Bergen Baker and Max Wojtanowicz Photo by Angie Carlson

Lucas and René's premise for Marry Me a Little was to place one woman and one man alone in separate apartments in the same building, pining for companionship. The sentiment is established with the opening "Saturday Night," with neither knowing that the other was only a floor away. For the next hour, Bergen (identified simply as The Woman) and Wojtanowicz (as The Man) enact sixteen musical numbers–a few being mash-ups of paired songs–either singly or as duets. The commonality among the songs is their reflection on the qualities of romantic couplings. The songs show couple-hood in a variety of lights, from hopeful ( "A Moment with You") to sentimental ("Who Could Be Blue?") to rueful ("It Wasn't Meant to Happen") to wistful ("Rainbows") to cynical ("Ah, But Underneath").

Sondheim long was viewed as having cynicism baked into his work, a reputation which, over time, has been modulated by the changing lens through which we conceive of relationships. In the context of the prescribed roles and societal norms of the fifties and sixties, it's easy to see Sondheim as a cynic. Over the next few decades, as those roles blurred and old norms lost their power to control the narrative, Sondheim's work began to feel less like the whining of a cynic and more like the wisdom of a truthteller. It is notable that, with one exception, the most recent of the shows for which the songs in Marry Me a Little are drawn, A Little Night Music, premiered in 1973, so these songs pre-date the social changes soon to follow. Many of them do, though, reflect the arguments that spurred those changes.

In any case, the Man and the Woman in Marry Me a Little wish for company to get them through this Saturday night, and maybe through the next week, or year, or decade or their entire life but, as the songs reveal, are also aware of the odds that any given partner will prove to be wrong for them, or that the person who shines at first glance will turn out to be someone very different upon closer inspection, or that they are too unsure of themselves and prone to becoming what the other person wants them to be. They are frightened of what price they may pay, what pain they may endure, or what aggravation they may suffer. Most of the songs present the prospect of making a connection as either a wistful pipe dream ("All Things Bright and Beautiful") or an exercise in detachment ("Can That Boy Foxtrot!").

They have been told to ignore their worries and dive into the pool. And, at least in some of these songs, they really try to, pushing past their doubts and fears to embrace that elusive happiness that has been promised to them. "Marry Me a Little" conveys this perfectly–asking for permission to connect with that special person just enough to reap all the benefits without having to shoulder the burdens: "We won't go too deep, we won't go too far; we won't have to give up a thing, we'll stay who we are: I'm ready." That song, coming early in the show, is an apt reference point for the closing song, "Being Alive" (which was not cut from Company and is probably the best-known song from its score). In "Being Alive," the singer acknowledges the tradeoffs–"Someone to hold you too close, someone to hurt you too deep, someone to sit in your chair, to ruin your sleep"–but instead of those being reasons to resist, they become the portals to genuine feeling, to attaining those deep connections "Marry Me a Little" hopes to avoid.

One can easily fall down a rabbit hole trying to find meanings, connections, progression, and such in the songs of Stephen Sondheim, and Marry Me a Little offers plenty of opportunity for that. However, the show doesn't strain to lay out those arguments, it simply delivers the songs, replete with Sondheim's effervescent wit, as in "Live Alone and Like It," a jaunty tune not included in the original Marry Me a Little. This is the one exception mentioned above, written for the 1990 movie Dick Tracy, hence it is reflective of changing norms, as the choice to live a single life begins to be viewed as an acceptable option.

As Max Wojtanowicz enacted "Live Alone and Like It," you could almost believe that he meant it, but he insinuatet a sense of working extra hard to convince us, undermining his case. I use the verb "enacted" rather than "sang," because all of these songs are a bit of a story in themselves. As called for, they were given emotional depth, as when Bergen expressed her character's conflicted psyche in "Multitudes of Amys" (cut from Company) or arch sarcasm, as when the pair tossed out bon mots during a round of golf in "Pour Le Sport" from an unproduced musical called Last Resorts, written by a Sondheim in 1956.

The two performers delivered superb renditions of every number in the show, whatever emotional tone, from melancholy to snark, was called for. Musically, they seemed to come from different realms. While Baker has a beautifully crystalline mezzo soprano and Wojtanowicz an expressive baritone, Baker's performance base was the arena of opera while Wojtanowicz's was musical theatre, which sets them apart. In their duets, the difference kept their harmonies from feeling fully blended. Of course, this also serveed to underscore the reservations each character has about connecting with the "wrong" person.

Musical director James Barnett provided the lovely and lilting piano accompaniment. The staging is simple but never static, with stage director Nikki Swoboda keeping her cast of two moving–now apart, now together–in accord with the story being told by each of their songs. The spare set featured an old-fashioned pink velvet sofa midstage and an enormous full moon. What more does one need for romance to blossom? Mike Grogan's lighting followed the pair's movements well, and a clever conceit had a pair of old-fashioned end tables and lamps, of a piece with the sofa, suddenly appear to provide additional mood-enhancing lighting.

This Marry Me a Little was a thoroughly pleasant evening, with the delight of hearing Sondheim songs–several of which were new to me, so there's a bonus!–brought to life by two engaging performers. The premise of isolated people unable to connect with one another or, upon making a connection, disconnecting in terror, provides a suitable platform for the songs, but really, it is the songs themselves, each a little gem, that are the main attraction. In my book, that is more than enough.

Marry Me a Little was presented by Skylark Opera Theatre from August 8 through August 11, 2024, at the Crane Theater, 2303 Kennedy Street N.E., Minneapolis MN. For more information, please visit skylarkopera.org or call 612-548-1379.

Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim; Conceived and Developed by: Craig Lucas and Norman René; Director: Nikki Swoboda; Music Director and Accompanist: James Barnett; Lighting Design: Mike Grogan; Stage Manager: Alyssa Rachel Lantow.

Cast: Bergen Baker (The Woman), Max Wojtanowicz (The Man).