Stephen Sondheim has died.

[orbitz]

I just read on tzm.com that Stephen Sondheim has died. RIP. I know he was up there in age, but it's still kind of shocking to hear. Just last night I was watching his latest interview with Stephen Colbert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSYeMgamIA

 

[AxelAnnie]

Oh man. That is huge loss.
So many fabulous songs and productions. A particular favorite of mine is "Sunday in the Park with George". Mandy Petankin n Bernadette Peters.

And Send in the Clowns.The Song has been sung by by some really wonderful performers...Barbra Streisand sang it and Judy ioWCollins. And Barb sang interpretation..it with Susan Boyle. My absolute hands down favorite is Glynis ionJohns. Such an emotional
Rendition.


INg

 

[MacMadame]

I'm crushed. I had always hoped to meet him.

 

[chantilly]

 

[MsZem]

What an incredible legacy he's left.

Letters of Note has been retweeting some of the supportive letters that people got from Sondheim over the years, and how much it meant to them. This from Lin-Manuel Miranda offers some insight into Sondheim's perspective on that.

 

[text_skate]

 

[Cachoo]

I was thinking about him after watching Tick Tick Boom and how he went out of his way to support young talent. What a remarkable career…how many of us have been touched by his genius? ️

 

[allezfred]

Was just watching TV last night and saw Sarah Vaughan's version of "Send In The Clowns"

 

[floskate]

Very sad to hear this news but he lived a great life and left an enduring legacy. In 1996 in just my third job out of drama school, I was cast in a regional UK production of Sweeney Todd at what was the Leicester Haymarket Theatre (Leicester being where Richard III is buried). We did a three month run and the director would often mention that Stephen may well pop in and see it, you never know. We all just thought that was the directors way of keeping us on our toes. I mean, why on earth would Stephen Sondheim want to come to Leicester???

One day I was running late so hot footed it through the theatre cafe to backstage just as the half was called. In my hurry I bumped into someone coming up teh stairs; none other than Stephen Sondheim with our director. My eyes widened, I mumbled an apology and scurried away to tell the whole cast who I had just seen. I'm not sure they all believed me until after the show when teh great man appeared in our dressing room to compliment us on a great performance. He was so lovely and we the boys of teh ensemble were tongue-tied fools who just about managed to keep repeating nervous thank yous through even more nervous laughter.

It's not everyone who can say they performed Sondheim to Sondheim but I can, and to this day it is one of my proudest achievements.

 

[MacMadame]

We did a three month run and the director would often mention that Stephen may well pop in and see it, you never know. We all just thought that was the directors way of keeping us on our toes. I mean, why on earth would Stephen Sondheim want to come to Leicester???

I think he does that. When my High School put on WSS, he came to see it. (He's an alum so it wasn't random.)

So I guess I can say I sat in the same theater with him. I still wanted to actually meet him though.

This story isn't as cool as @floskate's. But it shows what kind of a man he was that he didn't think anyone doing theater was beneath him and was encouraging to so many.

 

[VGThuy]

I posted by condolences in the Broadway thread without knowing there was a dedicated one to him already. This is extremely sad news. He with Rodgers/Hammerstein (and Lorenz Hart and the Gershwins with Jerome Kern before them) really cultivated and created Broadway as one of the best American cultural exports around the world.

If the first generation first put poetry in song into a story, Rodgers/Hammerstein put the book on the forefront and made drama the emphasis of their musicals by marrying plot and character with song and dance into one cohesive package.

Sondheim took what he learned from the previous R/H generation, with Oscar Hammerstein as his mentor, and took the book musical and subverted it into experimental and, at times, abstract places - tackling contemporary issues facing the increasingly niche Broadway audiences and forcing them to confront them.

The prologue of Into the Woods is still I believe the best opening of any musical there is. Doing away with hummable ear worms that more traditional (and talented) Broadway composers use, he opted for complicated wordplay, measures, and beats to marry song, prose, and plot into one giant storytelling device. Not everyone likes it, but you can see the sheer genius and craft behind it.

Sondheim led the way for Jonathan Larson and Lin Manuel Miranda in their work.

 

[canbelto]

He lived such a rich, full life. You feel sad yes but also know that his legacy will live on and that he probably died in his sleep a happy man.

 

[bardtoob]

 

[Simone411]

Oh man. That is huge loss.
So many fabulous songs and productions. A particular favorite of mine is "Sunday in the Park with George". Mandy Petankin n Bernadette Peters.

And Send in the Clowns.The Song has been sung by by some really wonderful performers...Barbra Streisand sang it and Judy ioWCollins. And Barb sang interpretation..it with Susan Boyle. My absolute hands down favorite is Glynis ionJohns. Such an emotional
Rendition.


INg

And I loved Barbra's interpretation of the song when I saw it on TV several years ago. I found it on YouTube. I teared up watching it again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdR28iKgE6o

RIP, Stephen

 

[VGThuy]

Oh man. That is huge loss.
So many fabulous songs and productions. A particular favorite of mine is "Sunday in the Park with George". Mandy Petankin n Bernadette Peters.

And Send in the Clowns.The Song has been sung by by some really wonderful performers...Barbra Streisand sang it and Judy ioWCollins. And Barb sang interpretation..it with Susan Boyle. My absolute hands down favorite is Glynis ionJohns. Such an emotional
Rendition.


INg

Glynis Johns is also my personal favorite as well. Of course, she was the original “Desiree” in A Little Night Music and the song was written for her. She doesn’t have a typical singer’s voice and had limited range but it was due to her inability to sustain notes that he wrote “Send in the Clowns” in such a way that fit her voice perfectly - He mentioned that none of the lines in that song end with vowel sound so the singer wouldn’t draw out the last word and was full of short phrases. His genius was recognizing that despite the fact that Johns wasn’t a typical singer, she was a singer nonetheless and worked with her talent to come up with material that worked with her strengths and worked with her character. If you want to see an actual non-singer sing the song watch the Elizabeth Taylor rendition in the maligned film version of the musical. We know Taylor is an amazing actress but a singer she really wasn’t despite arguably having a voice with “range” that was within Johns abilities. It shows even with a limited voice, there’s still a difference between being able to sing and not.

The reason I love Johns version is because she sings it in-character of Desiree and adds anger and spite to it when so many singers focus on the sorrow and lament a tinge too much.

 

[Cachoo]

Glynis Johns is also my personal favorite as well. Of course, she was the original “Desiree” in A Little Night Music and the song was written for her. She didn’t have a typical singer’s voice and had limited range but it was due to her inability to sustain notes that he wrote “Send in the Clowns” in such a way that fit her voice perfectly - He mentioned that none of the lines in that song end with vowel sound so the singer wouldn’t draw out the last word and was full of short phrases. His genius was recognizing that despite the fact that Johns wasn’t a typical singer, she was a singer nonetheless and worked with her talent to come up with material that worked with her strengths and worked with her character. If you want to see an actual non-singer sing the song watch the Elizabeth Taylor rendition in the maligned film version of the musical. We know Taylor is an amazing actress but a singer she really wasn’t despite arguably having a voice with “range” that was within Johns abilities. It shows even with a limited voice, there’s still a difference between being able to sing and not.

The reason I love Johns version is because she sings it in-character of Desiree and adds anger and spite to it when so many singers focus on the sorrow and lament a tinge too much.

I’m so used to seeing her in my yearly viewing of “While You Were Sleeping” that I forget how lovely and vital she was in earlier years. And she is alive at 98. Betty White is not alone.

 

[orbitz]

I don't know much about singing, but Glynis Johns' voice is bit too screechy for me to listen to her more than once. I prefer Judy Dench's version of SITC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04E8Y8nDfRQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeA8AlctmSw


Patti Lupone's Rose Turn at the Tonys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXl10a9gJwA What a power house. I feel bad for the other two actors on the stage. All eyes and ears were on Patti.

 

[VGThuy]

Here’s a treat:

Elaine Stritch’s “Ladies Who Lunch” during the time of the original production of Company so we get to see the Michael Bennett choreography. Great intimate camera work.

 

[Kruss]

Here is where I first saw Judi Dench do Send in the Clowns, and she broke my heart with this.

 

[canbelto]

Losing My Mind has also made its way as a standard. I love this version by Marin Mazzie (RIP):

Losing My Mind - Marin Mazzie

From Sondheim's 80th Birthday Concert with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall / Lincoln Center.Marin Mazzie singing 'Losing My Mind' from Follies

www.youtube.com

 

[AxelAnnie]

I don't know much about singing, but Glynis Johns' voice is bit too screechy for me to listen to her more than once. I prefer Judy Dench's version of SITC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04E8Y8nDfRQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeA8AlctmSw


Patti Lupone's Rose Turn at the Tonys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXl10a9gJwA What a power house. I feel bad for the other two actors on the stage. All eyes and ears were on Patti.

I just read that Mr. sonheim wrote that song Ffor Ms.Johns as she had the exact voice tone, tembre and soul she could bring to.it.sondheims plays and song were always unique....always brought something unexpected.Johns does not have a pretty classically trained voice..but she was perfect for that song n that play..

BTW....she was in Marry Poppins too

 

[viennese]

He was a giant.

I am living for all the stories of Sondheim coming to see productions of his shows and offering wisdom, support, criticism. Theater lives on because artists like him share their genius, just as the greats shared their art with Sondheim when he was young.

 

[viennese]

if somebody doesn't skate to "Johanna" this year, I'm going to cry. Please somebody skate to something that Sondheim wrote or collaborated on.

 

[Sylvia]

Brian Boitano posted this today: https://www.instagram.com/brianboitano/p/CXHIftgPopY/

I recently posted a tribute to Stephen Sondheim because his work has made such an impact on me. Later, I found out from my friend @robertsokol that Stephen had given @manofelciano a rhyming dictionary and in the margin, Stephen wrote my name as words that rhyme with the words printed. Robert said “I got Sondheimed”. #StephenSondheim # RIP

Manoel Felciano's post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CW4kuBJtSDG/

 

[Sylvia]

if somebody doesn't skate to "Johanna" this year, I'm going to cry. Please somebody skate to something that Sondheim wrote or collaborated on.

@viennese I went searching on YT just now for Alex Johnson's memorable (to me) Sweeney Todd FS and found his performance at 2014 Nebelhorn Trophy (choreo. by Tom Dickson who can be seen with Alex at the end) that includes his trademark, lovely forward spiral in the final "Johanna" section that the audience appreciated : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7t0UOBGkW4
(He placed 6th overall.)

 

[viennese]

@viennese I went searching on YT just now for Alex Johnson's memorable (to me) Sweeney Todd FS and found his performance at 2014 Nebelhorn Trophy (choreo. by Tom Dickson who can be seen with Alex at the end) that includes his trademark, lovely forward spiral in the final "Johanna" section that the audience appreciated : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7t0UOBGkW4
(He placed 6th overall.)

Thank you so much. I like his skating so much. What a cool interpretation. It's difficult enough music to sing - and he's found a way to interpret it on ice.

 

[viennese]

If Nathan Chen changes either his short or his long to "West Side Story" that would be cool cool cool.