Sondheim scores

The Fair Oaks Theatre Festival switches gears, following their family-oriented Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella with less pageantry and a more adult aesthetic. Side by Side by Sondheim, in this case with double the vocalists used in this year’s earlier local production, is a fast-paced romp through the last four decades’ worth of the best of Broadway.

A cabaret setting doesn’t take away from the theatricality. A number like “Barcelona,” performed by Analise Langford-Clark and Kenneth S. Figeroid, is an entire drama in one song, as is “Can That Boy Foxtrot,” a risqué (and hilarious) duet by Deane Calvin and Dan Slauson.

It’s in the sly double-entendre that Stephen Sondheim’s gifts as a humorous lyricist abound. Calvin’s versatility with material both serious (“Send in the Clowns”) and light (“I’m Still Here”) is reason enough to shell out fifteen bucks for this show. She makes numbers like “You Must Meet My Wife” (a duet with Figeroid) work in spite of the cabaret-style staging. The club atmosphere is fine for love songs, but funny stuff takes more work; it’s the nature of musical theater.

But the funny stuff is memorable: Slauson’s bow-tied riff in “Buddy’s Blues,” Langford-Clark’s breathless run in “Getting Married Today” (accompanied by a some fantastic set-ups from the golden-throated Brianne Hidden), and a wildly campy take on Gypsy’s “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” in which Hidden is joined by Joe Hart, narrator Raymond Keller, a trumpet and a couple of buzzing light sticks.

While it’s hard to miss with Sondheim, this production has plenty added to make it a great night out for grown-ups.