‘Sondheim’ Musical This Weekend Worth The Drive To Experience Locals’ Involvements

By: Betsy Reason

It isn’t often that I write about events outside of Hamilton County. However, today, I take you to Anderson University’s Byrum Hall where some Hamilton County residents are on stage in one of my favorite musical revues, “Side by Side by Sondheim.”

I produced the show for The Belfry Theatre with director Ron Richards of Noblesville in March 2020, the last Belfry show before the Covid pandemic.

When I learned that the show would be on stage at Anderson University, I had to get tickets. We attended opening night last Friday. The show continues with three more performances at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. today and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are still available.

The trek to Anderson University is about 35 minutes from downtown Noblesville and is well worth the drive.

Thirty-four musical numbers take the audience on a musical trip through time of the early works of Stephen Sondheim, Broadway’s great composer during this production presented by AU’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

The show features songs from “Company,” “Into the Woods,” “Follies,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Anyone Can Whistle,” “Evening Primrose,” “Marry Me a Little,” “Gypsy,” “A Little Night Music,” “The Mad Show,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “West Side Story.”

We got there early enough to find our seats and read through the show’s program.

Finding familiar folks’ names in the program was an added bonus.

Two members of the student cast, the set designer and the director/choreographer all hail from Hamilton County.

Anya Burke of Westfield is a senior musical theater student at Anderson University and was featured in many of the numbers, including “Comedy Tonight,” “Tonight,” and “Another Hundred People” “If Momma Was Married,”  “Too Many Mornings,” “Broadway Baby,” “You Could Drive A Person Crazy” and other Sondheim favorites.

At AU, in earlier productions, Burke played Uzo in “Godspell” and “Luisa in “The Fantasticks.” This fall, she’ll be featured in a new film, “Hellcat” by AU professor Jack Lugar. She studies voice and is a member of the more than 75-year-old AU Chorale, one of the premiere collegiate choral ensembles in the nation.

Burke graduated in 2020 from Westfield High School and was the second place winner of a 2021 Carmel Christkindlmarkt $500 scholarship. She got interested in theater in fifth grade participating in Christian Youth Theater (CYT). My daughter performed with Burke in CYT’s “Annie” musical in 2014 at Marian University, Burke in the role of Star-to-Be and Addie in the role of Molly. Addie has also known Burke through Conner Prairie, where both have been youth volunteers together. So it was a nice reunion seeing Burke who greeted patrons after the show. Burke has also played in many productions at Grace Church in Noblesville, where she first performed in “Les Miserables” in 2014.

Tori Adler of Carmel is also a senior musical theater major at Anderson University and was also featured in many musical numbers of “Side by Side by Sondheim,” including “If Momma Was Married” and “Not Getting Married Today.” She graduated in 2020 from Lutheran High School of Indianapolis. She performed as Jane in AU’s national collegiate premiere of “J. Eyre.” She has performed at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and many other productions.

Jay Ganz of Fishers — who I featured on Sept. 30 in The Times as the set designer of Main Street Productions’ “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” directed by Noblesville’s Andrea Odle and which just finished a sold-out two weekend run at Basile Westfield Playhouse — was the set designer for “Side by Side by Sondheim.” It’s a beautiful, colorful set that Ganz designed. On opening night, Ganz — a full-time designer of exhibits at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis by day — sat in the back of the theater watching the show and then chatted with this journalist during intermission.

The director and choreographer of the Sondheim musical revue was Kenny Shepard, a name I had long remembered from the interviews I had done with him during my days writing for The Noblesville Ledger and The Indianapolis Star. Shepard is the director and choreographer for this Sondheim show.

Since the time I interviewed him for acting roles at Beef & Boards (where he is still a guest director, choreographer, actor and educator) and performing on cruise ships nearly 30 years ago, Shepard has grown his resume that now includes on-camera choreographer for the Disney Kids Collection, Music Theatre International’s Broadway Jr. and MacMillan/McGraw-Hill with choreography content seen in theaters and classrooms worldwide. Shepard co-owns a production company and has written, directed and choreographed projects starring Grammy, Tony, Emmy, Dove and CMA award winners as well as American Idol stars. He studied voice at Indiana University and was a member of the Singing Hoosiers, Opera Chorus and IU Dance Theatre. He graduated from Butler University with a bachelor’s degree in arts administration and dance and was a member of Jordan Jazz Singers and Butler Ballet. Shepard is an adjunct professor in the dance and musical theater departments at Anderson and Ball State universities. One of the places he teaches is Civic Theatre’s Young Artist Program in Carmel.  

Another name rang a bell in my mind was that of Jeff Wright, who was Dean for AU’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance for more than 25 years and who is now Dean Emeritus. He is the music director and leads the choir for Noblesville First United Methodist Church.

What a great show, some local, talented young folks to see in action and a good reason to make a trek to Anderson.

 -Betsy Reason writes about people, places and things in Hamilton County. Contact The Times Editor Betsy Reason at [email protected].