Meg Flather is one of the most intelligent and scholarly singers on the scene today. Although her themed shows offer great insight into the composers and lyricists she highlights, she always manages to bring her content-rich patter down to a personal and universal common denominator such that we can all identify with her personal story and with the story she tells through song. That was certainly the case with Sondheim and Hammerstein: Carefully Taught, a riff on the fact that Sondheim himself learned a great deal when he was taken under the wing of father-figure Oscar Hammerstein II. After Sondheim’s parents’ divorce at the young age of 12, his fatherless family moved next door to the Hammersteins. Flather went on to tell this fascinating story, interweaving it with stories about her relationship with her own father. Some highlights included the opener “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning”/“Sunday” with lovely harmony from Tracy Stark who was also on piano, and an outstanding “Free” from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” “Life Upon the Wicked Stage (Show Boat) morphed beautifully into “Gotta Get a Gimmick” (Gypsy) that included some fun interplay with Stark, and she offered a riveting medley of “Something Wonderful”/“What’s the Use of Wond’rin’”/“Sorry-Grateful.” Her comparison of Hammerstein’s and Sondheim’s marginalized men, Jud Fry and Sweeny Todd, was dramatized in a medley of “Lonely Room” and “We All Deserve to Die” that was an acting tour de force. This is a show not to miss if she performs it again.