Smooth sounds of jazz takes center stage in 'Side Man' By Bryna Jacobs State Press Magazine photo by Tim Fuller Photography Liam Craig and Joel Anderson liven the stage in Warren Leight's Side Man.   They lived in the shadows of those who had made it in the business. They were professional jazz musicians, floating from gig to gig, playing the music that consumed their lives whenever they got the chance. They played, not for fame or for money, but for eachother. They were the "side men." Arizona Theatre Company transports the audience back in time to an era where car coats, caps and polyester take center stage in Warren Leight's Tony Award-winning Side Man. Artistic director David Ira Goldstein brilliantly brings to life a touching story filled with intense drama, comedic interludes and stark realism. The theater is dark. The audience is silent. A single light appears shining brightly on Clifford (Liam Craig), our narrator. It's 1985 and Clifford is at the scene where it all began some thirty years ago. As he leans back at the bar in Charlie's Melody Lounge the audience joins him on a journey into his past, revealing the bittersweet memories that haunt him tothis day. Through Clifford we meet his emotionally detached, self-absorbed father, the trumpeter, Gene (Joel Anderson), and his heavy-drinking mother, Terry (Susan Cella), otherwise known as "Crazy Terry," who has gone stark raving mad after putting up with years of her husband's unfulfilled promises and neglect. A series of snapshots of the past expose Clifford's role as referee in the family, desperately trying to hold together a disintegrating marriage. "The play is filled with heavy stuff, really intense themes that are matched with a great sense of humor and warmth," said Liam Craig who plays Clifford. "The audience should be prepared to be just as affected and moved by the humor than by the drama. In a way I think Warren Leight wrote a Valentine to that jazz era." Side Man is a tale of passion, loss and human suffering. What makes this story so unbelievably powerful and moving is the purely honest way it presents the trials and tribulations of a family. Through economic pressures, attempted suicides, and an obsessive devotion to jazz, emotions are poured on to the stage with no attempt to conceal the devastating realities of life. Each actor magically captures the essence of their character, digging deep into their psyches to provide the audience with a clear picture of who they are and where they long to be. With a backdrop of New York fire escapes, tattered wallpaper and checkered tablecloths, the run down, somber mood created by the scenery parallels that of the plight of the characters. It is a life of living from one unemployment check to the next with no hope of stability as long as that sweet sound of the horn plays in your mind. Paying tribute to the sideman was important to Leight, whose own father was a trumpet player. "Certainly the sidemen are the forgotten artists of the century," said playwright Warren Leight. "There have been how many dozens of plays about painters in America, or about opera singers? Nobody ever writes about these guys. Jazz is all about being in one moment and quoting a moment from the past and linking up something that's going on." While Clifford recounts his childhood memories we are introduced to the other sidemen, Gene's friends, who add humorous moments with their sporadic jokes and old musician stories. With the help of jail-bound junkie Jonesy (Nicolas Glaeser), geekish speech twisted Ziggy (Larry Paulsen), always a ladies man Al ( Kevin Ramsey), and smart-lipped waitress Patsy (Terri McMahon), Gene has his own extended family who he escapes to when the harsh realities of home life are too rough to handle. Instants of laughter and ease, provided by these characters, take the edge off the somewhat depressing and loony episodes on Gene's homefront. "I was so struck by the universality of this play," says artistic director David Ira Goldstein. "Although I do not come from a family of jazz musicians, I immediately saw people that I knew, in theatre, or in classical music, in everything. It seems the emotions Clifford goes through and the relationships he has with his family are so universal." At the heart of Side Man is romance, love at first sight that seems strong enough to stand the test of time. If only it did, the tragedies that struck would not hit so hard. Once upon a time a couple met and fell in love, their story of heartbreak and misery is told through the eyes of a man who still dreams his parents would have survived that final number. For tickets ($22 to $36) call the Arizona Theatre Company Box Office at (602) 256-6995 or at Dillard's at (480) 503-555.) side man runs thru feb. 20 at herberger theatre tickets $22-$36 at dillard's and arizona theatre co. box office. home