Alright, Concentrate! George and Dot...

Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, in Sunday in the Park with George, 1984.

Playlist for Sunday, September 15, 2013: Sondheim 2.0

My Sondheim obsession continues this Sunday!  One thing I've realized about these musicals is that you can't just listen to them once...some shows are easily accessed, they're hummmmm-able from the first time you hear them.  But not so with Sondheim.  You have to invest some time and energy into his shows and I've found almost all of them to be worth it.  And every Sondheim show seems to have a unique style of music, appropriate to the plot, characters and settings.  Spare and minimal for some, bombastic and gothic for others, catty/neurotic/angst-ridden at times, and innocence itself when it suits.

In no particular order, we'll be sampling from Pacific Overtures, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods...even Merrily We Roll Along, that flop that lasted, what? 16 performances?  Sondheim and Hal Prince (director of so many successes) broke up over it, it was that horribly received.  And the reviews seemed almost personal in their criticisms. Lucky for Sondheim that James Lapine showed up and inspired him with George Seurat, and they were soon off and "painting" another show. 

Of course, I have to end with that one song that turned into a popular, oft-covered icon...Send in the Clowns.  Sondheim wrote it specifically for Glynis Johns, who was more an actress than a singer, so he wrote it in short, concise phrases, with clipped one-syllable words, so it would be easy to sing and effective to hear.  Later, when the likes of Sinatra, et. al., recorded it, Sondheim didn't care for the long-held notes that those 6-pack of air singers impressed on you. So enjoy Glynis and "Clowns"...the way Sondheim envisioned it. 

Ahhh, well....thanks for your patience.  Next week, something BESIDES Sondheim, I promise!


Our Time (Ensemble, Merrily We Roll Along)
Four Black Dragons (Ensemble, Pacific Overtures)
Bowler Hat (Isao Sato, Pacific Overtures)
Sunday in the Park with George (Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Sunday in
                    the Park with George)
Finishing the Hat (Mandy Patinkin, Sunday in the Park with George)
There Won't Be Trumpets (Suzanne Henry, Anyone Can Whistle)
Anyone Can Whistle (Lee Remick, Anyone Can Whistle)
Old Friends (Lonny Price, Jim Walton, Anne Morrison, Merrily We Roll Along)
Not a Day Goes By (Jim Walton, Merrily We Roll Along)
Hello Little Girl (Robert Westenberg, Into the Woods)
Agony (Robert Westenberg, Into the Woods)
Every Day a Little Death (Patricia Elliot, Victoria Mallory, A Little Night Music)
Send in the Clowns (Glynis Johns, A Little Night Music)

Company, 1970

Dean Jones as Bobby Baby Bobby Bubby...and Elaine Stritch, a lady who "lunches."

Zero Mostel...in Forum, 1962

Sondheim's Sweeney...

Sondheim, Cariou, and Lansbury, opening night of Sweeney, 1979.

Sondheim via Hirschfeld...

Playlist for Sunday, September 8, 2013: Sondheim, Chapter 1

An ALL SONDHEIM show this week, folks!  Something that I've wanted to do for...oh, about a year now.  We'll be picking something from (almost) every one of his major Broadway musicals, plus a couple of extras here and there, and that's why we'll need two shows to do it.  Well, we could use about 7 shows, but I won't test your patience and loyalty! 

We'll begin with the shows that Sondheim wrote just the lyrics for:  West Side Story and Gypsy.  He also wrote the lyrics for Do I Hear A Waltz? (with his "partner" of the moment, Richard Rodgers), but I'm choosing to ignore that one for the time being, and skip breezily to Forum, Company, Sweeney, and more.  If you miss this Sunday, tune in on Sept. 15th, for Chapter 2, when we'll dive into Pacific Overtures, Sunday in the Park with George, and MORE SONDHEIM!

Thanks for allowing me to obsess...


Company (Dean Jones, Ensemble, Company)
The Jet Song (Ensemble, West Side Story)
Officer Krupke (Ensemble, West Side Story)
Together Wherever We Go (Ethel Merman, Sandra Church, Jack Klugman,
                         Gypsy)
Rose's Turn (Ethel Merman, Gypsy)
Free (Zero Mostel, Michael Crawford, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way
                          to the Forum)
Everybody Ought to Have a Maid (Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Phil Silvers,
                          Michael Hordern, Forum)
Losing My Mind (Barbara Cook, Follies)
Broadway Baby (Elaine Stritch, Follies)
The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Len Cariou and company, Sweeney Todd)
Johanna (Victor Garber, Sweeney Todd)
Another Hundred People (Pamela Myers, Company)
The Ladies Who Lunch (Elaine Stritch, Company)