Dauntless duo keeps on singing, side by side

Good times and bum times, I’ve seen them all /

And, my dear, I’m still here ...

The 1976 musical revue “Side by Side by Sondheim,” now being revived at North Coast Rep in Solana Beach, takes in dozens of songs from the composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s first two decades of musical-theater fame.

But none captures the kind of resilience that seems to define this production’s two leading ladies quite so well as “I’m Still Here,” an anthem of quiet defiance from Sondheim’s 1971 show “Follies.”

Angelina Réaux (who sings that number at NCRT) and Rena Strober are actor-singers who have both worked on Broadway and have extensive credits at theaters around the country (and in other disciplines as well).

They’re the type of seasoned performers typically seen in high-profile productions at the Old Globe or La Jolla Playhouse — and in fact, Strober had a key role in the original 2006 Playhouse production of “Zhivago,” a musical that hit Broadway this year.

The two happen to share something else as well: Each went through a difficult trial that wound up altering both life and career.

Although the specific incidents were quite different, what’s important is that ultimately, neither woman allowed the past to define her future. And both keep forging ahead, finding new ways to test themselves and their talents.

As another, cheekier song from the Sondheim show goes: Tragedy tomorrow; comedy tonight!

Rena Strober. — Don Boomer

(Don Boomer)

No rain on this parade

“It’s one of those things where someone’s like, ‘I’ve got this crazy story,’ ” says Rena Strober. “And I’m like: ‘Nope, I have a crazy story!’”

A dozen years after the saga she’s talking about unfolded, Strober seems to keep a healthy perspective (and even sense of humor) about the whole thing.

And it’s a measure of how far she has come that most people who hear her name or see her perform have no idea what took place in 2003 in New York.

At that time, Strober — now an in-demand L.A. actor and voice-over artist whose projects include numerous animated TV shows and video games — had just finished a stint in “Les Misérables.”

She had appeared in both the national tour and the Broadway production of that hit musical, stepping into roles that included the plum part of Cosette.

Her singing talents were such that she was occasionally asked to do an impromptu performance when she was out on the town.

That’s what took place one December evening when she was dining with friends at Rao’s, an Italian restaurant in East Harlem that was popular with both celebrities and, purportedly, the mob.

“When it happened, I wasn’t working there,” Strober says now. “That’s a common misconception. I was a guest.”

The basic story: Strober stood up to sing “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” the Barbra Streisand favorite from “Funny Girl.”

A 37-year-old man named Albert Circelli started jawing about her performance in an apparently ungentlemanly manner. The man next to him, Louis “Lump Lump” Barone, 67, took offense and started jawing back.

The argument escalated, and at some point Barone pulled out a gun and shot Circelli in the back.

The tabloids, naturally, found the story irresistible.

“I was on the cover of every newspaper for a week,” says Strober. “I had reporters knocking down my door. My parents were being called. I was being thought to have caused the murder.

“A man was killed, and I was used sort of as a scapegoat. It wasn’t directly related to me at all — it all got sensationalized. I was under a table not knowing what was happening.”

It didn’t escape anyone’s notice that the song she was singing — “One of my favorite songs in the world,” Strober says — contains the lyrics, “One shot, one gunshot and bam!”

“I didn’t sing that song for a year at least after that,” she says.

After the incident, Strober took some time to lie low, staying with family out of town.

Then, she went back out on the road with “Les Miz,” joined the Friars Club (a mecca for comedians) and never really looked back.

“As clichéd as it is, when you do think your life is ending, the next day you wake up and say, ‘Why am I a doormat? Why do I question what I want in life?’ ” Strober says.

“I had no doubt that I was an artist and a performer and that this is what I wanted in life. And I had let people tell me otherwise.

“I became much more confident after that, ironically. I pushed myself harder. I think I just didn’t say no to anything after that.”

One thing she has said “yes” to only recently is Sondheim (although she did appear once in “Gypsy” long ago).

“I hold him in such high regard,” says Strober, who received a Craig Noel Award from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle for her work in “Zhivago” at the Playhouse. “I didn’t think I could do him justice and bring to it what it needs. Part of me is a perfectionist, so I was always just hesitant to do a Sondheim piece.

“And then this came along. And I said, OK, if I can do this (piece), than I can do Sondheim.”

Angelina Réaux. — Don Boomer

(Don Boomer)

Full circle

For Angelina Réaux, by contrast, Sondheim has been a part of her life for a very long time.

But not just Sondheim — far from it. The Texas native, who moved to Warner Springs with her husband (an opera singer and former teacher at San Diego State University) about two years ago, has close connections to a pair of other music luminaries in particular.

She is known as one of the foremost contemporary interpreters of the songs of Kurt Weill, the German composer behind “The Threepenny Opera” and other works. (Her solo show and album “Stranger Here Myself” showcase his work.)

And she was a personal favorite of the late American great Leonard Bernstein, who tapped her to sing in his “La bohème” as well as a 1988 recording of “West Side Story” he conducted.

Years earlier, during an audition around the time of her graduation from Northwestern University, Réaux had met “West Side Story” director Hal Prince. He and his team were looking for replacement actors for a musical production in New York.

The show: “Side by Side by Sondheim.”

Réaux turned out to be too young for the piece (much as she tried to convince Prince and Co. otherwise). But the contacts she made led to her getting work right away in New York.

“I’ve had the funkiest career,” she marvels now at the string of events that eventually led to her joining the first national tour of the Sondheim-composed “Sweeney Todd,” in the role of the Beggar Woman.

And what happened toward the end of the 13th performance of that tour, in 1982, is something Réaux recounts with remarkable matter-of-factness.

“At the Kennedy Center Opera House (in Washington, D.C.), I broke both of my legs, and didn’t walk for almost two years.”

The accident happened after her footwear became caught in a trap door during a scene where actors plunge down a chute.

“I basically had to learn to walk again,” she says. “They thought I’d have a limp for the rest of my life. I went to physical therapy five days a week, and I was determined that I was going to heal.”

Well before the accident happened, Prince had urged her to think about taking up opera.

And after the accident, “Hal came to my hospital room and brought me William Weaver’s book on Italian opera. He said, ‘You should be an opera singer, I’m telling you.’

“In a way — I’ve never even thought about this — they got me back later with this breaking my legs,” she says with a laugh. “They broke my legs and made me an opera singer!”

Three decades later, Réaux is still here — and finally singing in “Side by Side.”