I, too, came to B'way in 1979 to see Sweeney Todd! Love so much of the music and hope SS's transition was peaceful. He will always be with us through his many works (beautiful). I had a Sondheim music marathon last night in my house (and had already watched Tick Tick Boom! earlier this week -- in which he had a vocal cameo and we were reminded that he was not a selfish genius, but a teacher and inspiration for others).
Really fantastic tribute. I’m a Company guy myself and find myself arbitrarily and out of the blue singing bits from that piece … in 2020, in the midst of the beginnings of the pandemic, there was a wonderful YouTube 90th bday celebration for him; I had just gotten home from the hospital after experiencing a pretty serious thing and wanted to watch it so badly. Anyhow, I figured out how to play it on my tv and set out on the couch. What you say about fear is right … I found myself sobbing at different points in the show as singer after singer found the Sondheim sweet spot of heart and mind and, I think, helped me feel my own fear. Better than any therapist. A true artist.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute to a brilliant artist. Each show he wrote was so bold and so different from one another, both musically and thematically...He made you laugh, cry and most of all think...I agree that many of his songs are so beautiful.....I just took Part 1 of an evening zoom class series at Julliard about Sondheim and walked away with a deeper level of love and understanding of this master...Part 2 begins in February for anyone interested...
This is a bad year for my heros. Composers Louis Andriessen and Frederick Rzewski. Blues singer and master of the Hammond B3 and sideman to an absurdly long list of people, Mike Finnigan. And now Sondheim. The master of so many things. Great writing by you.
A few days ago, I went to a movie (King Richard. Was good). By myself to my favorite theater, the Embassy in Waltham (partly because I live in Waltham but mainly because it does NOT have reclining seats, which i cannot comfortably sit in). It was a 7:30 show, the night before Thanksgiving. I went by myself, and was the only person in the theater. I worry that my favorite theater will not survive.
Anyway, the common attractions included Speilberg's West Side Story. I hate to admit this, it looked like it might be good.
But mostly I though: you wanna make a big music drama? THEN MAKE YOUR OWN YOU SHMUCK! West Side Story (which I've seen on stage a few times AND have seen the movie more times than i could ever count...my parents took me to it (early 60's) when it was new and in theaters, and I've seen it countless times since. Everything about it is superb. But espeically Bernstein's music and Sondheims's lyrics. The stage playe of course was a marvel, but that movie is SO freakiin' superb. Right from the opening aerial shots of NYC. I understand the criticicisms of it: using Anglo saxon actors instead of latinos for so many important parts, and by how harmless the street gangs seem in comparison to the reality of the last 30 or 40 years, but I still think it's a great marvel. Those songs are part of the soundtrack of my life. I've probably only seen 5 or 6 of Sondheims creations (on stage and on film); would like to see many more.
As a composer, who has not written music theater (but several things that resemble it) Sondheim was a hero. Despite his blasting of the A.R.T.'s production of "The Gershwin's Porgy And Bess" which I totally loved...
SO this remake of this upcoming landmark film, I just don't know. Sor far, no one has dared to remake Casablanca....
Which reminds me: I wish you would write about remakes, so I could spew out of my fantasies of being a producer/director so I could babble about movies I'd make, including ones I'd remake!
I think A Little Night Music is probably his most "well-made" show, coherent and satisfying through to the end. "Follies" is my favorite, though, since it packs such a punch for a middle-aged person like me. (Only when seeing the most recent Broadway revival did it really devastate me.)
I also saw Sweeney Todd in 1979, in the cheap seats in that dreadful midcentury barn with lousy acoustics, and at the time found it unpersuasive for several reasons, none worthy of note now. The ALNM revival in 2009, again the same one you saw, was more to my liking, but it was the Follies revival in 2010 that finally got me over Sondheim’s threshold. I was preparing to leave New York and had already left my job at Oprah, so I took advantage of finally having time to do all that great New York stuff by seeing it five times, first in the orchestra, moving progressively further toward the rafters with each viewing.
It just knocked me out, everything about it, and it was time well spent. I knew I would never again have access to such extravagant productions by the best performers on Broadway, so I indulged myself fully, and have never regretted it.
He was a mensch, too—a real one. Just saw a letter he wrote a high school that had fought back when its superintendent canceled their production of Sweeney Todd, and won. His feeling for young people, his commitment to opening up the arts as promiscuously as possible to them, is the guiding spirit of the letter, in which he praises their courage and expresses his gratitude for their fight for the show.
I still like more conventional musicals, though Lloyd-Weber will always be anathema to me, and I’m [oddly] proud to have never seen one of his shows except in a dream where I found myself at a rehearsal of JC Superstar, horrified to learn I had inadvertently seen one of his damned things. Sondheim’s music still often cuts against the grain for me. But his fierce intelligence, his adventurous spirit, uncompromising in his art and eschewing the sort of popularity he could doubtless have had if he’d just cheapened things a bit...well, I liked having him on the planet, breathing the same air as the rest of us slobs. But I’m impressed yet again by his final years, months, and days, and his sudden, surprising exit.
Thankful that he mentored Lin-Manuel and other tyros, creating a continuity from Hammerstein through himself and on to this new group of smart, ambitious composers. He didn’t just leave us his own work, he helped grow those who followed after him.
Children Will Listen was a result, from reading a Sondheim interview, from something his mother wrote him in the 1970s, that her one regret "was giving birth to you!"
Sondheim didn't have a good relationship with his parents, and he really looked to family friend, Oscar Hammerstein II for emotional support in his teen years. He looked up to Hammerstein, and said that he probably would have gone into whichever profession Hammerstein was in. It just happened to be musical theater.
But it was those hurtful words from his mother, even knowing that they might have been in a moment of anger, that birthed the idea for the song. "Careful of what you say, children will listen".
A friend took me to NY when I was going thru a tough time and we saw Into the Woods with the original cast. It spoke to me in a way no other show ever has, before or since. "Running away, let's do it. Free from the ties that bind. No more despair or burdens to bear out there in the yonder. . . Running away. We'll do it. Why sit around resigned? Trouble is, son, the farther you run the more you feel undefined for what you have left undone and more, what you've left behind." I was so happy when the Huntington decided to do one Sondheim a year and saw Sunday in the Park and Company and Merrily there (I think it was there I saw Merrily!) I never saw Sweeney live as you were lucky enough to, but "A Little Priest" has to be one of the wittiest and most macabre songs ever. I saw the revival of ALNM (with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury) but would have loved to have seen Peters and Stritch. I wanted Mr. Sondheim to live forever. And to keep giving us incomparable songs. And to keep working on the hat.
I am a late bloomer. It took me a long time to like--or even appreciate--Sondheim beyond West Side Story for the reasons you named: Were shows supposed to be fantasy or to reflect the challenges of real life? I tended to think the former, then I discovered Company when I watched the D.A. Pennebaker's documentary on the making of the show's original cast recording. Ever since then I've slowly expanded my familiarity with his shows.
I saw Tik Tik Boom a few days ago, with Sondheim's small but wonderful part. He died a couple of days later.Tonight watched Six by Sondheim. Now hoping the new West Side Story does him and the show justice.
Was the ALNM revival with Peters and Lansbury? I recall one with Lansbury but with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the other lead.
I, too, came to B'way in 1979 to see Sweeney Todd! Love so much of the music and hope SS's transition was peaceful. He will always be with us through his many works (beautiful). I had a Sondheim music marathon last night in my house (and had already watched Tick Tick Boom! earlier this week -- in which he had a vocal cameo and we were reminded that he was not a selfish genius, but a teacher and inspiration for others).
Really fantastic tribute. I’m a Company guy myself and find myself arbitrarily and out of the blue singing bits from that piece … in 2020, in the midst of the beginnings of the pandemic, there was a wonderful YouTube 90th bday celebration for him; I had just gotten home from the hospital after experiencing a pretty serious thing and wanted to watch it so badly. Anyhow, I figured out how to play it on my tv and set out on the couch. What you say about fear is right … I found myself sobbing at different points in the show as singer after singer found the Sondheim sweet spot of heart and mind and, I think, helped me feel my own fear. Better than any therapist. A true artist.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute to a brilliant artist. Each show he wrote was so bold and so different from one another, both musically and thematically...He made you laugh, cry and most of all think...I agree that many of his songs are so beautiful.....I just took Part 1 of an evening zoom class series at Julliard about Sondheim and walked away with a deeper level of love and understanding of this master...Part 2 begins in February for anyone interested...
This is a bad year for my heros. Composers Louis Andriessen and Frederick Rzewski. Blues singer and master of the Hammond B3 and sideman to an absurdly long list of people, Mike Finnigan. And now Sondheim. The master of so many things. Great writing by you.
A few days ago, I went to a movie (King Richard. Was good). By myself to my favorite theater, the Embassy in Waltham (partly because I live in Waltham but mainly because it does NOT have reclining seats, which i cannot comfortably sit in). It was a 7:30 show, the night before Thanksgiving. I went by myself, and was the only person in the theater. I worry that my favorite theater will not survive.
Anyway, the common attractions included Speilberg's West Side Story. I hate to admit this, it looked like it might be good.
But mostly I though: you wanna make a big music drama? THEN MAKE YOUR OWN YOU SHMUCK! West Side Story (which I've seen on stage a few times AND have seen the movie more times than i could ever count...my parents took me to it (early 60's) when it was new and in theaters, and I've seen it countless times since. Everything about it is superb. But espeically Bernstein's music and Sondheims's lyrics. The stage playe of course was a marvel, but that movie is SO freakiin' superb. Right from the opening aerial shots of NYC. I understand the criticicisms of it: using Anglo saxon actors instead of latinos for so many important parts, and by how harmless the street gangs seem in comparison to the reality of the last 30 or 40 years, but I still think it's a great marvel. Those songs are part of the soundtrack of my life. I've probably only seen 5 or 6 of Sondheims creations (on stage and on film); would like to see many more.
As a composer, who has not written music theater (but several things that resemble it) Sondheim was a hero. Despite his blasting of the A.R.T.'s production of "The Gershwin's Porgy And Bess" which I totally loved...
SO this remake of this upcoming landmark film, I just don't know. Sor far, no one has dared to remake Casablanca....
Which reminds me: I wish you would write about remakes, so I could spew out of my fantasies of being a producer/director so I could babble about movies I'd make, including ones I'd remake!
I think A Little Night Music is probably his most "well-made" show, coherent and satisfying through to the end. "Follies" is my favorite, though, since it packs such a punch for a middle-aged person like me. (Only when seeing the most recent Broadway revival did it really devastate me.)
I also saw Sweeney Todd in 1979, in the cheap seats in that dreadful midcentury barn with lousy acoustics, and at the time found it unpersuasive for several reasons, none worthy of note now. The ALNM revival in 2009, again the same one you saw, was more to my liking, but it was the Follies revival in 2010 that finally got me over Sondheim’s threshold. I was preparing to leave New York and had already left my job at Oprah, so I took advantage of finally having time to do all that great New York stuff by seeing it five times, first in the orchestra, moving progressively further toward the rafters with each viewing.
It just knocked me out, everything about it, and it was time well spent. I knew I would never again have access to such extravagant productions by the best performers on Broadway, so I indulged myself fully, and have never regretted it.
He was a mensch, too—a real one. Just saw a letter he wrote a high school that had fought back when its superintendent canceled their production of Sweeney Todd, and won. His feeling for young people, his commitment to opening up the arts as promiscuously as possible to them, is the guiding spirit of the letter, in which he praises their courage and expresses his gratitude for their fight for the show.
I still like more conventional musicals, though Lloyd-Weber will always be anathema to me, and I’m [oddly] proud to have never seen one of his shows except in a dream where I found myself at a rehearsal of JC Superstar, horrified to learn I had inadvertently seen one of his damned things. Sondheim’s music still often cuts against the grain for me. But his fierce intelligence, his adventurous spirit, uncompromising in his art and eschewing the sort of popularity he could doubtless have had if he’d just cheapened things a bit...well, I liked having him on the planet, breathing the same air as the rest of us slobs. But I’m impressed yet again by his final years, months, and days, and his sudden, surprising exit.
Thankful that he mentored Lin-Manuel and other tyros, creating a continuity from Hammerstein through himself and on to this new group of smart, ambitious composers. He didn’t just leave us his own work, he helped grow those who followed after him.
Children Will Listen was a result, from reading a Sondheim interview, from something his mother wrote him in the 1970s, that her one regret "was giving birth to you!"
Sondheim didn't have a good relationship with his parents, and he really looked to family friend, Oscar Hammerstein II for emotional support in his teen years. He looked up to Hammerstein, and said that he probably would have gone into whichever profession Hammerstein was in. It just happened to be musical theater.
But it was those hurtful words from his mother, even knowing that they might have been in a moment of anger, that birthed the idea for the song. "Careful of what you say, children will listen".
A friend took me to NY when I was going thru a tough time and we saw Into the Woods with the original cast. It spoke to me in a way no other show ever has, before or since. "Running away, let's do it. Free from the ties that bind. No more despair or burdens to bear out there in the yonder. . . Running away. We'll do it. Why sit around resigned? Trouble is, son, the farther you run the more you feel undefined for what you have left undone and more, what you've left behind." I was so happy when the Huntington decided to do one Sondheim a year and saw Sunday in the Park and Company and Merrily there (I think it was there I saw Merrily!) I never saw Sweeney live as you were lucky enough to, but "A Little Priest" has to be one of the wittiest and most macabre songs ever. I saw the revival of ALNM (with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury) but would have loved to have seen Peters and Stritch. I wanted Mr. Sondheim to live forever. And to keep giving us incomparable songs. And to keep working on the hat.
Ty
Of all the many Sondheim tributes I've read today, yours most accurately described this once in our lifetime genius. Thank you!
I am a late bloomer. It took me a long time to like--or even appreciate--Sondheim beyond West Side Story for the reasons you named: Were shows supposed to be fantasy or to reflect the challenges of real life? I tended to think the former, then I discovered Company when I watched the D.A. Pennebaker's documentary on the making of the show's original cast recording. Ever since then I've slowly expanded my familiarity with his shows.
Thank you for this lovely tribute.
I saw Tik Tik Boom a few days ago, with Sondheim's small but wonderful part. He died a couple of days later.Tonight watched Six by Sondheim. Now hoping the new West Side Story does him and the show justice.