Monday in the Diner with Sondheim
Ellen’s Stardust Diner, NYC, January 24, 2022
Reviewed by Peter Leavy
Musical theater, its practitioners, and its admirers, lost an iconic figure in the waning days of 2021. Composer and lyricist of almost a score of musicals, Stephen Sondheim would have needed an oversized mantle to display his plentiful honors—eight Tony Awards, eight Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize, and an Academy Award, along with others.
The obits and the tributes also have been plentiful and richly deserved, but one of the most enjoyable was at Ellen’s Stardust Diner in New York’s theater district. Titling the evening (as a take-off on Sondheim’s 1984 musical, Sunday in the Park with George) as Monday in the Diner with Sondheim, the singing waitstaff dedicated its own tribute to him with a night of their (and the audience’s) favorites, from “Broadway Baby” and “Being Alive“ to “Gotta Get a Gimmick.”
The talented—and exuberant—singer/servers at the Stardust are both Broadway theater veterans and Broadway wannabes, but with so many on-target renditions of the Sondheim numbers, without the M.C.’s occasional description of the performer’s credits, it often would have been hard to guess which was which. One unexpected twist was the Diner’s artistic director, Scott Barbarino, doing a tongue-in-cheek version of “Beautiful Girls” from the 1971 Follies—in drag. We think Sondheim would have been amused.
Hopefully, the delightfully entertaining Monday at the Diner with Sondheim, hosted by staffers Patrick Smith and Patrick Peevehouse, will enjoy an ongoing run at the Stardust, a spot that knows its onions about bringing songs and showtime to its diners. Believe it or not, it starts as the sun comes up with their breakfast staff at 7:00 A.M. and runs right through to their goodnights at midnight. The production affords due respect to the honoree and an hour or two of enjoyable good listening to its audience, with the diner’s varied menu serving as the cream in your coffee.
