In the intimate cabaret venue of the St. James Theatre Studio, another of Sondheim’s revues is making its mark. Marry Me a Little is made up of Sondheim’s ‘lost’ songs from previous shows, which budding playwright Craig Lucas fitted into a two-hand revue back in the 70s. The seventeen songs that were chosen now make up a song cycle featuring two young adults alone in their different apartments on a Saturday night.

The no-narrative show is a very intimate look at relationships – from new and exciting ones to failing and withering ones, to failed and deceased ones – and what both Laura Pitt-Pulford and Simon Bailey manage to do excellently is progress from one stage of the relationship to the next seamlessly.

Whilst this type of show works well in the close surroundings of the studio, the set, which functions as two apartments on different floors, feels a little clunky. A large bookshelf, sofa, table and grand piano fill the stage, leaving not much room for the performers – although this doesn’t stop some snippets of choreography by Nick Winston. The choppy direction never lets the performance feel flat, and the performers themselves – Bailey and Pitt-Pulford – hold the show magnificently. They both manage to squeeze in a range of brilliant performances into a neat 60 minute show.

Pitt-Pulford excels with the jazzier numbers, her vocal range being shown off brilliantly during ‘The Girls of Summer’, and her comic abilities especially showcased during ‘Can That Boy Foxtrot!’, which was originally cut from Follies. Simon Bailey provides a rockier vocal but also exudes a real sense of comic timing, especially during ‘Pour Le Sport’, which has been cleverly updated to include playing golf on a video game in a cramped New York apartment – a great touch by director Hannah Chissick, who sticks to the naturalistic design approach. Both of these musical veterans are completely at ease with the speed of  the songs and the fast-paced narrative that the show demands, while musical director David Randall plays the evening’s accompaniment on the on-stage piano masterfully.

At some points you begin to wish there were small snippets of dialogue, but then another song begins and settles those initial yearnings – of course, here it is Sondheim’s masterful writing that propels the evening. For fans of Sondheim, this is a perfect blend of his work with first-rate performances in a great intimate setting.

Marry Me a Little is playing the St. James Theatre Studio until 10 August. For more information and tickets, see the St. James Theatre website.

Photo by Roy Tan.