Grey Gardens and Sondheim- Page 2

[jv92]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 11:49pm

Excellent point but but something like She Loves Me is expertly crafted and conveys pure joy too. I'm not saying he doesn't like She Loves Me, but you can be joyous and well crafted.
Anyhow, here's a list of musicals we think he likes-

Porgy and Bess
Carousel
Show Boat
Allegro
The King and I
The Wiz
Chicago
Cabaret
She Loves Me
Floyd Collins

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 12:19am

Here's what he said to Steve Swayne when asked, quoted in How Sondheim Found His Sound:

"The musicals I like, besides the ones I've been connected with: certainly Show Boat and Porgy and Bess and Carousel are my three favorites. Allegro I like because of my personal association with it. My Fair Lady was the most entertaining show I ever saw, I think, but not a score I particularly like, except for one song, "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?" [sic: the title is "A Hymn to Him"]. Some other musicals I like—I like She Loves Me. I like the scores of Chicago and Cabaret, not so much the shows. Although that could easily be said of lots of shows by Kern, Gershwin, Porter, so forth, and Arlen's score for St. Louis Woman is a particular score I love, but the show is unwieldy. So, no, there aren't very many shows I think are really good."

But he doesn't like many operas either.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 8:28am

The interview that Sondheim had with Frank Rich was wonderfully interesting and informative. I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes about Merman and Stritch. Sondheim still has concerns about his ability to write songs despite the enormous artistic success he has had. There really is no one like him in the theatre over a period of 50 years. His choices for best musicals other than those he worked on would satisfy me, too: SHOWBOAT, PORGY AND BESS, and CAROUSEL.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 3:48pm

I love his stories about Merman in that Rich/Sondheim interview.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/31/08 at 3:56pm

Why do you keep saying Bennet ripped off Follies with A Chorus Line? The ties are tenuous at best - AND Bennett was instrumental to Follies in the first place.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 5:35pm

Follies' party is not literal and Company's birthday parties are not literal in the same way A Chorus Line's audition is not literal. Bennett took that idea and sentimentalized it. Ripping off is going to far, perhaps, but A Chorus Line does use the same concept as both. Don't get me wrong, I'm Bennett's biggest fan, but all three shows are quite similar that way.
And Bennett was not only instrumental in making Follies as good as it was, but it was his best work. How old was he? 27 or 28? Amazing.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/2/09 at 5:42pm

"But watch... some of the bitchy show queens here will twist that into claiming Sondheim says he hates MY FAIR LADY and KING AND I but loves THE WIZ. And that, obviously, is not what he says."

He has called My Fair Lady a wonderfuly professional and entertaining musical, but a "Why?" musical. I would say the same thing about Fair Lady, and several other shows, including Steve (and Dick and Arthur)'s own Do I Hear a Waltz?
When discussing why R&H shows are revived so much, he said it's because the way Oscar Hammerstein told his stories. He said he thought The King and I was done more than Carousel and South Pacific with good reason.
So these bitchy theatre queens really need to dig beneath the surface and pay attention to the details in Steve's comments.
Oh, and add 70, Girls, 70 to that list of shows we think he likes. He told Fred Ebb it was the best audience show had seen in years according to the K&E memoir. I think he likes The Wiz because of the sheer joy it brings to most audiences (Not me. I cringe at the lyrics.), so perhaps he felt the same way about 70, Girls.

[GreyGuard]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 12:17pm

Here are links to a few good GG sites:

www.edithbeale.com
www.greygardensonline.com
www.ggdiscussion.com

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/5/09 at 12:36pm

ACL is a lot more literal than Company and to some degree, Follies, but again, with Bennett a contributor to both, I find myself confounded by your charges of thievery. ACL may not have existed if not for the other two shows, but it doesn't mean there's not some sort of karmic debt that hasn't been repaid.

Say what you want about the literalness of ACL and Follies, but both have a clear through line of time, even if it's just illusion. ACL begins and ends at the audition, as Follies begins and ends at the party.

And I've said it before - if you want to talk stylistic copycats, put the The Rink next Follies.