Photo: NY Times
I don’t even know how to write this. The fallout from being thoroughly exhausted is that words don’t come to me as quickly and easily as usual.
This man and his music and words meant everything to me. As most of you know, I started out in musical theater and it remained a major part of my life as an actress and performer for years. The American Musical – everything about it – is something I’ve studied over the years. There’s not much I don’t know about its growth over the decades or those composers who influenced and made their mark on American Musical Theater.
Stephen Sondheim’s influence cannot be understated – his work, the risks he took, the way he embraced and welcomed change. He wrote difficult rhymes, witty lyrics, heartbreakingly beautiful music – sometimes highly complex, sometimes simple and gut-wrenching. He started out as a lyricist, working on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gypsy, and West Side Story. But he could do it all, and he knew he could do it all, so eventually he struck out on his own, writing both music and lyrics. I have been in love his work from the moment I first heard the Original Broadway Cast album of Company. (Years later, I was in a production of Company.) I listened to everything he wrote over and over: Follies, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion, Assassins – and on and on.
His mentor was Oscar Hammerstein, a family friend. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma changed the course of the American Musical. Years later, Sondheim would change it as well.
No one did it better. There will never be another Sondheim.
My opinion: The musical theater of today, with a few exceptions, is bland and boring – ridden with pop music and pop lyrics. It takes no risks. One musical blends into another musical that morphs into another musical. They’re all interchangeable. I have no desire to see any of it, with the exception of Hadestown and the current revival of Company. Half of the shows on Broadway are juke box musicals that should be playing in Las Vegas, not on Broadway.
Sondheim never talked down to his audience, never chose the lowest common denominator. His music and lyrics demanded a ‘thinking’ audience. He challenged us. He made us think about the human condition. He was brilliant.
Others will follow – Lin Manuel Miranda is also changing the American musical and doing it brilliantly. He also challenges his audience – in a new way. Hamilton remains one of the seminal theatrical experiences of my life.
But there will never be another Stephen Sondheim.
I was lucky enough to coach a play he wrote – a murder mystery – while I was at the Old Globe. I met him. I watched him work. I was completely intimidated by his mind and his brilliance, of course, but I am grateful beyond words that I met him and was in the same room with him over the course of the rehearsal period.
Rest in Peace.
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I went to The Mysterious Book Shop yesterday.
I’ve written about it before on this blog – a true wonderland for lovers of mysteries – and I am one of those people. I got a couple more Simenons, the new Julia Dahl, and another book I’ve wanted for a long time. Otto Penzler, the owner of the shop, is a longtime collector of first editions and rare editions of mysteries and detective novels. His collection was vast – he auctioned most of it off a few years ago – and he wrote a book about his adventures in collecting. So I got that. Kathy, you’ll be happy to know I finally used the gift certificate you gave me over a year ago! Thank you.
Then I went to Whole Foods and got a few things. It was cold and very windy here, so I made my way home as quickly as possible.
The girls got a change of clothing:
Gosh, they’re adorable!
Stay safe.
Happy Saturday.
