(excerpts)

As the rotting guy on the crucifix said, we should always look on the bright side of life. And Elegies, William Finn's autobiographical song cycle about death and the departed, is anything but miserable. The songs in Elegies commemorate the passing of, among many others, Finn's mother, Finn's dogs, some friends from the New York theatrical world, a businessman at the World Trade Centre on Sept. 11 and a Korean family who ran a vegetable market near the playwright's old apartment. Death, Elegies seems to be saying, has a little of the sublime about it – but much more of the ridiculous.

...Acting Up Stage's interpretation is both accessible and intimate, capably performed and sung by all involved, with minimal recourse to musical kitsch...