Sondheim\'s \'Marry Me a Little\' Returning to New York

By LARRY ROHTER

“Marry Me a Little,” a Stephen Sondheim musical that hasn't been performed in New York in 25 years, will begin the Keen Company's 2012-2013 season next month. The Off Broadway production, with previews beginning at the Clurman Theater Sept. 11 and an opening night set for Oct. 2, includes songs that, producers say, have never been performed on a New York stage before, most notably “Rainbows,” from an as yet unmade film version of “Into the Woods.”

Last staged in New York in 1987 in a brief revival by the York Theater Company and seen more recently in regional theaters, “Marry Me a Little” is the story of two lonely people yearning for love, who happen to be residents of the same Brooklyn apartment building and unaware of each other. Conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, it is a revue without dialogue and draws on songs that were cut from other Sondheim works, among them “Follies,” “Company” and †œA Little Night Music.”

“Marry Me a Little” will be directed by Keen's artistic director, Jonathan Silverstein, who will also be overseeing the second production in the company's season, a revival of A.R. Gurney's drama “The Old Boy,” from 1991. That production is scheduled to begin performances in February 2013.