The Breman Museum will present the cabaret-style concert program Strictly Sondheim, performed by the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus and Atlanta Women’s Chorus, at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 21.
Under the umbrella organization Voices of Note, the choruses will showcase a wide variety of songs spanning Sondheim’s illustrious career, including favorites from productions such as West Side Story, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Company and Into the Woods. Voices of Note promises “an intimate show filled with laughter, gorgeous ballads, dancing and heartfelt moments as we celebrate a Broadway legend.”
Voices of Note presented the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus and the Atlanta Women’s Chorus in two sold out Strictly Sondheim programs at Out Front Theatre Company in July 2022.
The Breman is pleased to present a return of the show, which keys into the museum’s new exhibition, Icons: Selections from The Portrait Unbound, Photography by Robert Weingarten. Icons showcases 14 of Weingarten’s groundbreaking “visual biographies” of accomplished Americans including Sondheim, the celebrated composer who died in November 2021. Other Icons subjects include Hank Aaron, Sandra Day O’Connor, Colin Powell, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alice Waters.
On view through Oct. 1, these compelling, large-scale (60-inch-by-40-inch) photographs are a bold departure from traditional portraiture. Instead of the classical photographic focus on facial expressions, Weingarten created a mosaic of images in each portrait based on the subjects’ answers to the question, “What makes you who you are?”
So, guests attending Strictly Sondheim can not only explore the legacy of the Jewish theater legend through a performance of his indelible music but also can view Jewish photographer Weingarten’s Sondheim portrait, which conveys the composer’s interests, achievements and memories.
“We are pleased to partner with Voices of Note, a group of accomplished artistry that shares our belief in the power of performance to bring together artists and audiences of different experiences and faiths,” said Breman Executive Director Leslie Gordon.
Strictly Sondheim is being staged as part of Something Special Sundays, a new series of performances and programs presented through the generous support of Atlanta philanthropist Marilyn Ginsberg Eckstein. Something Special Sundays enables The Breman to present music, theater and dance performances as well as family programs, further activating the Midtown institution on the day that is most popular with guests.