I enjoy hearing Broadway show scores performed in foreign languages. A few years ago there was a thrilling Brazilian recording of Company, the George Furth and Stephen Sondheim musical. And now we have the first Spanish language version starring Antonio Banderas as Bobby. According to Broadway World: In addition to playing the title role of … Continue reading Company en Español
Sondheim
Agony
Here’s a video of the recording of the song “Agony” for the 2022 cast recording of Into the Woods. Gavin Creel and Joshua Henry sing the roles of Cinderella’s Prince and Rapunzel’s Prince (note the irony of the the male roles being named for their relationship to women, usually it’s the other way around.
Two Lansbury Stories
In preparation for Angela Lansbury’s receiving her lifetime special Tony Award tonight, I offer two stories in which she is featured. By happenstance Stephen Sondheim appears in them as well. This first story was related over 20 years ago on the Sondheim mail list, and while I can’t confirm its veracity, it sounds like something … Continue reading Two Lansbury Stories
Stephen and Mary
I’m reading, or rather re-reading Steve Swayne’s book How Sondheim Found His Sound, as I first read it in 2005 when it was published. Of course, I’ve forgotten a lot since first reading it, but one quote from Mary Rodgers really surprised me. Mary Rodgers, as I’m sure you know, was a composer of musicals such as Once … Continue reading Stephen and Mary
No, No Español
After the recent passing of Stephen Sondheim I discovered a podcast devoted to his work that’s been going on for nigh four years. The format is straightforward: take each Sondheim show in sequence and examine one song at a time. Starting, of course, with West Side Story. I’ve been listening to the episodes in sequence, or … Continue reading No, No Español
Octavian’s Theme
From around the age of ten or so, after I had seen the movie version of South Pacific, I became a big fan of Broadway musicals, and it was the music that I listened to the most often. Oh, there were occasional detours into Pop or Rock or Jazz, such as when the Beatles invaded America, or … Continue reading Octavian’s Theme
Seven Keys to Forum
If memory serves, my very first exposure to a certain composer was the opening theme music that was used on the game show Seven Keys which was hosted by Jack Narz. Listen to the first 30 seconds or so of this episode from 1960 and see if you recognize the music that is being played as … Continue reading Seven Keys to Forum
Porgy and Steve and Bess
Stephen Sondheim famously did not like opera, or at least among those of us who followed him, he was famous for disliking opera. But there were exceptions. He did like Berg’s Wozzeck and Britten’s Peter Grimes, and most important of all, he loved Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. (Given that Sondheim often expressed his disdain for recitative, I would … Continue reading Porgy and Steve and Bess
Ned, Ned, Bo-Bed
Just before attending the Sondheim interview conducted by Ned Rorem (as I described in the previous post) back in March of 2000, I sent a note to the Sondheim mailing list to let others know a bit more about Rorem. There had just been an interesting interview with Rorem (conducted by Bernard Jacobson) in the March/April … Continue reading Ned, Ned, Bo-Bed
Close Encounters With Sondheim
Alas, I never met Stephen Sondheim, but I did have a couple, shall we say, close encounters with the man. The first was in 1983, when there was a fund raiser for a musical theater organization here in Philadelphia. It was entitled An Evening With Stephen Sondheim and Friends, I believe, and tickets cost a hundred … Continue reading Close Encounters With Sondheim