Riedel and his all of his right-wing pals' dismissal of Sondheim truly disgusts me. Riedel will go the way of all gossip columnists, mocked and mostly forgotten, as Riedel assumes Sondheim will be here. That isn't remotely what has happened.
I don’t know that it’s entirely a dismissal. Gypsy is referenced as the apogee or whatever and WSS as a great achievement. The young lady, at least, is obviously a fan, and they’ve been trying to get him, Sondheim, on the show for years. It’s just a sad truth that Road Show had neither the cultural impact (arguably out of the creator’s control) or the emotional depth of those early success (the responsibility for which is certainly the creator’s). What’s really interesting is the discussion of Miss Saigon, and Sondheim’s dismissal of it as “a very square show”. I myself would much prefer to see Assassins again than sit through Miss Saigon, but Steyn’s question is a good one: Why is it that a British/Gallic duo comes up with a musical about the defining event of American life in the last half century? Why did the premier American composer of the last half century struggle so much to compete with schlock? Superhero movies, thriller novels, cheesy musicals and unlistenable pop music rule the day. Most of this is the fault of our corporate and cultural overlords, but why didn’t Sondheim become one of them himself? The comparison of Lionel Bart to Andrew Lloyd Weber gets at another side of the issue that is worth considering.
Riedel and his all of his right-wing pals' dismissal of Sondheim truly disgusts me. Riedel will go the way of all gossip columnists, mocked and mostly forgotten, as Riedel assumes Sondheim will be here. That isn't remotely what has happened.
I don’t know that it’s entirely a dismissal. Gypsy is referenced as the apogee or whatever and WSS as a great achievement. The young lady, at least, is obviously a fan, and they’ve been trying to get him, Sondheim, on the show for years.
It’s just a sad truth that Road Show had neither the cultural impact (arguably out of the creator’s control) or the emotional depth of those early success (the responsibility for which is certainly the creator’s).
What’s really interesting is the discussion of Miss Saigon, and Sondheim’s dismissal of it as “a very square show”. I myself would much prefer to see Assassins again than sit through Miss Saigon, but Steyn’s question is a good one: Why is it that a British/Gallic duo comes up with a musical about the defining event of American life in the last half century? Why did the premier American composer of the last half century struggle so much to compete with schlock?
Superhero movies, thriller novels, cheesy musicals and unlistenable pop music rule the day. Most of this is the fault of our corporate and cultural overlords, but why didn’t Sondheim become one of them himself?
The comparison of Lionel Bart to Andrew Lloyd Weber gets at another side of the issue that is worth considering.
Says on the video taped on 2/18/2000
Does Mark have eyebrows?
Arthur Freed was a creep - exposing himself to a 12 yr old Shirley Temple, no?