‘Marry Me a Little’ Gets a Deeper Voice This Time

You hear some of the Stephen Sondheim songs in “Marry Me a Little,” the two-person revue now in an assured revival at Celebration Theatre, and you think: These were cut from their respective shows?

Or, in the case of the four tunes from “Saturday Night”: These were written for a show that went unproduced for decades? Sondheim’s also-rans reveal more wit, depth and brains than virtually everybody else’s front-runners.

Listening to his most searching investigations of the heart, you wonder from whence came the rap against Sondheim regarding his chilly intellectualism, his formal trickery, blah blah blah. A plaintive gem such as “It Wasn’t Meant to Happen,” a painful post-mortem excised from the score of “Follies,” lands on a simple rhyming couplet--”good try” sings one lover; “goodbye” counters the other. With one rhyme, composer-lyricist Sondheim relates what other songwriters take three minutes to say.

In its 1981 off-Broadway premiere, “Marry Me a Little” was a heterosexual two-hander. The show’s lightly worn premise depicted a man and a woman living in the same Manhattan apartment building, each alone and singing on a Saturday night. Co-creator Craig Lucas, best known for his plays “Prelude to a Kiss” and “Reckless,” starred as the man.

The Celebration Theatre got the OK from Sondheim to present a gay male version of the show. It works well; the songs prove hardy and elastic. Some of them have never sounded truer, in fact, or more affecting.

Steve Gideon and Craig Curtis offer some obvious contrasts as Man #1 and Man #2 in director Randy Brenner’s compact staging. Gideon’s more of a ham; Curtis appears most comfortable in the expressions of buried regret. Gideon could stand to take it down a notch, while Curtis can’t quite figure out what to do with “Can That Boy Foxtrot,” the now-familiar “Follies” casualty that is, in fact, funnier if sung by a Yvonne DeCarlo type.

Small quibbles in a small but deft 75-minute evening. Unless you never knew what it’s like to kill time on a Saturday night wondering what’s around the corner, romantically speaking, you’ll likely enjoy yourself.

* “Marry Me a Little,” Celebration Theatre, 7051 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Dec. 5. $21 to $26. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Steve Gideon: Man #1

Craig Curtis: Man #2

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene. Directed by Randy Brenner. Musical director Darryl W. Archibald. Piano player Kevin Parcher. Set by Larry Sousa. Costumes by Simon Tuke. Lighting by Frank McKown. Stage manager Erin Curry.