[The Free Lance-Star] “Theater review: 'They're Playing Our Song' is a charmer at Riverside”

GAIL CHOOCHAN - The Free Lance-Star

April 11, 2024

Vernon Gersch and Sonia Walsk couldn’t be any more mismatched, but they sure make some beautiful music together.

“They’re Playing Our Song,” loosely based on Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager’s real-life relationship, is now playing in an immensely charming show at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts.

Hamlisch and Sager’s history apart and together is impressive. Just to give a little background: The late legendary composer — not to mention a member of the EGOT club — was behind the scores for films including “The Way We Were” and “The Sting” and the musical “A Chorus Line.” He also collaborated with Sager, his then-girlfriend, on the James Bond power ballad “Nobody Does It Better.” Sager, one of pop’s most prolific songwriters, had her first big break with “A Groovy Kind of Love” (as a teen!) followed by an endless parade of songs sung by artists like Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton. She’s even worked with Kanye.

“They’re Playing Our Song,” which had its Broadway debut in 1979, is another one of Hamlisch and Sager’s collaborations. This musical also holds a dear place in the heart of Riverside’s producing artistic director Patrick A’Hearn and it certainly shows in his direction of this immaculately staged production.

Featuring a snappy book by comedic playwright Neil Simon, the warm and funny story captures Vernon and Sonia’s rollercoaster romance and partnership as they team up on new material.

Vernon is an award-winning composer with quite a few awards under his belt, including two Grammys and an Oscar. He’s a bit buttoned up, organized and punctual. Sonia, well, is not. The up-and-coming lyricist, who has only one hit, is all over the place. She’s kind of chaotic, rambles a mile a minute and has a penchant for secondhand clothes from old theater productions. When the audience first meets her, barreling into Vernon’s fancy Manhattan apartment, she’s wearing a dress from Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”

As expected, there are clashes in personality and clunky conversations, but then Vernon and Sonia begin to find their groove. Things start to click between the free spirit and uptight composer one night over dinner, their working relationship soon giving way to a love affair. However, the couple becomes more like a threesome as Sonia can’t seem to cut off her ex-boyfriend Leon (who’s often talked about but not seen) and that greatly bugs Vernon. It’s not all about Leon, though, as working and living together also creates some issues.

Riverside’s production of “They’re Playing Our Song,” in the hands of A’Hearn and its appealing leads Carson Eubank and Ashlee Waldbauer, hits all the right notes.

Eubank and Waldbauer are perfectly matched as the musically gifted odd couple. They have terrific onstage chemistry and comedic timing, bantering back and forth so effortlessly. Simon’s very talky script, punctuated with witty one-liners, is well taken care of by these two.

Riverside didn’t have to look far to find its Vernon; in fact, he was just a few feet away in the orchestra pit. Eubank, a frequent presence as music director, returns to the stage after starring in “Souvenir” during the theater’s early pandemic days. He wonderfully captures all of Vernon’s idiosyncrasies and has an amazing singing voice. After Eubank’s spot-on performance as the neurotic composer, it’s a wonder why he’s not onstage more often.

Waldbauer makes her third appearance at Riverside in the role of Sonia, after starring in “Ghost” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in recent years. Sonia comes off as a flake, and has no consideration for people’s time (one time she’s a day and 20 minutes late for a meeting), but Waldbauer brings warmth and sweetness to the adorably messy character — you can’t help but root for her.

“They’re Playing Our Song” is a two-character play, but cleverly amplifies the cast with multiple Sonias and Vernons as their alter egos. Barbara Breen, Jessica Barraclough and Megan Hasse are delightful as “The Girls,” with Kevin Cleary, Christopher Florio and Michael Goltry appearing as bespectacled Vernons. Their appearances give the livelier musical numbers a fun boost.

Over a dozen songs fill the show, from the perky “Workin It Out” performed by the whole cast to the softer, introspective songs like “If He Really Knew Me” and “If She Really Knew Me.” A few of the show’s biggest highlights are Waldbauer’s emotional delivery of “I Still Believe in Love,” sung by a brokenhearted Sonia, and Vernon’s “Fill In the Words,” a tune where he’s able to fully express his feelings. Music director David Landrum leads the fine eight-piece orchestra.

“They’re Playing Our Song” is rarely performed nowadays, and I’m happy to see Riverside dusting off this Broadway classic. It’s always fun to see a show for the very first time, and this one is a gem.