On Theater:

As a composer without peer in musical theater, Stephen Sondheim is a linear descendant of Noel Coward and Cole Porter, with a staggering output that eclipses both of these legends.

And, like Coward (“A Marvelous Party”) and Porter (“Red, Hot and Cole”), Sondheim has seen his songs take flight out of context in revues such as “Side by Side by Sondheim” and the current production at South Coast Repertory, “Putting It Together.”

Sondheim himself put this highly entertaining piece together, along with Julia McKenzie, and it’s not just a musical medley. The occasion is a Manhattan cocktail party in which five people belt out more than 30 songs from various Sondheim shows, stitching them together to create a story of their own with barely minimal dialogue.

The show is culled primarily from a half-dozen Sondheim shows — “Company,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” “A Little Night Music” and “Merrily We Roll Along.”

All but the latter are, or should be, familiar to local audiences. Other shows find their way into the score. The title song is from “Sunday in the Park With George,” while “Into the Woods,” “Assassins” and even the movie “Dick Tracy” are represented. Amazingly, three of the composer’s best numbers — “Send in the Clowns,” “Ladies Who Lunch” and “I’m Still Here” — didn’t make the cut.

At South Coast Repertory, Director Nick DeGruccio and Musical Director Dennis Castellano have mounted a visually, musically bountiful production. Thomas Buderwitz’s magnificent New York skyline outside the window dominates the stage, while five actor-singers match it with their stinging brand of musical irony.

The quintet — Harry Groener, Mary Gordon Murray, Dan Callaway, Niki Scalera and Matt McGrath — form a loosely knit story line of an older couple on the verge of dissolution (Groener and Murray), a younger couple tentatively getting together (Callaway and Scalera) and a wild-card character (McGrath) who interacts with all.

Each singer has his or her repeated moment in the spotlight, but Murray draws two slices of Sondheim’s prime musical meat — “Could I Leave You?” from “Follies” and “Getting Married Today” from “Company” — and rocks the house with them.

Groener is at his best with “Sorry-Grateful” from “Company,” a signature mixed-emotion piece illustrating the difficulty, but not impossibility, of romantic relationships.

Callaway’s “Marry Me a Little” from the same show blends tenderness and tentative temerity with appropriate uncertainty.

Scalera’s character begins the evening as a serving girl — primarily so the three guys can offer the lecherous “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” from “Forum” — but early on she joins the party in earnest, capping her segments with “The Miller’s Son” from “Night Music.”

McGrath performs a little legerdemain on Sondheim’s “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from “Company,” turning the song inward and doctoring the lyrics.

For Sondheim fans, “Putting It Together” is a musical banquet. Others should be enthralled simply by the show’s musicality and showmanship.

If You Go

What: “Putting It Together”

Where: South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

When: 7:30 or 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays until Oct. 11

Cost: $33 to $70

Call: (714) 708-5555

A ‘Fantastick’ revival at Vanguard

Try to remember the last time you saw “The Fantasticks.” There were two fathers involved, and the word “rape” was tossed around like confetti, right?

Well, neither of those elements is present in the somewhat more PC revival at Vanguard University. This more fastidious version substitutes “abduction,” among other words, for the offensive term, while a preponderance of female talent at Vanguard has resulted in those fathers becoming mothers.

Otherwise, this sardonically melodic musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt — which ran for a record 42 years off Broadway — is pretty much the way it’s always been. And, as directed by Vanda Eggington, it’s a brightly polished, imaginatively presented package.

Based on “The Romancers” by Edmond Rostand (who also penned “Cyrano de Bergerac”), “The Fantasticks” offers comedy, peril and irony, all set to some imminently hummable music. These lightly seasoned ingredients have kept the show on stages across America and the world since 1960.

At Vanguard, where some pretty sprawling musicals have been played out on the minuscule Lyceum Theater stage (“Brigadoon,” “Guys and Dolls”), this production of “The Fantasticks” is a more comfortable fit with its eight characters and properties employed in “Our Town” fashion.

And, from top to bottom, the show abounds in rich musical talent, starting with Zach Simons, whose portrayal of the bandit-narrator El Gallo is wise and ironic beyond the actor’s years. He sets the mood and manipulates the others, and he does so with a smooth, polished hand.

The real joy of this production, however, is Donna Louden’s exquisite portrayal of the young girl, Louisa, in her first visit to the Vanguard (or possibly any other) stage. Louden possesses a superb singing voice and magnifies it with a beautifully toned performance.

The young man, Matt, has been “aged up” from 16 to 20, but Lucas Moore still could pass for a callow teen bent on “finding himself” in the eerie outside world. Elise Coppola glides through a lustrous, wordless performance as the mute who sets the stage and provides the hand props.

Candace Miser and Stephany Parker (who doubles as choreographer), in the roles usually played by middle-aged men, interact splendidly as the crotchety mothers using reverse psychology to match their children. Brandon Arias and Jon Black strut with sound and fury as the aging actors recruited to stage the abduction.

A three-piece orchestra under the baton of Janice Rodgers Wainwright maintains the show’s infectious tempo. Paul Eggington’s setting is properly dreamlike against David Pecoraro’s splendid lighting effects, while Lia M. Hansen has designed some fine costumes, particularly Coppola’s stunning garb.

This may not be your father’s “Fantasticks,” but it’s a show for today, nurtured with loving care and blossoming talent at Vanguard University.

If You Go

What: “The Fantasticks”

Where: Vanguard University, 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

When: Performances 8 tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Cost: $14 to $17

Call: (714) 668-6145

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.