CITY CENTER THEATER

A Bed and a Chair - A New York Love Affair
Wynton Marsalis, Bernadette Peters

'Before he began work on "A Bed and a Chair," Wynton Marsalis had played Sondheim only once, as the third substitute trumpeter for "Sweeney Todd." Now Mr. Marsalis has put his spin on more than two dozen Sondheim songs in a new work designed to express their mutual love of New York City. With a score performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the story follows two couples played by Bernadette Peters, Norm Lewis, Jeremy Jordan and Cyrille Aimée, a young jazz singer whose voice, upon discovering it, feels like a real discovery. And while we're on the topic of love stories, this season, Jazz at Lincoln Center and musical theater are having quite a romance: "After Midnight," a show first developed at City Center in their "Encores" program, is a hit on Broadway. Depending on its reception, "A Bed and a Chair" could follow the same path."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303789604579200241648146008?KEYWORDS=sondheim