Top 6 Sondheim Songs for the ATL: A Playlist

Not content to just tell you about Alliance Theatre's forthcoming Sondheim review, we here at Paste:Local have assembled a playlist of the Sondheim tunes most relevant to our fair city of Atlanta. The following may only be funny if you're a local news-savvy musical theater fan, and even then it might be a stretch-- regardless, enjoy the songs!

1. "Not Getting Married Today" from Company
There was a magical time in spring 2005 when Atlanta's most famous daughter was Jennifer Wilbanks, popularized by late-night comics as "the Runaway Bride." It may not necessarily new territory-- she's already been the subject of a musical before in her hometown of Duluth-- but Sondheim's never been one to create simplistic female characters, and three years after Wilbanks walked out on her forthcoming nuptials by hitching a bus and lying about a kidnapping, her actions still baffle.

2. "Putting It Together" from Sunday in the Park with George
It seems like Atlanta's finest road construction crews are constantly putting it together, "it" being every road I need to drive on to get anywhere ever.

3. "Jet Song" from West Side Story
Metro Atlanta is also home to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, one of the world's busiest air hubs. There are lots of jets there. Admittedly, these aren't Jets that hate Sharks, but still.

4. "Agony" from Into the Woods
This number could be performed by any of the following: Michael Vick's pit bulls, Lake Lanier, Barack Obama's Georgia staff, any motorist trying to travel on 75/85 during rush hour (see "Putting It Together," above).

5. "A Boy Like That/ I Have a Love" from West Side Story
Perhaps you haven't seen hundreds of sweat-soaked, scantily clad men dance on one of two revolving dance floors at Wet Bar. But if you have, you know why this song might be particularly appropriate for Midtown.

6. "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" from Sweeney Todd
Atlanta is home to Coca-Cola Co., the makers of the soft drink that Sherman surely would have refused to burn had it been around during the Civil War. And it used to have cocaine in it! Helluva soft drink.