Revival of the Fittest: Side by Side by Sondheim set to tour in 2012

Rachael Beck, Margi de Ferranti, Jessica Rowe and Enda Markey will take to the stage this year in a regional tour of Side By Side by Sondheim. 

In an interview with AussieTheatre recently, Australian music theatre and cabaret sensation Margi de Ferranti discussed the tour, which will be taking place throughout the year.

“I will be doing a sporadic regional tour of Side By Side By Sondheim for the next year” she said, hailing her fellow cast members as “incredibly talented”.

The show is set to tour to Dubbo, Bathurst, Sydney, Orange, Canberra and Geelong from March 17.

Enda Markey, Margi de Ferranti and Jessica Rowe were all members of the Seymour Centre production of Side By Side by Sondheim in April last year which also featured Australian diva Amelia Cormack. Cormack is currently in London, having just completed a stint in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert on the West End.

Rachael Beck, who will take Cormack’s role for the 2012 tour, is currently performing in critically acclaimed new musical Ordinary Days for The Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Squabbalogic with Michael Falzon. There had been speculation within the industry that Beck was a possibility for the role of Nellie in the upcoming production of South Pacific, presented by Opera Australia, which is set to open in August – however with her touring commitments, it seems this may not be the case.

Originally performed on the West End in 1976 drawing material from shows like Follies, Company, West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music and Gypsy, this sophisticated and clever piece of theatre remains one of Sondheim’s most performed works.