{"id":373346,"date":"2021-11-28T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T21:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/stephen-sondheim-was-a-seismic-broadway-force\/"},"modified":"2021-11-28T00:00:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T21:00:37","slug":"stephen-sondheim-was-a-seismic-broadway-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/stephen-sondheim-was-a-seismic-broadway-force\/","title":{"rendered":"#Stephen Sondheim was a seismic Broadway force"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Stephen Sondheim was a seismic Broadway force<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/michael-riedel.png?w=76&amp;h=69&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Michael Riedel\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/michael-riedel.png 76w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/michael-riedel.png?w=38 38w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\"\/>        <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As the houselights went down the other week on the first performance of \u201cCompany\u201d since the COVID shutdown, an old man, wearing a ratty sweater, slipped into the theater from a side entrance. <\/p>\n<p>If he hoped to be unobtrusive, he failed. The audience recognized him im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely \u2013 Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the show\u2019s score. The crowd leapt up, its thunderous cheering causing a<br \/>minor seismic shock in Times Square.<\/p>\n<p>You couldn\u2019t see Sondheim\u2019s face \u2013 masking is strictly enforced on Broadway \u2013 but I have no doubt it flashed that sly grin that always seemed to say (to me at least), \u201cThanks for the recognition, but let\u2019s not get carried away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sondheim, who died Friday at 91, was the most feted musical theater legend since Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Starting from the time he was 60, his every major birthday (and some minor ones) were celebrated in grand style \u2013 at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Royal Albert Hall, The Library of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think my actual funeral will be an afterthought,\u201d he once joked to me.<\/p>\n<p>If he was slightly cynical about the never-ending stream of tributes, it\u2019s probably because it took him years, and plenty of setbacks, to become a Broadway icon.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"805\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=805\" alt=\"Stephen Sondheim\" class=\"wp-image-20289154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1610 1610w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1208 1207w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=805 805w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=403 402w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-10.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 805px) 100vw, 805px\"\/><figcaption>Sondheim\u2019s Broadway debut was \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>His first Broadway show was \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d for which he wrote the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein\u2019s symphonic score. The New York Times, praising the show, did not mention him. <\/p>\n<p>Critics admired the lyrics to his next show \u2013 \u201cGypsy\u201d \u2013 but saved most of their adoration for his far more famous collaborators \u2013 composer Jule Styne, director Jerome Robbins and leading lady Ethel Merman.<\/p>\n<p>Sondheim then wrote the music and lyrics to \u201cA Funny Thing H<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ened on the Way to the Forum,\u201d a sensational musical comedy with a jaunty, tuneful, jolly score. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"674\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\" Dance rehearsals for 'West Side Story', a film musical directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, with words and music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. \" class=\"wp-image-20289157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Dance rehearsals for \u201cWest Side Story\u201d in 1960.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Ernst Haas\/Ernst Haas\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He could have cranked out more shows like \u201cForum,\u201d but it was not in his nature to repeat himself. And so, with director Hal Prince, he embarked on a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of dramatic shows that elevated the musical theater from diverting entertainment to art. <\/p>\n<p>The shows \u2013 \u201cCompany,\u201d \u201cFollies,\u201d \u201cA Little Night Music,\u201d \u201cSweeney Todd\u201d \u2013are now classics. But with the exception of \u201cNight Music,\u201d all lost money and left audiences and many critics cold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSweeney Todd,\u201d about the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, didn\u2019t just leave audiences cold. It enraged them. During intermission of the first preview in 1979, a sweet matinee lady walked up to the producer and yelled, \u201cCannibalism \u2014 on Broadway? I never!\u201d Then she hit the producer with her purse.<\/p>\n<p>The rap against Sondheim back then was that while his lyrics were clever and witty, his sophisticated music lacked catchy tunes. (His only pop hit, in fact, was the incomparable \u201cSend in the Clowns\u201d from \u201cNight Music.\u201d) <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-21.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Sondheim\" class=\"wp-image-20289376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-21.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-21.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-21.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>It was not in Sondheim\u2019s nature to repeat himself when creating.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Irving Penn\/Cond\u00e9 Nast\/Shutters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The rap was wrong and unfair. Melodies \u2013 snappy, tender, witty and warm \u2013 flow through all his scores. \u201cSide By Side\u201d from \u201cCompany\u201d is a showstopper. \u201cLosing My<br \/>Mind\u201d from \u201cFollies\u201d will break your heart. \u201cEvery Day a Little Death\u201d from \u201cNight Music\u201d has haunted me for years. And is there a funnier song, musically and lyrically, in all of musical theater than \u201cA Little Priest\u201d from \u201cSweeney Todd\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Todd and Mrs. Lovett are discussing the kinds of people they\u2019re going to kill and grind into meat pies. <\/p>\n<p>She: \u201cHere\u2019s a politician so oily, he\u2019s served with a doily. Have one.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He: \u201cPut it on a bun. Well, you never know if it\u2019s going to run!\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-17.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Stephen Sondheim\" class=\"wp-image-20289209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-17.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-17.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-17.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Sondheim\u2019s songs were always rooted in a dramatic moment from the show.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sondheim did not sit at the piano and crank out hits. He could not \u201cpee a melody,\u201d as Richard Rodgers once bragged he could. For Sondheim, the songs came slowly, sometimes painfully, and were always rooted in a dramatic moment from the show. <\/p>\n<p>James Lapine, who wrote the script to \u201cSunday in the Park With George\u201d \u2013 for which he and Sondheim won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 \u2013 catalogs in his memoir \u201cPutting It Together\u201d the number of scenes, ideas and snatches of dialogue he had to supply Sondheim before Sondheim could sit at the piano.<\/p>\n<p>Outside \u201cSunday,\u201d \u201cFinishing the Hat,\u201d one of his best songs, might sound baffling. But within the context of the show it shimmers with beauty, and captures, perhaps better than anything ever written, an artist\u2019s obsession with getting the work just right.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-11.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and guest Stephen Sondheim during Wednesdays September 15, 2021 show. \" class=\"wp-image-20289214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-11.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-11.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-11.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Stephen Sondheim appeared as a guest on \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert\u201d on Sept. 15, 2021. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">CBS via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In person, Sondheim was as complex as his shows. Close friends say he was kind, wise, and generous. But, depending on his mood, he could be prickly. In all the years I\u2019ve covered Broadway, I never got to know him. He claimed to be above the kind of showbiz gossip I peddled, preferring instead the company of his acolytes at the New York Times. But whenever I emailed him a question for an article or a book I was working on, he always got right back to me with a helpful answer.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the prickliness was never far below the surface. A few weeks ago, I found the sheet music to \u201cSend in the Clowns,\u201d which I learned to play on the piano as a kid. I asked if he\u2019d sign it for me. He wrote back immediately: \u201cI once asked you not to print a letter I wrote to Arthur [Laurents] that criticized Leslie Uggams because I didn\u2019t want to hurt her feelings in public. You printed it anyway. So I\u2019m not inclined to do you any favors.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"A tribute in flowers left outside of the Stephen Sondheim Theatre located at 124 W43rd Street in New York, NY on November 26, 2021. \" class=\"wp-image-20289224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>A tribute in flowers left outside of the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York on Nov. 26, 2021. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Christopher Sadowski<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I had no idea what he was talking about, but when I rummaged around the Post\u2019s website, there it was: a bitchy column I wrote in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Fair enough, I thought. But a week later, I got a call from the press agent for the new movie of \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d Sondheim was arranging a private screening for some theater people and wanted to include me.<\/p>\n<p>Just the other day I wrote him a note about the movie. This time, sadly, there was no reply.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/11\/27\/stephen-sondheim-was-a-seismic-broadway-force\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Stephen Sondheim was a seismic Broadway force&#8221; As the houselights went down the other week on the first performance of \u201cCompany\u201d since the COVID shutdown, an old man, wearing a ratty sweater, slipped into the theater from a side entrance. If he hoped to be unobtrusive, he failed. The audience recognized him immediately \u2013 Stephen&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":373347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/sondheim-obit-comp-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[120425,29467,70418,70255,5200,96450],"class_list":["post-373346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-27-21","tag-broadway","tag-broadway-musicals","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-obituaries","tag-stephen-sondheim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}