It’s safe to state definitively that there will never be another Stephen Sondheim. For decades, the American musical was the art form that epitomised the American Dream – that anything was possible and ‘happily ever after’ was a birth right. Then along came Sondheim to turn everything on its head. Nuance and ambivalence became cool and no topic was off the table, whether it be serial killers (Sweeney Todd), art versus life (Sunday in the Park with George), fairy tales versus the real world (Into the Woods), and the complexity of male/female relationships and the courage of romantic commitment (Company).

Philip Quast, Geraldine Turner, Josie Lane, Queenie van de Zandt and Mitchell Butel, Moments in the Woods Adelaide Cabaret Festival, 2022. Photo © Claudio Raschella

Compiling a show of Sondheim material might appear easy at first glance as there is a treasure trove of songs at your fingertips. However, finding a thread to tie the material together is less straightforward. The thread in Moments in the Woods – Songs & Stories of Sondheim, which was directed by Mitchell Butel with musical direction by Daryl Wallis, was the...