Stage West’s ‘The World Goes Round’ is full of talent

Kander and Ebb penned many hits for Broadway including the music for New York, New York as well as Cabaret. The World Goes Round at Stage West is a musical revue of the songs of Kander and Ebb, conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Stoman and David Thompson. The production is like going to a Broadway concert and even if you don’t think you will know many of the songs, there will definitely be some that are familiar to you even if you haven’t seen the original production.

The production features Troy Goldthorp, Sarah Higgins, Sarah Horsman, Tyler McKinnon and Sash Striga and they take on the hits from: New York, New York; 70, Girls, 70; The Happy Times; The Rink; The Act; Woman of the Year; Chicago; Funny Lady; Liza With A ‘Z’; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Zorba; Flora the Red Menace; and Cabaret.

It’s a bit jarring at first to not have a narrative to hold all the songs together, but the cast works very hard to make each number entertaining and compelling even without the context of each musical. They pull out all the stops by dancing, being on roller skates and singing their hearts out.

The live band makes the production better with Stephen Foster on drums, Darcy Johnstone on bass, Jim Murray on trumpet and Keith O’Rourke on saxophone. Sean D. Ellis’ set design is elaborate on the small stage with the names of each production highlighted by Ajay Badoni’s lighting design. Norman Galenza-MacDonald has the cast in a variety of costumes to suit each character.

And the World Goes Round is a production full of talented singers, but a bit of a narrative to move everything along might be nice especially when you’re unfamiliar with a lot of the musical numbers. The revue does end on the energetic number New York, New York.

Stage West’s production of The World Goes Round runs until November 11. More information is available online.

Photo Credit: John Watson Photography