Night Side Songs ★★★★

Night Side Songs by The Lazours (best known for We Live in Cairo) doesn’t sport the cheeriest of concepts; it’s a communal gathering for the living to explore the process of dying. Depressing as that may sound, the Lazour brothers (Daniel and Patrick) embrace the unexpected joy and universality of an experience that all humans must face. The show, which appeared in last year’s Under The Radar Festival and is now receiving a full run at LCT3 at Lincoln Center Theater, derives its apt title from a description in Susan Sontag’s 1978 book Illness as Metaphor: “Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.”

Sontag died of cancer, as does Yasmine, the fictional lead of Night Side Songs. Lest that seem like a spoiler, know that it’s the entire point of the show, as inevitable as Vivian Bearing’s exit in Margaret Edson’s transcendent Wit. But whereas Wit focuses on Vivian’s mostly solo journey from intellectualism to utter vulnerability, Night Side Songs asks its audience to participate directly in Yasmine’s life as she travels from diagnosis to death.

Those familiar with LCT3 will likely be surprised upon entering the space. The proscenium and traditional seating have been replaced with three small sections of seats that, with the fourth section, a row of chairs for the performers and the piano, form a square where the action occurs. Everyone can see everyone, and the lights mostly stay on; grief comes for all, so there’s no point in hiding. Even the cast members mill about before the show’s official beginning, passing out songbooks from which all will be invited to sing during the show.

The naturally amiable Robin de Jesús gently leads most of the eight group songs with music director Alex Bechtel, and thankfully the effect is welcoming without being cloying. Approximately 90% of the audience participated in the singing, and those who declined to vocalize — including my theatre date for the evening — were not made to feel uncomfortable. At least not by the cast. Afterwards, said date claimed I was singing more loudly than the legendary Mary Testa, a claim not only absurd but also impossible.

Warm and engaging as the group sing-alongs are, the best songs are solos for the three supporting cast members from the main story: Testa, de Jesús, and Kris Saint-Louis, the last of whom is fairly new to the New York theater scene and gives a sublime turn on the gorgeous “Santa Cruz.” Brooke Ishibashi and Jonathan Raviv get more scenes but no special solos as Yasmine and Frank, her partner, and they acquit themselves admirably. Because their story breaks little new ground, however, they don’t get to shine quite as brightly as their fellow ensemble members; perhaps they should at least get a duet.

Director Taibi Magar successfully creates a warm environment for this show that asks its audience to confront the coldest of human realities and to do it together. In a world that currently often feels so divided, Night Side Songs leans into the great, final commonality.