The USC Musical Theater Repertory production of A Little Night Music closed last night, and I am happy to report that we had a really fun and successful run. I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out – we had a brilliant cast and performed to five sold-out houses in three days.

For this production I decided to use a piano trio as the pit orchestra. For the classically uninitiated, a piano trio is an ensemble consisting of piano, violin, and cello, and composers as far back as Mozart were writing for this ensemble. I did the orchestrations for the show myself and it turned out beautifully. The strings helped to transport you to the world of the story, which was expertly played out by these student actors. It was really nice to get intimate with a Sondheim score. The music was challenging, for sure, but every note was worth learning, because Sondheim is so meticulous, so concise, so precise with his compositions. My only regret is that we only ran for one weekend — I could easily see myself falling happily into a routine of playing this show for several weeks. And I wouldn’t say that about too many shows!

My continuing projects include accompanying for the GMCLA, providing accompaniment for musical theater classes at USC, accompanying for the Choral Society of Southern California, accompanying rehearsals and services at Temple Israel of Hollywood, singing at St. Mel Catholic Parish, and of course, teaching lessons. Even without a music directing job, that’s a pretty full plate, so I am just happy to be able to sail on through with my ongoing projects for a while.

Keep an eye out for an update regarding a solo project I have in the works.