Side Man

By: Warren Leight

Narrated by: Frank Wood, Garret Dillahunt, Christine Lahti, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, Kevin Geer, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Stephanie Zimbalist

A Tony Award-winner for Best Play, Side Man delves deep into the postwar New York jazz underground through the life of a celebrated musician and his dysfunctional family. Warren Leight used his own experiences as the son of a jazz musician to create Gene, a talented but emotionally incompetent trumpeter whose pure devotion to music comes at the expense of his relationship with his resentful wife, Terry, and their self-sacrificing son, Clifford.

A L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance starring Frank Wood as Gene, Garret Dillahunt as Clifford, Christine Lahti as Terry, Kyle Colerider-Krugh as Ziggy, Kevin Geer as Jonesy, Joseph Lyle Taylor as Al, Stephanie Zimbalist as Patsy, and with live sound effects by Tony Palermo.

©2010 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2010 L.A. Theatre Works

Theatre Masterpiece Preserved-SIDE MAN

I love this play so much, I got to see it on Broadway with Wood & Geer (R.I.P.) and Andrew McCarthy as Clifford. Having this recording with Wood in his star-making Tony Award winning role & Geer who originated Jonesy is a true blessing, Lahti is an intense Terry & Dillahunt makes for a very sharp Clifford, less mercurial than McCarthy but maybe more beaten down & angry. It works in a different way. The rest of the cast is great, the music is all well done, and of course, the writing by Leight is near perfect. I don’t understand why more companies don’t produce this show. I wish I’d played Clifford when I was younger & now want to play Gene. This is a great production to have preserved. A must listen for theatre fans, who want smart, well-written, moving PLAYS.