There's some serious talent involved in this little musical, with a script by James Goldman, performances by Tony Perkins and Charmian Carr, and - and this is the reason this thing is still talked about - 4 songs by Steven Sondheim.
The show rolls out like an episode of Twilight Zone, as a man decides to live in a department store and discovers there's a whole bunch of people already living there and no one can leave or the "dark men" will be called. Occasionally someone starts singing.
Sondheim, right between Funny Thing and Company, composed some really good songs for this, like I Remember Sky, which I was familiar with from a Jody Collins LP. They are classic Sondheim, clever, original, and catchy.
The script is a mixed bag. There are some nice individual scenes but it doesn't make a lot of sense, isn't weird enough for that not to matter, and goes *exactly* where you thought it was going 15 minutes in. In other words, it's like a Serling-original Twilight Zone, not a Matheson.
The direction is ... indifferent. There's no sense that the director has any particular vision for the show. It has elements of horror but never feels like a horror show. The characters feel underdeveloped. Sure, it's short, but *something* needed to be done with it, and the director just blocks the scenes and hopes for the best.
The end is predictable and unsatisfying, which is always a terrible combination.
Interesting curio, watch it or don't.