Ian Bowkett writes: It is deeply unfortunate that on the 90th birthday of legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim we are in the midst of a period without access to live musical theatre. However, that does make this the perfect time to scour YouTube for our favourite renditions of his songs to take us away to happier places and happier times. Here is an abridged run-through of the major works of his career, including my personal picks for essential performances of his songs. I encourage you all to comment and tweet your own favourites so I can kick myself for forgetting to include them here.
West Side Story:
Sondheim first gained notoriety as the lyricist for 1957’s West Side Story, working alongside composer Leonard Bernstein and bookwriter Arthur Laurents to craft an edgy, revolutionary take on Romeo and Juliet that still tops many “best musical” lists to this day. The 1961 film version is rightfully regarded as a classic and subsequent productions continue to find new beauty in the endlessly rich raw material. And of course – as for any given piece of art – The Muppets make it even better.
Gypsy:
Sondheim’s next major project was another Laurents collaboration. This time they teamed up with composer Jule Styne to tell the story of Rose, the quintessential stage mom. She dedicates her entire life to a vision of what her daughters could be, but as they find happiness on other paths she has a breakdown, culminating in the epic 11 o’clock number: ‘Rose’s Turn’. This song was hastily written to fragments of Styne’s music, cut and pasted together by Sondheim in one fevered, all-night session during rehearsals. Due the unfortunate unavailability of video footage from my many, many shower-based renditions, Imelda Staunton’s award-winning performance in the 2015 West End revival will have to do.
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum:
Keen to not be pigeonholed as a lyricist, Sondheim composed both the music and lyrics for this 1962 Ancient Roman farce, with a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. As a strictly comedic show it was something of a departure from Sondheim’s more serious previous work, but it allowed him to show off his unparalleled skill with wordplay and musical pastiche. The show was a huge commercial success and it spawned a star-studded 1968 film adaptation, featuring Buster Keaton’s last ever motion picture performance.
Company:
In 1970 Sondheim changed the game once more with Company. This concept musical (with a book by George Furth) has a loose plot revolving around a man called Robert: a bachelor in his thirties struggling to understand romantic love while surrounded by his coupled-up yet clearly still bonkers friends. In 2018, Marianne Elliott revived the show for London’s West End with some lyric adjustments by Sondheim, recasting the main character as a woman. Rosalie Craig’s enormously loveable performance as Bobbie (alongside a never-more-iconic Patti LuPone as her friend Joanne) repositioned the show as a commentary on modern dating and the social pressures felt by today’s single women. Hopefully soon to reopen on Broadway with Katrina Lenk, this interpretation works so well that it feels strange the show was ever anything but.
Follies:
Only one year later in 1971, Sondheim collaborated with bookwriter James Goldman on Follies, a show about retired revue dancers confronting the life-altering decisions they made in their youth, decisions that still haunt them. It all culminates with what might be Sondheim’s most emotionally-devastating song: ‘Losing My Mind’. There is a disco cover of this number by Liza Minnelli and Pet Shop Boys that is absolutely bananas and is important to note for no other reason than the sheer audacity of its existence. Follies’ 2017 London revival was perhaps the most extravagant ever and we must keep our fingers crossed that the National Theatre will follow the lead of other theatre companies and release a digital version soon to help us through these difficult times.
A Little Night Music:
1973’s A Little Night Music is a loose musical adaptation of the film Smiles of a Summer Night by Ingmar Bergman, adapted for the stage by bookwriter Hugh Wheeler. On the surface, it is a light and accessibly comic work that you are bound to fall in love with. After all, its songs are all written in bouncy waltz time signatures and with such lovely Blue Danube-y music how can you be downcast? However, as with all of Sondheim’s work, there are always very real human emotions bubbling just below the surface, emotions which find an outlet in his most famous and most covered song, ‘Send in the Clowns’. This song has been made a hit single by many artists, including Frank Sinatra and Judy Collins, but it is rumoured that Judi Dench’s rendition is Sondheim’s favourite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgyokLt5P88
The Frogs:
This 1974 CE adaptation of the 405 BCE Aristophanes comedy was originally performed by Yale University students including Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, and Christopher Durang. Even more bizarrely, it was performed in the prestigious university’s swimming pool. By all accounts, the production was a nightmare behind the scenes and it appears to be one of Sondheim’s least favourite theatre experiences. However, the 2004 Broadway revival with revisions by Sondheim and Nathan Lane reveals a marvellously buoyant show, packed with Greek mythology jokes, catchy songs anyone can whistle along with, and no signs of the backstage dramas of its original inception.
Pacific Overtures:
Why exactly should a musical based on 19th century Japanese trade policies, built around obscure Eastern musical scales, and performed in the strict Kabuki tradition end up so accessible for a Western audience? Sondheim and bookwriter John Weidman earned ten Tony nominations for this 1967 show which asks a lot of an audience, but rewards one’s attention tenfold with sophisticated musical compositions and moments of true beauty.
Sweeney Todd:
A horror musical? Of course, that shouldn’t work. Bursting into song isn’t usually associated with the macabre, but Sondheim and bookwriter Hugh Wheeler build up such dramatic tension throughout this 1979 show that by the climactic scenes, the audience is on the edge of their seats and desperately racking their brain to come up with any possible ending that wouldn’t be a bloody mess. Of course, the ending is bloody, and utterly thrilling as a result.
Sweeney has become a musical theatre staple, with many big names taking on the iconic roles of the titular murderer and his pie-baking accomplice Mrs Lovett on stage and on film. Fully aware that terrifying drama must feel real, and that reality is as comic as it is tragic, the show features some of Sondheim’s most darkly humorous numbers including the classic wordplay showcase that is ‘A Little Priest’. Bonus link: if you haven’t danced around your living room while blasting His Master’s Fish’s disco cover of ‘The Ballad of Sweeney Todd’ then you have not lived.
Merrily We Roll Along:
Okay, how can 1981 Sondheim make brilliant art from an even more impossible premise? Do an entire show backwards? Sure, why not. If you’re the sort of person who resents others being both superhumanly talented and successful then it might comfort you to read that Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along was a colossal flop upon first opening, lasting only 16 performances on Broadway. Sondheim was incredibly disheartened and even considered retiring afterwards. He eventually returned to musical theatre only to make a smaller scale, Off-Broadway show a full three years later.
However, after a few small but important revisions, Merrily has grown in critical esteem to become a much-beloved and revived show. When done well, it is as funny, as joyous, and as powerfully sad as anything else Sondheim has written. It is tragic to end a show with a person disappointed at how their life has turned out, but it is absolutely devastating to end a show with that same character in their youth, full of wonder, enthusiasm, and hope for a future the audience knows will not be kind.
Sunday in the Park With George:
That smaller Off-Broadway show Sondheim did next? It was this 1984 musical about two artists connected across a century of creative and technological advance: French pointillist pioneer Georges Seurat and a fictional, laser-wielding American, also called George. At its core, this is a show about how amazingly special and important artists are, in a way that could easily come across as self-aggrandising. However, in the hands of Sondheim and bookwriter and director James Lapine, the whole production shines with moments of such incredible beauty that anybody who has ever been moved by a piece of art can relate to its transcendent truth. A rare full-scale West End production starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford is scheduled to open this summer, and we should all pray it is able to. It would be the perfect tonic for this spring’s tragedy.
Into the Woods:
Sondheim’s next collaboration with James Lapine was this immensely successful mashup of popular fairytales. Act one tells the intertwining stories of familiar characters in pursuit of their respective happy endings. This is where the ‘Into the Woods Junior’ schools version of the musical ends, and it is a perfectly pleasant hour of theatre, with just enough satire and wit to satisfy grown-ups as well as children. However, the genius twist of act two shows us the consequences of every happy conclusion, imparting yet deeper morals for each familiar parable: lessons that should be taken from all such fairytales to help adventurers of any age on their journey through the dark woods of life.
Assassins:
Another collaboration with bookwriter John Weidman (and another history-inspired musical), 1990’s Assassins showcases a line-up of fascinating yet disturbing Americans who attempted to murder their president. It is yet another story that isn’t an obvious contender for a fun evening at the musical theatre, but the shifts through different time periods allows Sondheim to again show off his skill of aping musical styles from American history. It is probably the most overtly political of Sondheim’s shows and, sadly, seems to become more and more relevant and vital with each revival.
Passion:
On reading the synopsis of 1994’s Passion, it is hard to believe that it is a show by the same Sondheim/Lapine team that brought us the upbeat fairytale fantasy of Into the Woods. Passion is a dark show about Fosca, a deeply sick, emotionally-troubled woman ruining the life of the only man kind enough to show her pity, despite his attempts to escape her clutches. Yet, after decades of perfecting the art of writing complex characters, Sondheim is able to imbue Fosca with an authentic humanity, and the story itself with a depth that makes moral judgement far from black and white. Like its lead character, although this show is initially uninviting it reveals beauty when given a chance. The original Broadway production starring Donna Murphy is utterly sublime and anybody who has ever felt love or mourned its absence owes it to themselves to pour themselves a glass of wine and sit down to watch this show of an evening.
Road Show:
Sondheim’s most recent musical is his third collaboration with John Weidman, based on the true story of the Mizner Brothers’ business adventures in early twentieth century America. This show went through many revisions and title changes and never quite established itself at the same level of commercial success as previous Sondheim musicals. However, it is beloved by musical theatre aficionados and is rich with fantastic music and truly touching character moments.
And that pretty much brings us up-to-date. Stephen Sondheim has been hard at work on a new musical based on the films of Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel, and hopefully one day soon we will have more wonderful musical theatre magic to enjoy. Until that day comes, what are your favourite pieces of Sondheim? Please do share your picks in the comments and on twitter so we can spend some the next few weeks enjoying the very best of our greatest musical theatre treasure, instead of worrying about the world outside.
Finally, of course, thank you to the maestro himself for crafting these brilliant works and bringing so much joy to so many theatre, music, and movie fans over the years. Here’s to many more.
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