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A CurtainUp Review
Sondheim On Sondheim
By Elyse Sommer
Song List
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Climb high Climb far Your goal the sky Your aim the star —motto on steps of Stephen Sondheim's alma mater, Williams College— a motto which Sondheim's reach-for-the- sky-career epitomizes. |
Euan Morton, Leslie Kritzer, Erin Mackey and Matthew Scott
(Photo: Richard Termine)
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Barbara Cook & Vanessa Williams
(Photo: Richard Termine) |
West Side Story and A Little Night Music, for which he wrote the lyrics, are enjoying Broadway revivals. The Encores! concert series recently assembled a stellar cast to give Sondheim's many fans a chance to reconsider Anyone Can Whistle, which was doomed to be one of his flops by a terrible book.
Leading the pack of theater folks eager to pay homage is the Roundabout Theatre Company. They've renamed the beautifully restored Henry Miller Theater as the Stephen Sondheim Theater. They've also mounted a brand-new musical, Sondheim on Sondheim. This mix of musical autobiography and concert is playing at Studio 54, the elegant venue where Assassins and Sunday in the Park were given stunning revivals in the not too distant past. (Assassins review & Sunday in the Park review)
To be honest, while I'm a Sondheim enthusiast, this show somehow seemed to promise more than it was likely to deliver. It was billed as "an intimate portrait of the famed composer in his own words. . .and music." The promise of "exclusive interview footage." sounded like a way to use the projected interviews as a means of having a concert masquerade as a musical with a regular show run. Happily, it took just a few minutes to send my low expectations soaring.
Sondheim on Sondheim does indeed give a delightful inside look into Stephen Sondheim, the man and his creative process. Sondheim isn't live on stage, but thanks to Peter Flaherty's clever video and projection design he comes across not just as a musical genius but as a charming, likeable man with a wonderful self-deprecating sense of humor.
The screen used for the videographed images initially looks like a giant version of Apple's i-pad. Next it becomes an amazingly chameleonic design, and ultimately a Sondheim à la Chuck Close image. The songs discussed by the videographed Sondheim are illustrated by eight live and very lively performers. The singers are accompanied by eight musicians who never drown out the lyrics and are occasionally and effectively visible in silhouette. The integration of Flaherty's computer wizardry, Beowulf Boritt set and Ken Billington's gorgeously evocative lighting (especially for the Assassins segment) is a master class in merging filmed and live content — and it works beautifully for this concept by Sondheim's frequent collaborator James Lapine, who directs it all fluidly.
Given the long list of musical theater, concert and recording artists who have interpreted the many hundreds of Sondheim songs, audiences might have their own wish list for casting this show. Yet, while not all are equally well known, the group's diverse talents and styles make for a good mix.
Barbara Cook, a favorite Sondheim interpreter, sees to it that we have an octogenarian on stage as well as on screen. She still has the pipes to deliver a memorable "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Send in the Clowns." For glamour as well as vocal sizzle there's Vanessa Williams. and to underscore that Sondheim's music will continue to attract performers as well as audiences, we have the lesser known young singers Erin Mackey and Matthew Scott. It's too bad that Leslie Kritzer wasn't given at least another solo. Among the male half of the cast, Norm Lewis too seems underused, though he does get to shine "Finishing the Hat. " Like Tom Wopat and Euan Morton, he could probably belt out his numbers without any amplification. All eight songsters are sensational in an intricate rendition of "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs/"
Having chalked up an amazing catalogue of work as lyricist and lyricist/composer, the man's name really should be Songheim. Given the sheer volume of work and eight decades of a complex and accomplished life it's obvious that even at two and a half hours, the autobiographical footage (much of which seems especially shot for this production) and the songs presented required choices about what to include.
Some of the material touched on in Sondheim's on-screen reflections is treated in much greater and more analytical detail in Meryle Secret's outstanding 1998 biography (my review). To give just a few examples: While Sondheim on Sondheim makes it clear that his relationship with his mother was never fully resolved, what leads up to her telling him "the only regret I have in life is giving birth to you," Secret provides details about what led up to it and what followed (while he severed his relationship with her, he supported her until her death at ninety-five). The reflections in the show's footage touch on his personal and professional friendships so much fascinating material is omitted, like his collaboration with his prime orchestrator Jonathan Tunick. It would also have been interesting to hear his comments on John Doyle's casting Company with actor/musicians. review).
Lapine and Sondheim (who no doubt had a hand in the choice of music to be presented) deserve a special shoutout for not limiting themselves to the big hits and most familiar arrangements, but including new arrangements and also never used material — not to mention a brand new song, "God," which isn't listed in the program but is amusingly inserted as part of a view of Sondheim at work The springboard for this little ditty was apparently a 1994 New York magazine article, "The Cult of Saint Stephen Sondheim") geared around the question " Is Sondheim God?"
Perhaps watching Sondheim reflect on his life and share his working process, is best summed up by this lyric from the title song of Anyone Can Wistle (a tune he played and sang himself at a 1973 one-night fund-raising tribute to him at the Shubert Theater):
What's hard is simple
\What's natural comes hard
Maybe you could show me
How to let go
Lower my guard
Learn to be. free
Maybe if you whistle,
Whistle for me
Isn't it nice that unlike that Shubert concert, Sondheim on Sondheim isn't a one-night stand but a smartly staged full run? For sure, it will have you whistling for this man who has learned to make what's hard simple, and who has lowered his guard enough to let us know him a little better.
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Sondheim on Sondheim Music by Stephen Sondheim Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Conceived and Directed by James Lapine Cast: Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, Leslie Kritzer, Norm Lewis, Euan Morton, Erin Mackey, Matthew Scott. Musical Staging by Dan Knechtges Music orchestrated by Michael Starobin Musical Director and Arrangements: David Loud Scenic Design: Beowulf Boritt Costume Design: Susan Hilferty Lighting Design: Ken Billington Sound Design: Dan Moses Schreier Video & Projection Design by Peter Flaherty Stage Manager: Peter Hanson Running Time: 2 1/2 hours with intermission Roundabout Theater Company at Studio 54 From 3/19/10; opening 4/22/10; closing 6/13/10 TicketsFrom$36.50-$126.50. Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer 4/17/10 press preview Song List I'll Meet You at the Donut from 'By George' When I Get Famous from 'Climb High' So Many People from 'Saturday Night' Something's Coming from 'West Side Story' (Music By Leonard Bernstein) Like Everybody Else Written for 'West Side Story,' never used (Music By Leonard Bernstein) Smile, Girls Written for 'Gypsy,' never used (Music By Jule Styne) Invocation/Forget War Written for 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' never used Love Is in the Air Written for 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' never used Comedy Tonight from 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' Anyone Can Whistle from 'Anyone Can Whistle' Do I Hear a Waltz? from 'Do I Hear a Waltz? (Music By Richard Rodgers) Take Me to the World from 'Evening Primrose' You Could Drive a Person Crazy from 'Company' The Wedding Is Off Written for 'Company,' never used Multitudes of Amys Written for 'Company,' never used Happily Ever After Written for 'Company,' never used Being Alive from 'Company' Company from 'Company' Ah, But Underneath from the 1987 London Production of 'Follies' Waiting for the Girls Upstairs from 'Follies' Losing My Mind from 'Follies' In Buddy's Eyes from 'Follies' My Husband the Pig Written for 'A Little Night Music,' never used Every Day a Little Death from 'A Little Night Music' Send in the Clowns from 'A Little Night Music' A Weekend in the Country from 'A Little Night Music' Epiphany from 'Sweeney Todd' Franklin Shepard, Inc. from 'Merrily We Roll Along' Good Thing Going from 'Merrily We Roll Along' Opening Doors from 'Merrily We Roll Along' Not a Day Goes By from 'Merrily We Roll Along' Old Friends from 'Merrily We Roll Along' Finishing the Hat from 'Sunday in the Park with George' Sunday from 'Sunday in the Park with George' Beautiful from 'Sunday in the Park with George' Children Will Listen from 'Into the Woods' Ever After from 'Into the Woods' Something Just Broke from 'Assassins' The Gun Song from 'Assassins' Fosca's Entrance (I Read) from 'Passion' Is This What You Call Love? from 'Passion' Loving You from 'Passion' Happiness from 'Passion' Talent from 'Road Show' The Best Thing That Ever Has Happened from 'Road Show' |
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