Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021)
Sunday, November 28, 2021 at 4:44PM by Nathaniel R
Back in the early days of the internet, when listserv discussions were the norm, I remember engaging in a robust discussion about what the best musical ever written was. Someone said "the one about the murderous barber and the meat pies" and online friends began riffing on that response. Answers followed like "fairy tale characters collide" "a commitment-phobe turns 35", "a French pointillist epic " and "the one about old showgirls reuniting / reiminiscing". It took a while before the spell was broken and a musical not written by Stephen Sondheim entered the discussion and even some of those, like "the rise of a burlesque star and her overbearing mother" and "two street gangs in New York City" had Sondheim's fingerprints on them. While the conversation began in a tongue-in-cheek way, the answers were genuine. It was hard to shake the realization that there were at least a half dozen shows by the same artist that could legitimately battle for the title of Greatest Show Ever Written. It was, quite frankly, awe-inducing.
I've never felt more spiritually transported in a Broadway house than during Sunday in the Park with George. And reverence is what everyone who knows what there is to know about musicals feels for Sondheim. Especially now. Nevertheless, a caveat: Reverence is not always the best way to approach art. Sondheim's work is complex and lively and varied enough to invite many moods in. Adjectives that are or should be frequently thrown at his work -- multi-faceted, polyphonic, panoramic, prismatic -- all suggest a difficult plurality...
The greatest gift Sondheim gave to the musical theatre was inviting audiences all the way in. That's ironic since the most frequent criticism of his work is that it is too alienatingly cerebral and non-hummable. The fact is that his shows and songs are emotionally complex, often an impossible mix of ambivalent and deeply felt, so if you want the most out of them you have to not just meet them halfway but enter them. There's no satisfying way to admire then from afar, which is surely why they are so endlessly rewarding to revisit, as you age along with them. It makes perfect sense that so many of his musicals (Company, Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Sundey in the Park with George, Into the Woods) make the passing of time not just subtext but text.
To say that the world lost a giant and a genius this weekend when the composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim passed away at 91 is an unavoidable understatement since it's difficult to overstate the man's gifts...
Sondheim at the piano during a West Side Story rehearsal in the 1950s
Born to well-to-do Jewish parents in New York City, he had a complicated childhood with an emotionally abusive mother and a distant father (who had fought for custody but lost). The celebrated lyricist Oscar Hammerstein (of Carousel, Oklahoma!, Sound of Music fame) became a surrogather father to him when he was still a child, setting him on his musical course.
After writing the lyrics to two mega-popular musicals that immediately entered the American songbook, West Side Story and Gypsy, he broke out on his own writing both music and lyrics from then on While he had success with only his second solo musical (A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum) it was three musicals back to back in the early nineteen-seventies, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, which cemented his status as the heir to Rodgers & Hammerstein throne. While Sondheim's shows were never quite as popular with general audiences as they were with artists, performers, and New York's theater-aficionado crowds, they neverthless deeply permeated popular culture. How many musical theater composers have ever won the Grammy for "Song of the Year". How many musical theater composers get spontaneous tributes within unrelated dramas like the double-Sondheim performance in the riveting Marriage Story (2019). Or get major all-star productions, however compromised (Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd) when Hollywood comes calling.
A break to list the body of work (but the reverence continues thereafter).
Stage Musicals
* if they have already had film versions
Saturday Night (1954)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962)* Tony Award
Anyone Can Whistle (1964)
Company (1970) Tony Award, Grammy Award
Follies (1971). Tony Award
A Little Night Music (1973)* Tony Award, Grammy Award Song of the Year "Send in the Clowns"
Frogs (1974)
Pacific Overtures (1976)
Sweeney Todd (1979)* Tony Award
Merrily We Roll Along (1981)
Sunday in the Park with George (1984) Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Award
Into the Woods (1987)* Tony Award, Grammy Award
Assassins (1990)
Passion (1994) Tony Award, Grammy Award
Bounce/Road Show (2008)
Other Work and Collaborations
West Side Story (1957)* lyrics by
Gypsy (1959)* lyrics by
Do I Hear a Waltz (1965) lyrics by
Evening Primrose (1968) -television musical
The Last of Sheila (1973) -screenplay
Dick Tracy (1990) - Oscar Best Original Song "Sooner or Later"
10 personal favourite Sondheim songs
(in no particular order and changing all the time -I'd love to hear yours, too, as there are no wrong answers to this question but only the joy that answering it brings)
"Sunday" from Sunday in the Park with George
"Good Thing Going" from Merrily We Roll Along
"Being Alive" from Company
"I'm Still Here" from Follies
"Someone in a Tree" from Pacific Overtures
"Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd
"Agony" from Into the Woods
"A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd
"Geting Married Today" from Company
"Losing My Mind" from Follies
Sondheim with one of his most celebrated interpreters, Bernadette Peters, for "Into the Woods"
Long before the end of Sondheim's actual life it was already impossible to imagine the musical without him. His list of classics is enviable and the reach of his influence impossible to calculate. That's what happens when you redefine an entire artform.
Not a year has gone by since I moved to New York City in December 1998, that there hasn't been either a majorly buzzy Sondheim revival, a star studded birthday concert, a movie adaptation, or multiple unofficial tributes usually by way of long sets in random performers shows or covers of individual songs from his vast catalogue. One thing we've heard over and over again in personal tributes on social media this weekend, from civilians and celebrities alike, is how privileged we were to live in Sondheim's time. Most artists only get this kind of rapt attention and appreciation around the time of their lifetime achievement awards or deaths, but Sondheim has been inspiring this kind of attention for decades without pause. Shortly before he died he told Stephen Colbert (who had performed in a starry production of Company) the he was writing a new musical. Though it's sad that we will never have a 16th full length musical to enjoy, it's not quite a tragedy either. Sondheim's prolific career basically ended with Passion (1994) but in the twenty-seven years that followed his work has been consistenly reevaluted and performed. And we've barely scratched the surface when it comes to cinematic takes on his work (with so few of his musicals having made that difficult leap)
"Company," currently in previews on Broadway
Just two weeks ago my friend and I (also a Sondheim fanatic) attended the latest Broadway revival of Company. We were completely enraptured though we shared a major quibble --as one might with any singular production of any classic. We talked about it for a long time after and compared it to the Raul Esparza led revival (2004) and even to the original production, if only by way of D.A. Pennebaker's classic documentary Original Cast Recording Company (1970) since we weren't yet around for that debut. We agreed that the gender-swapping of the lead role might continue in future revivals since it works surprisingly well, managing to modernize the text without really changing it. I loved the interpretation and staging of "Ladies Who Lunch" though I wasn't expecting to (confession: I am infinitely more of an Elaine Stritch gay than a Patti Lupone gay.)
A week later, with the production still fresh, and a day before the abrupt news of Sondheim's death we were reommending it to friends over Thanksgiving dinner. I began to feel weirdly grateful for the elements of the current revival that I didn't quite love, a surprisingly pleasant reminder that there can be no "definitive" production of any of Sondheim's musicals any more than there can be a defining take on a Shakespeare play. There's too much room for not just the particulars of the audience but the artists with the glorious task of interpreting the material. It doesn't even feel like hyperbole to put the names side by side. Sondheim has died but like other immortals of the arts, he also can't. His work will live forever.
He finished the hat. Where there never was as hat. But, also: the hat will never be finished.
Reader Comments (22)
Beautiful words Nathaniel!
Thank you.
His was only the second artist death that made me cry; the first one was Philip Seymour Hoffman.
His impact will last longer than all of us.
Thank you. #SondheimForever
Great article. You could always tell the real theater queens from the dilettantes at your Christmas parties. The real ones would talk about Sondheim. The dilettantes would bring up Lloyd Webber.
You know, when Spielberg announced he was remaking WEST SIDE STORY I sighed and wondered why nobody every thinks about remaking the great musical that was truly botched when. it was turned into a film: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. THAT needs a new version from a talented filmmaker. The way that perfectly captures the soul of Bergman's SMILES OF A SUMEMR NIGHT in music is a real miracle. One genius building off of another.
I guess we'll never see his adaptation of THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, huh? I"m assuming it wasn't finished, but one can hope.
stay with me - into the woods
not a day goes by - merrily we roll along
move on - sunday in the park with george
getting married today - company
comedy tonight - a funny thing happened on the way to the forum
ballad of booth - assassins
Beautiful tribute, Nathaniel. Thank you for this.
It's hard for me to put into words what Sondheim meant to me as an artist, and I could spend hours gushing about his music. Suffice it to say that if there are any TFE readers who are unfamiliar with his work, there's no time like the present. I'm almost jealous of those who haven't committed all his scores to memory already; I would love to be able to go back and experience any of them for the first time again. I mourned on Friday by rewatching the concert staged at Lincoln Center in 2010 for Sondheim's 80th birthday—which I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone. It's maybe the finest collection of Broadway talent ever assembled on one stage.
My favorite Sondheim songs are almost impossible to choose, but these three will always make the list: Losing My Mind (Follies); Being Alive (Company); and Finishing the Hat (Sunday in the Park with George).
I'm not entirely familiar with Sondheim though I do know who he was as well as know that he was a big fucking deal.
I do remember him in South Park being portrayed as a BRO where, Sir Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and another Broadway giant are upset at Randy Marsh for making a play as they're all eating junk food at a sports bar.
With his passing, the three contemporary musician-songwriters who most delighted me as an audience and inspired me as a performing artist have now all joined the ranks of the ancestors: Sondheim, Bowie and Prince. To me, this is truly the end of an era, a time for silent reflection. (Well, I’ll be silent, there’s lots of music to keep me—no pun intended—company.)
Speaking of which, ten favorites (in alpha order):
“Being Alive” (Company)
“God, That’s Good!” (Sweeney Todd)
“Good Thing Going” (Merrily We Roll Along)
“I'm Still Here” (Follies)
“The Ladies Who Lunch” (Company)
“Loving You” (Passion)
“Not a Day Goes By” (Merrily We Roll Along)
“Now/Soon/Later” (A Little Night Music)
“Pretty Women” (Sweeney Todd)
“The Worst Pies in London” (Sweeney Todd)
Three honorable mentions:
“The Miller’s Son” (A Little Night Music)
“A Weekend in the Country” (A Little Night Music)
“You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through” (Follies)
Wonderful remembrance. One fan's top 10 list (no order):
Being Alive
Finishing the Hat
Move On
Johanna
Agony
It Takes Two
A Little Priest
Comedy Tonight
Into the Woods Prologue
Not While I'm Around
A wonderful tribute, beautiful writing as always, Nat!
My Broadway knowledge is severely limited, but even I was saddened by this loss.
• I’m glad Working Stiff mentioned “Loving You” from Passion. It’s not one of his most popular shows at all, but Passion is the one that I’ve revisited a lot over the last couple years. The score is so lush and the feelings it depicts and evokes are so intense and overwhelming.
• I feel like the only way to do a discussion like this – where you have an artist whose depth and breadth is non pareil in his field is to almost cheat and break everything down to as many component parts as you can. What’s your favourite line in a Sondheim song? What’s you’re favourite rhyming couplet? What’s your favourite internal rhyme? What’s your favourite book musical moment, favourite book moment, etc etc etc – just so you can squeeze so much genius in. I’m gonna do just that (maybe not so extreme). In honour of the film bitch awards, I’ll go gold-silver-bronze
Best Solo, Actress
Gold: “Could I Leave You?” from Follies
Silver: “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music
Bronze: “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy
Also “The Miller’s Son,” “I’m Still Here,” “Losing My Mind,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “The Ladies Who Lunch” and….
Best Solo, Actor
Gold: “The Road You Didn’t Take,” Follies
Silver: “Finishing the Hat,” Sunday in the Park With George
Bronze: “Epiphany,” Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Also “Being Alive,” “Free,” “Giants in the Sky”
Best Duet
Gold: “Move On,” Sunday in the Park With George
Silver: “The Ballad of Booth,” Assassins
Bronze: “No One Has Ever Loved Me,” Passion
Also: “Agony,” “A Very Nice Prince,” “Unworthy of Your Love,” “We Do Not Belong Together,” “Tonight”
Best Group Song
Gold: “Sunday,” Sunday in the Park With George
Silver: “Quintet,” West Side Story
Bronze: “Another National Anthem: Assassins
Also: “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” “Our Time,” “Putting it Together”
Best Story/Narrative Song
Gold: “Now/Later/Soon,” A Little Night Music
Silver: “Someone in a Tree,” Pacific Overtures
Bronze: “Prologue,” Into the Woods
Also “A Weekend in the Country,” “Ever After,” “Getting Married Today:
Lovely tribute, Nathaniel - thank you.
The impact this man had on my life is almost too great to put into words. I don't know the exact moment when his music entered my life but I do know that as far back as I can remember I have known of Sondheim and his brilliance.
This loss has really struck me more than any artists passing of my lifetime. I adore musical theatre as an art form and his entire catalog is just beautiful. While I am saddened not to have an original piece by him premiere during my lifetime I at least have all his shows to listen to over and over again.
Seeing so many in my online life poor out their loving feelings for Sondheim makes me so happy as this mans work has earned many's love.
Looking at the lack of film adaptations of his work is heartbreaking as his musicals are deserving of praise and bigger audiences which a film release just gives.
Sondheim's death was not unexpected, but I felt such a sense of loss. Sondheim's music has been a part of my life for so long that it's hard to accept that his genial presence will no longer be around.
I spent a few hours wading through the tributes, but mostly I have been watching the you tube versions of his birthday concerts. This may sound maudlin, but actually it's been a balm to my soul. I can't narrow down my favourites to just 10, but I will speak up for some songs that are slightly underappreciated.
1. "Anyone Can Whistle" (original, or Barbara Cook, or Patti Lapone)
2. " I Remember Sky" (Laura Benanti)
3. "Another 100 people" (Seth Rudetsky deconstruction)
4. "Everybody loves a Maid" (BBC Sondheim Birthday version)
People use the word genius too freely, but Sondheim was a genius about the human experience and he covered such a remarkable range. We were lucky.
Can someone talented with both stage and screen direction (like Julie Taymor or Sam Mendes) PLEASE make a movie version of Follies? Why are we getting another West Side Story when there are still so many unfilmed Sondheim shows? Follies seems especially cinematic and would be an actressexual feast. I’ve done the heavy lifting and already figured out the perfect cast, listed below (you’re welcome). Now make it happen, universe.
As Sally Durant Plummer: Imelda Staunton (Her performance of "Losing My Mind" is on YouTube and is a must-watch)
As Phyllis Rogers Stone: Donna Murphy (Duh.)
As Carlotta Campion: Whoopi Goldberg (She needs to return to acting and would kill “I’m Still Here”)
As Hattie Walker: Jennifer Coolidge (Just imagine her cooing to “Broadway Baby.”)
As Stella Deems: Harvey Fierstein (Honestly, I think even an all-drag version of Follies would work.)
As Solange LaFitte: Catherine Deneuve (Who else?)
As Benjamin Stone: Brian Stokes Mitchell
As Buddy Plummer: Nathan Lane
Thanks for this, Nathaniel.
I want to echo something I've seen a bit on social media--the fact that without pro-shots aired on PBS Great Performances and subsequent VHS then DVD versions, and various "concert" performances also aired on television, many of us might not have ever discovered the wonders of Sondheim. As a huge theater fan, because NOTHING beats the experience of live theater, I am also very supportive of filmed performances, not to be confused with film adaptations.
Still thinking about my favorite Sondheim songs, but want to note that the lyrics for Gee, Officer Krupke and America are still so relevant years later.
@ Doug
The Follies film is in the works—will be directed (at this writing) by Dominic Cooke (the 2017 National Theater Follies with Imelda Staunton, who should definitely not be cast as Sally—see what her brilliant replacement Joanna Riding did with "Losing My Mind" in that same production).
Send in the Clowns
Every Day a Little Death
Liaisons
A Weekend in the Country
Putting It Together
Not a Day Goes By
Your Fault/Last Midnight
Not Getting Married
Marry Me a Little
Being Alive
A lovely tribute, Nathaniel. He was quite a guy.
Top Ten Songs
Putting It Together
Everybody Says Don't
Send in the Clowns
Being Alive
Not While I'm Around
Tonight
I'm Still Here
Some People
America
I Feel Pretty
Well done (again, as usual), Nathaniel.
I'm not that educated in Broadway, so my favorites of his are some of the big ones:
"Send in the Clowns"
"I'm Still Here"
"What Can You Lose?"
"America"
"Putting It Together"
Well done (again, as usual), Nathaniel.
I'm not that educated in Broadway, so my favorites of his are some of the big ones:
"Send in the Clowns"
"I'm Still Here"
"What Can You Lose?"
"America"
"Putting It Together"
Anyone Can Whistle
Later
Franklin Shepard, Inc
Joanna
Love I Hear
Who Could Be Blue
What Can You Lose
Silly People
Goodbye For Now
If You Can Find Me, I'm Here