Stephen Sondheim

[Merton]

One of the greats of music passed away yesterday at age of 91. Stephen Sondheim was undoubtedly the most signifigant writer of Broadway musical theater since Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. His work includes far too many to mention in this post but includes writing the lyrics for West side story (tonight, somewhere, maria among others), lyrics for the musical Gypsy and both the music and lyrics for numerous others. If you know of him you know how great he was. When Bob Dylan, who is great, won the Nobel prize for literature I immediately thought of Sondheim and that he was equally, if not more , deserving. Take moment and google, for example, Bernadette Peters singing "Not A Day Goes Buy" at Sondheims 80th, Judi Dench performing "Send In The Clowns" ( a truly spectacular piece. The title references the circus cry when a performer has fallen off a high wire) or even "pretty women" from the movie version Sweeney Todd. So many others too. RIP Sondheim, May Your Memory Be A Blessing

 

[musicman]

Truly one of the great artists in the history of the United States. His work was broad and deep. He is one of the few composers of musical theatre that I could never get enough of. May he RIP.

 

[sablebrush52]

Easily my favorite Broadway composer, a towering genius. Thank you for all of that strange beauty.

One of my favorite of Sondheim's songs is Send In The Clowns, originally written for Glynis Johns. Seems appropriate to post it here:

 

[Merton]

Easily my favorite Broadway composer, a towering genius. Thank you for all of that strange beauty.

One of my favorite of Sondheim's songs is Send In The Clowns, originally written for Glynis Johns. Seems appropriate to post it here:

Thanks. Sondheim wrote the song in one evening as they needed a song which could match Glynis John's ability for a song at pivotal moment in the show. True genius he was.

 

[sablebrush52]

Thanks. Sondheim wrote the song in one evening as they needed a song which could match Glynis John's ability for a song at pivotal moment in the show. True genius he was.

When interviewed in 2007, Sondheim spoke about the process of writing that song. He knew that Johns couldn’t hold a note, so he decided that the lyrics needed to be in short phrases and he instantly settled on constructing them from questions, since questions are short. From there, he said, the rest was simple.
It’s all simple, when you’re a genius.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

My wife told me that yesterday and asked if she was sure because Rich Little just passed away and maybe he was impersonating Sondheim - she didn’t see the humor in that.

Both icons in their own way - we’ve got a couple serious Broadway-o-philes in our household so there was some good discussion about Sondheim.

 

[Trainpipeman]

Easily my favorite Broadway composer, a towering genius. Thank you for all of that strange beauty.

One of my favorite of Sondheim's songs is Send In The Clowns, originally written for Glynis Johns. Seems appropriate to post it here:

Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida of ABBA fame) did a Swedish language "Send in the Clowns" titled "Var är min clown" on a 1975 solo LP called "Ensam" (Alone). One of my favorites from that album.

 

[mso489]

He was a protege of Oscar Hammerstein as a teenager and then somewhat revolutionized the form of the Broadway musical that was becoming a sort of feel-good pageant and made it a complex sometimes unsettling art form again. He wrote lying down. He wrote with big soft pencils. A musician friend spent an evening entertaining me and my late wife playing multiple versions of "Send In The Clowns" by different singers, which illustrated the depth and variety of interpretations. He never settled into his fame but kept moving and worked intensely, it is said, right to the end. Way to go.

 

[jguss]

Rich Little is barely dead at all. Like Abe Vigoda people have been falsely announcing his death for years.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Rich Little is barely dead at all. Like Abe Vigoda people have been falsely announcing his death for years.

I'm laughing out loud. We were watching something on TV and it was on mute and his face was on the screen with a date and I swear someone was reporting him dead --- ooops!

Now Abe Vigoda is pretty dead, lol. Tom couldn't get him off the hook that last time, either, even for old time's sake.