Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2003 | 1:52 PM

I�ve had various Sondheim songs stuck in my head for the past week. The two main ones have been Not a Day Goes By from Merrily We Roll Along and Mary Me A Little from Company. It�s almost gotten to the point of being annoying�the same damned song on a continuous loop every waking hour.

I love Sondheim. His shows are so dark and cynical and complicated. I really hope that the theatre company I�m working with now does a Sondheim musical next year. I would kill to be a part of one�I�ve never had the chance.

In fact, I really hope they do either Company or Merrily, which are similar shows in some respects.

Merrily goes backwards in time�scene 1 takes place in the late 70�s, and the final moment of Act II is on a rooftop in Manhattan in the 50�s. You get to see over the course of two acts the ways in which the main characters have compromised their talents and morals and the key turning points during which such changes take place. It�s a fucking heartbreaking piece about betrayal and the loss of idealism.

Company is about relationships and centers on a 35 year old bachelor and his married friends. It�s funny and incredibly sad as well.

There are two killer roles I�d love to play in both of the above musicals. Mary in Merrily and Joanne in Company. Both of them are smart-ass alcoholics. Mary is a lot kinder and more vulnerable than Joanne is, but they�re both complex characters with show stopping songs. Big meaty fucking parts.

There are so many great female characters in Sondheim musicals. And you don�t have to be a pretty little size 2 to play them either.

I�d be stoked if the theatre company chose to do Sweeny Todd too. That is probably the darkest musical ever written.

There�s a hole in the world like a great black pit

And it�s filled with people who are filled with shit

And the vermin of the world inhabit it.

But not for long.

It is gory and bloody and sick and twisted. I�d love to play Mrs. Lovett, who bakes murdered corpses into her pies.

I�m hoping that the theatre company continues to tackle dark and complex musicals like Cabaret. I�ll be sorely disappointed if they choose to do something frothy and dumb next year.