Sondheim:  Finishing the Hat

Sondheim: Finishing the Hat

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday In the Park with George opened on Broadway in 1984 starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. Act One centers around Georges Seurat as he paints his pointillistic masterpiece, Un dimanche...
Sondheim:  Epiphany from Sweeney Todd

Sondheim: Epiphany from Sweeney Todd

I’m a huge Sondheim fan. When I was 12, my father took me to a preview on Broadway of Sweeney Todd starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. He told me this was a new musical by Sondheim and that it was a masterpiece—Sondheim’s best yet. (I already loved Company and A...
Sondheim: Buddy’s Blues

Sondheim: Buddy’s Blues

For me, “Follies” is the greatest of all modern musicals. But it’s almost impossible to get it just right in production. James Goldman’s book is difficult—brilliant but somewhat flawed—so it needs a subtle, clever director. The cast is large, and everyone, from...
Song of the Day: September 23

Song of the Day: September 23

from librettist Mark Campbell: Being Alive Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim I had to include a Sondheim song this week. Had to. “Being Alive” is not necessarily my favorite song from the Sondheim canon—but I have to admit that in my long and varied romantic life,...