Ah, I needed this. Thanks, SER. My first Broadway show was the original "Into the Woods," followed a few months later by a touring production of "Sunday in the Park..." My world was SHOOK. "Let the moment go...Don't forget it for a moment, though."
Company (IMO) is his BEST work musically. Into the woods had a much more developed plot, but the music from that isn't memorable outside of the show itself. But he talked about his move toward more operatic aesthetic in his musicals as he went on. He wasn't looking to have the music need to exist outside of the contextof the show. It's much more through composed, while the songs in Company you could take out of the show and put them in your pocket and hum them for weeks! And nothing is better than ladies who lunch, Elaine Stritch version.
When Colbert got him for the Colbert Report, and Colbert sang that rediculous, beautiful "That's why they're called clowns" oh, it was just so touching watching Colbert with him. You could see how very much it meant to Colbert and you could see an impish enjoyment cross Sondheim's face. It was lovely.
After performing in Company with a local theater group I am convinced that Sondheim forgets that singers need to breathe. It was a challenge to find a spot to catch a breath in the titular number.
I can’t remember who told me about meeting him once while working a box office. He was kind of hilarious. Said basically I’m Stephen Sondheim and I am going in there.
thank you, Stephen, for this. I think of Sondheim so often and miss him a lot. a huge fan of "Six by Sondheim," I also was in my last months of living in New York (after 38 years there) when that incredible revival of Follies was on Broadway, and I went four times, first in the orchestra, climbing further into the cheaper seats with each viewing. I knew that relocating to Asheville, there would be precious few opportunities ever to see such a lavish production of such a challenging show, and I made the most of it. ran into the male lead after one viewing in the upstairs bar at Sardi's, told him how much I loved the show and his performance. he was incredibly stressed out and seemed desperate to get to the end of the run. if it affected him like that, how was Bernadette holding up, I wondered. anyway, this is lovely and gave my Saturday evening a little glow.
thanks for asking, we were incredibly lucky, Helene-wise. we're a 3-minute drive from Biltmore Village, which had 20+ feet of water surge through it and is still silent as if under enchantment of mud. it's a very dissonant juxtaposition of things that look pretty normal and endless debris and wrecked stuff. but when we had that awful storm with all the tornados headed our way last week, it was PTSD time, terrified we could be devastated again. but we weren't!
Hail to St. Stephen of the internal rhyme and the chromatic score! I have decided he is the saint whom creative people should pray to when they are blocked.
I was staffing the reception table at a rehearsal space for the workshop of Into the Woods, and I (gulp) not only mistook him for the rehearsal pianist, but upbraided him for being late. ☹️
There is no coming back from such humiliation. But he’s still a legend and an icon and incomparable in the theatre. 🎭 ❤️🔥
Where's SER?
Its been 6 days since the last post...everyone OK?
Ah, I needed this. Thanks, SER. My first Broadway show was the original "Into the Woods," followed a few months later by a touring production of "Sunday in the Park..." My world was SHOOK. "Let the moment go...Don't forget it for a moment, though."
“The world is nasty, brutish, and short but we can make it less so if we care for others lost in the same wood. No one is alone.”
I shall carry this sentiment with me today as I greet the world. Fine advice
Beautiful.
Lucky duck
Company (IMO) is his BEST work musically. Into the woods had a much more developed plot, but the music from that isn't memorable outside of the show itself. But he talked about his move toward more operatic aesthetic in his musicals as he went on. He wasn't looking to have the music need to exist outside of the contextof the show. It's much more through composed, while the songs in Company you could take out of the show and put them in your pocket and hum them for weeks! And nothing is better than ladies who lunch, Elaine Stritch version.
I did Company at dinner theater and it was a blast.
I'll bet!
When Colbert got him for the Colbert Report, and Colbert sang that rediculous, beautiful "That's why they're called clowns" oh, it was just so touching watching Colbert with him. You could see how very much it meant to Colbert and you could see an impish enjoyment cross Sondheim's face. It was lovely.
After performing in Company with a local theater group I am convinced that Sondheim forgets that singers need to breathe. It was a challenge to find a spot to catch a breath in the titular number.
Another hundred people just got off of the train!!! Im not getting married today!!!!
I can’t remember who told me about meeting him once while working a box office. He was kind of hilarious. Said basically I’m Stephen Sondheim and I am going in there.
I cover ‘Losing My Mind’. It always gets respect.
Brilliant mind.
Now I've got "The Ladies Who Lunch" as my earworm. Not a bad one, actually! 🎶🙂
(I played in the pit orchestra in college for a run of Company.)
thank you, Stephen, for this. I think of Sondheim so often and miss him a lot. a huge fan of "Six by Sondheim," I also was in my last months of living in New York (after 38 years there) when that incredible revival of Follies was on Broadway, and I went four times, first in the orchestra, climbing further into the cheaper seats with each viewing. I knew that relocating to Asheville, there would be precious few opportunities ever to see such a lavish production of such a challenging show, and I made the most of it. ran into the male lead after one viewing in the upstairs bar at Sardi's, told him how much I loved the show and his performance. he was incredibly stressed out and seemed desperate to get to the end of the run. if it affected him like that, how was Bernadette holding up, I wondered. anyway, this is lovely and gave my Saturday evening a little glow.
We must have left New York in the same year (2011)! If you’re still in Asheville, I hope you are holding up OK after the flooding.
I left in 2012.
thanks for asking, we were incredibly lucky, Helene-wise. we're a 3-minute drive from Biltmore Village, which had 20+ feet of water surge through it and is still silent as if under enchantment of mud. it's a very dissonant juxtaposition of things that look pretty normal and endless debris and wrecked stuff. but when we had that awful storm with all the tornados headed our way last week, it was PTSD time, terrified we could be devastated again. but we weren't!
I'd forgotten that he did 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘮. A college production of that show ended up with two of my closest friends meeting their future mates.
Hail to St. Stephen of the internal rhyme and the chromatic score! I have decided he is the saint whom creative people should pray to when they are blocked.
💕💕💕
I met him once. 😊
It was utterly ignominious. 😬
I was staffing the reception table at a rehearsal space for the workshop of Into the Woods, and I (gulp) not only mistook him for the rehearsal pianist, but upbraided him for being late. ☹️
There is no coming back from such humiliation. But he’s still a legend and an icon and incomparable in the theatre. 🎭 ❤️🔥
OMG!!!
You remain a hero in my eyes.
Hahahahaha! Honestly, (a) thank you! And (b) I am still soooooo embarrassed! :-)