entries – to explore the broad strokes of life.

Despite having overseen a number of revues of his own material, the majority of Sondheim’s songs are notoriously ill-suited to cabaret presentations – the lyrics are usually so tightly tied to specific plots and characters that they make little sense outside their original shows. As such, large chunks of Being Alive are aimed squarely at musical theatre fans who need no introduction to the plot mechanics of songs like “Color and Light” (Sunday in the Park with George), “The Ballad of Guiteau” (Assassins), “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Ocean” or “Someone in a Tree” (Pacific Overtures).

Highlights of the night include a new boy-band-infused arrangement of “Losing My Mind / You Could Drive a Person Crazy” (Follies & Company) that will delight or infuriate with its sheer cheek, a melancholic blend of weepies “Send in the Clowns / Not While I’m Around” (A Little Night Music & Sweeney Todd), and a terrific rendition of “The Gun Song” (Assassins).

Raphael Wong’s sonorous baritone is an easy standout among this excellent cast of four (it’s great to hear him tackle more challenging music than his show-stealing turn in Sister Act: The Musical). Lincoln Elliott’s voice has the kind of crisp specificity required to handle Sondheim’s trickier lyrics. Blazey Best, no stranger to bringing the house to tears with Sondheim’s songs, hits the peaks with “Witch’s Lament” (Into the Woods). Kala Gare is slightly underserved in the shuffle, but shines with the titular “Being Alive” (Company).

Things get rockier whenever the music stops. Between songs, we’re given a string of oblique literary quotes about humanity—from Carl Jung to Ursula K. Le Guin. These syrupy, self-serious moments clash awkwardly with hammy attempts at comedy. It’s the show’s weakest element by far. The lack of a set or costume designer is obvious and keenly felt; the staging is clearly in need of some love and attention. Being Alive would have worked far better as a simple concert performance.

Thankfully the onstage talents and the power of Stephen Sondheim’s storytelling are first class. We will be forever grateful that Sondheim left behind a legacy of exquisite, insightful, challenging, and richly textured works for us to pore over. When even his notorious flops, like Merrily We Roll Along, can be reinvented into award-winning gold, and his more obscure shows contain musical gems, Sondheim’s place on the musical theatre pedestal is assured.

Now we just need a Hayes production of Passion… oh, and Road Show… and an Australian premiere of Here We Go… and the gender-flipped Company…  and a revival of Assassins…