Stephen Sondheim's Legacy | THEATER: All the Moving Parts
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2023
- On November 26, 2021, Stephen Sondheim passed away and since then Everything's Coming Up…Sondheim: Major revivals of “Company,” “Into the Woods,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Sweeney Todd” and now, “Here We Are,” a posthumous world premiere at NYC’s The Shed. No better time than now for host Patrick Pacheco to chat with London critic David Benedict, Juan A. Ramírez, Chief Critic of Theatrely, Ruthie Fierberg, Executive Editor of “Broadway News,” blogger Matt Koplik of “Broadway Breakdown” and Elizabeth Wollman, Professor of Music at CUNY’s Baruch College. Excerpts from several of Sondheim’s shows enliven commentaries which are informative, insightful, funny and moving. But then how could it be otherwise especially when Sondheim himself in video speaks of his passions, insecurities and challenges. His titanic legacy recalls the story of Georges Seurat in his masterpiece, “Sunday in the Park with George,” which ends, “White. A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities.”
Guest List:
David Benedict, Stephen Sondheim Authorized Biographer
Ruthie Fierberg, Executive Editor, Broadway News
Matt Koplik, Host, Broadway Breakdowns
Juan A. Ramirez, Chief Critic, Theatrely
Elizabeth Wollman, Professor of Music, Baruch College
Tape Date: 08/01/2023 First Air Date: 08/25/2023
On THEATER: All the Moving Parts, host Patrick Pacheco looks beyond the spotlight at the passionate and unheralded creative talents that are critical to the theatrical experience. From costumer designers to dramaturges and everything in between, Patrick looks at all the moving parts of a Broadway production.
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Ask David Benedict when he's gonna finish that biography!
I stumbled on this interview never intended to see it through its final word. I don’t leave comments, but this one deserved a minute more of my time. I was entertained listening to these questions from Patrick Pacheco about Stephen Sondheim and found the thoughtful answers from Ruthie Fierberg, Juan Ramirez, Matt Koplik warm and caring to Stephen’s memory. Well done
It was nice to get a younger perspective on Sondheim.
Thank you so much for airing this!!!! 💕💕
Simply Terrific! Thanks!!!!!!!
Super fascinating to hear all the differing points of view!
I think Benedict is conflating composers on one point: I don't think Kander's (or Ebb's) success really rankled him as much as Jerry Herman's. (And who could blame him after that lousy Tony Awards dig in 1984!) The three of them "came up" together in the same musical theatre circles in the 1950s and 60s, and when Frank Rich profiled him for this 70th birthday, he sadly, but pointedly, reflected that "only John and Freddie" were the writers left of his contemporaries still seriously writing and pushing to get new stuff on. There was admiration there.
To be fair to Benedict, I didn't hear him anywhere say that Kander and Ebb's success rankled Sondheim. As you said, they were friends (Kander of course did the dance music for Gypsy as well as being one of the rehearsal pianists.) And while Kander and Ebb had two massive blockbusters, Cabaret and Chicago, which now, with Chicago's life post revival, absolutely have permeated the culture, as well as a number of songs from various projects that have become a part of the mainstream, they still, till the very end, took on fascinating projects that more often than not weren't really hits. Those hits that ran longer than Sondheim shows (and keep coming back in revivals) as well as leading to movies that really entered the Zeitgeist (as well as some shows that didn't run quite as long but were undoubtedly successes both brave experiments like a fave of mine, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and some of their more commercial and bland entertainments like Woman of the Year) can skewer our take on their career as a hole, but a lot of it is made up of experiments that weren't really successes (and unlike Sondheim, don't get revived by regional groups.)
I think Benedict's point was that despite these two massive mainstream hit shows (as well as some mainstream hit songs like New York, New York) John Kander hasn't started to seep into the overall mainstream culture the way Sondheim has as a figure himself. In the past 10-20 years especially, you can name drop Sondheim and a lot of people will have at least some vague sense of who you mean. While you could do the same with the shows Cabaret and Chicago, John Kander as a name doesn't have the same clout.
At least that's how I heard it. At any rate, I could be wrong, but David Benedict *never* says anything about Sondheim's view on Kander's shows or work.
(Of course Herman himself only had three hit shows, but they were BIG hits... But that's another discussion.)
In 1984, Jerry Herman had had almost two decades of disappointment. His last real hit had been *Mame,* in 1966. I'm sure his remarks in his 1984 Tony Award acceptance speech for *La Cage* were not so much intended as a dig at Sondheim as an expression of his gratitude and joy that after all that time, there was still a place for him and his music in the Broadway theatre.
That's one take on it ;) (Actually I think you're right, but I have heard that Sondheim took it as a personal slight--from someone who was with him after the awards, but maybe that's on him.) @@oliverbrownlow5615
How terrific!
I think these young people represent the people Sondheim resented the most and was trying to escape from in his upbringing. (Even Parodied in his work) they’re opinions mean very little.
The problem with asking junior critics and bloggers to opine about what does or doesn't work in Sondheim's body of work is they haven't been around long enough to know what they're talking about. I've certainly seen productions of Merrily We Roll Along that fully worked (Donmar Warehouse in 2000 chief among them), and I've seen deeply moving productions of Pacific Overtures (also Donmar).
true...the Donmar Pacific Overtures production was a revelation to me...worked on all levels ..great memory!
Everyone has to start somewhere
Porchlight Theatre here in Chicago put on a wonderful production of Merrily We Roll Along in 2018 that was fantastic. I appreciated the form of it and it's a show that does well with a smaller orchestra. What Merrily says about people and friendships is remarkable.
love this video. But Eric Clapton is god.
"so unique" not proper. Something is either unique (one of a kind) or not.