Profile for AnythingYouDo

Now that we've gotten Sondheim's score as he wrote it, I wouldn't mind if a lyricist wrote new lyrics for the second act to music based on the thematic material already established in the show. Sondheim's second acts are frequently based on thematic material in the first acts, so I think it could work if the lyricist is skilled.When I saw the show, it didn't feel like the score was missing something. However, as others have noted, there are places where it seems apparent Sondheim would have a...

The video seems to confirm that the exit music will be included, which I'm thrilled about.

The article is dreadful, and makes me glad that there's a new biography on the way rather than an update by Secrest of her biography.At least, I hope David Benedict's biography is on the way soon. It's been almost ten years since it was announced. I don't really know what to expect of the Benedict biography; I hope it's as close to definitive as it can be. My dream would be a Mark Harris bio, but I suppose that ship has sailed.

My problem with the "son who's straight" line is that it muddles Frank and his son's estrangement. The party guests wouldn't know that Frank Jr. is straight, nor would they really even mention him; all they care about is Frank and his success.Overall, "Rich and Happy" is a better song for that place in the show because it allows the older, cynical Frank to speak (or sing) for himself; "That Frank" is about Frank, but mostly from the perspective of his superficial hangers-on, so it doesn't rea...

I have to imagine the show will get a recording. This is beyond wishful thinking, but it would be nice if the album included a bonus track of the song Sondheim wrote for All Together Now; David Ives mentions it in the Frank Rich piece. It might be a nice supplement to round out the album given how little singing there is in the second act (though I would hope some of the underscoring also gets recorded, as it's wonderful). It would also be nice if the album included the exit music, which is g...

According to Sondheim in Look, I Made a Hat, Beatty asked Sondheim to score the film but Sondheim said he could only score "atmosphere" rather than music for "events" such as rallies and battles. Sondheim scored some sequences in the film, but Beatty rejected them because he "didn't approve of music that told the audience what was going on in the actors' minds."Sondheim then wrote a love theme at Beatty's request, which he based on The Internationale. The film apparently includes Sondheim's o...

kdogg36 said: "ljay889 said: "Sondheim named it Square One prematurely without Ives and Mantello's approval. They said in the Vulture article that the title "Here We Are" was always in play as well."This reminds me of Sondheim's preference (as stated inLook, I Made a Hat) of the titleGet Rich Quick!for his frequently renamed penultimate musical. Weidman and the director-du-jour always overruled him."I was reminded of that as well. In fact, when it was revealed that Sondheim announced that tit...

One small lyric change that I haven't seen commented upon: in "Opening Doors," Frank's "Chinese laundry" greeting to Mary has been updated to "Russian Tea Room."Minor as the alteration is, I wonder what the process and thinking behind it was.

In Look, I Made a Hat, Sondheim includes lyrics for six songs: "Sand," "Lunch," "Dawn," "Looks," "Water Under the Bridge," and "Singing Out Loud." Was one of those the important song you reference as existing only in Sondheim's notes?I believe of those songs, only "Sand," "Dawn," and "Water Under the Bridge" have been recorded, though if others have, I'd love to hear them. Incidentally, Sondheim reused some music from "Lunch" as "Addison's Trip" in Road Show.As for the movie itself, I'd say t...

When the production of Here We Are was first announced, I'd hoped we'd get exactly this: an account of Sondheim's work on the show up to his death as well as what work has been done on the show since his death. It seems clear that, while this is not the show that would have premiered had Sondheim lived to see it produced, it is considered complete by its creative team.As a side note, I hope the song Sondheim wrote for All Together Now sees the light of day eventually.

In J.T. Max's Finale, which is the source of the quotes above, Sondheim says during interviews in July and September 2017 that he's written seven songs for the show and had started the second act, which he expected would have "at least as many."This was his statement about the progress of the show in September 2017: "There is a complete score and a complete act, but I want to add and tweak. Second act, there is a complete draft of the book, and I've just begun the score."It is difficult to im...

Regarding the completeness (or lack thereof) of the score, I do think it is notable that both Nathan Lane's and David Ives's comments about the show following Sondheim's death imply that at least a draft of the show and score was finished, and no one else directly involved in the show has indicated otherwise. Cameron Mackintosh claimed to have heard what Sondheim wrote and said it was not complete, but I take his claims with a grain of salt given both who he is and the fact that he wasn't inv...

I managed to get tickets for early November. I remain endlessly curious about what exactly this will be. I suspect (and hope) that the score will be more or less complete, but obviously without the tweaking Sondheim would have done during rehearsals and previews. He was self-admittedly a slow writer, but given how long he was working on it, I have to imagine there is plenty of material there for a full score, and I believe Mantello and Ives have the artistic integrity to have proceeded only i...

jv92 said: "I feel like Benedict's biography is going to be a real slog-- if it even gets finished! What a bland piece of clickbait that was. I've never been impressed with what he's written about the individual shows. I often find Brits have their own ideas about Ameircan musicals and their authors that are utterly pretentious, and lack the understanding of the alive-ness and "New York-ness" of the form. There are exceptions. Benedict is not one of them. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we'll h...

In this article, Sondheim’s biographer David Benedict says “only about 60% of the piece was written.” However, a commenter on the article claims a 2017 draft of the show was “122 pages with songs throughout.” I’ve heard a draft of the show has circulated but I haven’t seen anything of it.Maybe Sondheim and Ives scrapped that draft when they restarted work on the show during the pandemic? Or maybe Benedict is repeating Mackintosh’s quote?I hope we know more about what this production will be s...

jv92 said: "In terms of the "Who could finish it?" question (which I think will turn out to be moot)-- Lin-Manuel Miranda is not a composer in the same league as Sondheim melodically or harmonically. He totally lacks sophistication in both departments. Both JRB and Guettel (and, to some extent, Scott Frankel-- a very rich and unique harmonist) have very different harmonic sensibilities, however indebted they might be to Sondheim. In fact, I only think a contemporary of Sondheim's could perfor...

I don't know that I trust Cameron Mackintosh's word about how complete the show was. Who knows where he got the 50-60 percent figure, whether that was Sondheim's judgment or his own. To be sure, this production won't be what we'd have seen if Sondheim had lived to see it produced, but I also wouldn't be shocked if it's close to a complete score, with maybe a handful of moments Sondheim had intended to expand into song. While Sondheim himself described it as incomplete not long before he died,...

It's possible that Sondheim wanted the title of the Buñuel show to be Square One but his collaborators disagreed, though I doubt someone who cared deeply about collaboration as much as Sondheim would have announced a title they hadn't agreed on.(As I recall, Sondheim's favorite title for the show that ultimately became Road Show was Get Rich Quick!, but Weidman vetoed that title.)

It does seem possible, maybe likely that Square One is not the title of the Buñuel piece. In the Dramatist issue about Sondheim, Ives discussed Buñuel with Sondheim's other collaborators and never referred to it as Square One.On the other hand, it seems improbable that Sondheim was referring to any show other than the Buñuel when he discussed it on Colbert; he mentioned the reading, which we know from Nathan Lane's comments was the musical based on Buñuel's films.The whole thing is a little p...

In the latest issue of the Dramatist, there is a roundtable interview with James Lapine, John Weidman, and David Ives about collaborating with Sondheim, and Ives says the Buñuel musical is "looking for a home," to which Lapine responds "Great. This is exciting! Something to look forward to."Earlier in the interview, Ives refers to the two musicals he worked with Sondheim on: "One of them, which was based on an original idea of Steve's, we never finished. The other was based on two Luis Buñuel...