Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021)

Started by San Antone, May 15, 2015, 12:54:38 PM

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Roasted Swan

I played on a Sondheim show in London's West End in the late 1980's.  Loved every minute of it - incredibly rewarding to play.  The great man came and saw the production and LOATHED it.  Ah well..........

VonStupp

I don't get to musical theatre too often when listening, but I was looking around to see what I still had of Sondheim's soundtracks. I definitely kept everything that had Angela Lansbury in it, a frequent collaborator of Sondheim, and who just turned 96 herself.

I came across this 2009 interview with both Sondheim and Lansbury today. They obviously had great respect for each other and wonderful stories to tell:

https://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/62635/
"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."

Daverz


kyjo

RIP Mr. Sondheim. I've played in the pit orchestra for a production of his Sweeney Todd - I'm not familiar with too much musical theatre but it seems to be a masterpiece of the genre if there ever was one. The often advanced harmonies that Sondheim employs shows that he knew his 20th century composers! Not to mention there's some killer melodies found throughout the score.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

brewski

For Sondheim's birthday, "Next," the brilliant finale of Pacific Overtures. Who would have thought: a Broadway musical about 20th-century changes in Japan.


-Bruce
"I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts."
—Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

brewski

Tonight, a terrific production of Sondheim's Assassins at the Arden Theatre Company. (Short and excellent preview here.)

My first time seeing this show, and it might be the darkest of any of them. Interesting seeing it in the context of the latest mass shooting, too.

-Bruce
"I set down a beautiful chord on paper—and suddenly it rusts."
—Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)