‘Session’ Rings With Joyful Urgency

The song rises from deep within, emerging as pure, shimmering emotion. Tenderly, prayerfully, the words whisper thanks for the connections--to machines, medicine bottles and, most of all, people--that have helped to keep the singer alive in his exhausting battle with AIDS.

Like a tidal pull, the music draws feeling from an equally deep place within the listener. Such is the power of “The Last Session,” a musical about a singer-songwriter in a recording studio for what he believes will be his last session.

Steve Schalchlin wrote the gospel- and blues-tinged pop songs about his own experiences with AIDS, and his partner in life, Jim Brochu, constructed a story around them. The North Hollywood couple have seen audiences laugh, weep and applaud through the show when it played off-Broadway and at Laguna Playhouse’s Moulton Theater in Laguna Beach. Now the Laguna staging, directed by Brochu, is at the Tiffany Theater in West Hollywood.

It’s a terrifying thrill to be so close to the action in the 99-seat Tiffany. In the 420-seat Moulton, audiences at least had a bit of a buffer zone whenever emotions became particularly overwhelming. But there’s no resisting anymore--no choice but to give oneself over wholly to this defiant celebration of life.

As portrayed by Bob Stillman, Gideon--the singer-songwriter at the story’s center--is a candle burning bright in a waning body. The voice shows no sign of decline, though: It’s smooth and easy, very James Taylor.

Gideon is joined in the studio by people whose lives are tied to his in knotty but inseparable ways. The central action, though, is driven by an outsider. Buddy, a young gospel singer, shows up to replace an absent vocalist. A Bible Belt believer, Buddy is a big fan of Gideon’s early gospel songs. It comes as a shock that his idol is HIV-positive and gay.

Buddy is both a strength and a weakness of the writing. He drives the action in interesting directions, but he’s too much of a device, and his personality gets twisted like a pretzel to suit the writers’ intentions. Joel Traywick’s performance makes Buddy work, though. On opening night in Laguna, he was so moved that he spent much of the second act in tears. On opening night in West Hollywood, he began watering up even earlier, upon learning of Gideon’s orientation. Though tears aren’t necessarily what the part calls for, they become a profound manifestation of the dilemma roiling inside this young man.

Rounding out this incredible session are Michele Mais as a silky-voiced diva with attitude; Amy Coleman as an agitated soul who lives, and sings, fiercely; and P.M. Howard as a recording engineer with a heart of gold to go with his gold records.

In conversation and in song, these voices blend in urgent harmony. As one lyric puts it, these are “songs that give us life.”

BE THERE

“The Last Session,” Tiffany Theater, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets on sale through Jan. 17. $35-$37.50. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.