How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?- Page 4
How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
#75re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:49pm
I think it was the summer between 6th and 7th grade....so I was about 12. Saw INTO THE WOODS and loved it.
Then, I went to the Thespian conference, and a school did a production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. I thought that was just about the best show ever. From then on, that was it.
Some people paint, some people sew, I meddle.
#76re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:58pmI was 12. A couple friends from summer camp who were a few years older were always gushing about Sondheim shows. I guess at 12 I didn't really have a good grasp on what makes some shows better than others; the composer didn't really matter so much as the subject matter, I guess. Basically all musical theatre experience would thrill me. When I was younger if I would see a musical on television I would tape it and watch it over and over, learn the dances and songs till I found something new. It was almost like I had to be completely done with one musical before I could move onto the next. By chance I had seen Candide with the NY Phil on PBS (without realizing Sondheim's involvement in the show) and recognized the name Patti LuPone from that "Ladies and Gentlemen- Ms. Patti LuPone" sign (I wasn't really sure if that was the actor's name or the character's...I was totally unaware of her work outside of Candide) when I went to library to finally get my hands on Sweeney Todd. So I ended up with the NY Phil Concert performance on CD. I remember the night I listened to it, actually, very vividly. I was trying to do homework while listening to it but just couldn't becuase it was so engrossing. Hearing the musical clues to the beggar woman's identity and understanding some of the subtler humor, being scared out of my mind, plus experiencing the entire show with nothing but my imagination to picture the way the characters and setting looked was just thrilling. My experience of that show wasn't altered by anyone else's designs or appearance- it was just me and the score. Oh, it was just magic. It's still my favorite show (favorite recording too), and my first conscious experience with Stephen Sondheim. After that, I still didn't look at who wrote a show before listening to it, so I must've listened to Sondheim shows not realizing they were his. I don't think I felt strongly compelled to go out and listen to more of HIS shows right away, but that experience really opened my eyes to how much more there was out there in the musical world. So much that was better than what I was used to.
-Was that a fart?
-My fault, I fear.
-My fault, I fear.
#77re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 11:17pmThat's one of her Desiree dresses.
JBSinger
Broadway Star Joined: 11/12/04
#78re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/14/09 at 8:41am13 or 14. I remember researching all the shows that the songs from Streisand's Broadway Album and bringing home the LPs from the local library. Hooked ever since.
#79re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/14/09 at 10:45amI was always aware of Stephen Sondheim as I have been a Bernadette Peters fan for many years. I enjoyed her versions of his songs and purchased the Sondheim DVD box set. It wasn't until I saw Gypsy in 2003 (at 17) and became hooked on the score that I really took an interest in all of his work and began exploring it all.
Happy...Everything!
Kaye Thompson
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#80re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/14/09 at 1:07pm
Addy--Hal Prince and Ruthie Mitchell sold those last two rows for $2 a ticket!
Those were the days, PalJoey!
"Two drifters off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. . ."
#81re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/15/09 at 1:15am
My mom introduced me to West Side Story when I was pretty young (probably about 7 or 8 ) and I loved it, but I didn't connect it with him at the time. It wasn't until I was 15, though, that I fell in love with the Doyle revival of Sweeney Todd, ended up seeing it 4 times (including the closing performance), and thus fell in love with pretty much all things Sondheim.
Updated On: 1/15/09 at 01:15 AM
AfterTheSky
Swing Joined: 1/15/09
#82re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/15/09 at 2:03pm
Hey all - it's the younger regnadk on a new username. I believe I was a sophomore in high school, 14 or 15. My best friend at the time showed me the DVD of the OBC of "Into the Woods." It was love. I never actually got to see the show live until about 4 years later but I was not disappointed.
I tell people I want to have brain-babies with Sondheim. Just so brilliant.
Swing Joined: 12/31/69
#83re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/5/09 at 10:54pm
I had just turned ten. I was already big into musical theatre--for the past year or so I basically thought Rodgers and Hammerstein were the end all and the bee's knees--and I had just seen the tour of Phantom of the Opera and was briefly obsessed with it. I always had this book from the library constantly checked out--the massive coffee table book Broadway Musicals by Martin Gottfried and I was familiar with Sondheim from it, but to be honest they all seemed a bit weird to me.
Sometime around then I did catch A Weekend in the Country as performed on the Sondheim Carnegie Hall special--and I was enraptured but that's all I saw for some reason and I was never sure what exactly it was. Then I was at my grandma's sick and for some reason tuned into PBS just at the start of Act II of Into the Woods.
I could NOT believe it. It just seemed brilliant (it probably helped that I was pretty obsessed with the history of fairy tales around the time--different versions etc). When it was over I immediatley tried to track it down byt PBS wasn't airing it again--at least not locally and when I phoned them (or had my mom phone *blush*) I was told it was only avialable on Laser Disc,not videotape (there was a rights issue back then).
Anyway I found the London cast album on tape from the library and I remember for that Summer I listened to it literally every night in bed as I was falling asleep. By the Fall I started getting into other shows--mainly thanks to the old records and tapes my library had.
I think Sweeney Todd was the last one I got into at 12 or so (I used to get scared by horror movies VERY easily, lol, so I sorta was scared to get into it--I can remember sitting with the scratchy records following along with the big lyric booklet and being surprised by every plot turn). Luckily the local Blockbuster had Sunday in the Park with George, the Hearn Sweeney Todd AND the Liz Night Music movie on video. By the time I was 14 I was a member of the Sondheim mailing list (now sondheim.com) and had already gotten a few letters form Sondheim replying to my gushing fan notes (I was pretty proud of how his comment that he was surprised someone so young got so much out of his shows and he though usually people understood them better as they aged).
I did get a lot of comments on the Sondheim Mailing List to "how could you like or get ANYTHING out of FOllies at your age" and I kinda resented that--I think I did get a lot even at that age. But Sondheim is great becuase I've found with nearly all his shows they grow along with you.
#84re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/6/09 at 1:29pm17 (i think) - Company with Raul Esparza
<-- Gwen Stewart, SOLoist at the last show of RENT
Cages or wings? Which do you prefer? Ask the birds. Fear or love, baby? Don't say the answer Actions speak louder than words. (Tick, Tick... BOOM!)
Cages or wings? Which do you prefer? Ask the birds. Fear or love, baby? Don't say the answer Actions speak louder than words. (Tick, Tick... BOOM!)
#85re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/6/09 at 1:37pm
Older than I should have been, I'm honestly kind of embarrassed. I had seen West Side Story as a kid, but I had no idea who Sondheim was. My first Sondheim show once I was older and informed was Gypsy, which I saw when I was in high school, and then Pacific Overtures after that. It took me a while to really fall in love with his work, though. I was in college. It was Sweeney Todd that really drew me in and made me finally understand the appeal -- and feel hungry for more, wanting to learn about the rest. And after that, life has never been the same. 
#86re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/6/09 at 2:10pmThis is one of the best threads on BroadwayWorld ever.
#87re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/6/09 at 2:31pm
And Martin Gottfried's Broadway Musicals must be one of the best books on the subject ever.
Detailed, thorough, knowledgeable narrative; glorious photos; and the fascinating flops scattered throughout the index. Like EricMontreal22, I found it unputdownable.
#88re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/6/09 at 3:49pmFunny, I really don't like Gottfried's text at all. I love the pictures though.
#89re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/6/09 at 5:29pm
11 years old. I was really quite obsessed with the "Into the Woods" recording and the TV-movie version of "Gypsy" back in '93.
Then I discovered "Company," "Sunday in the Park with George."
I had always enjoyed "West Side Story."
Though I admit I didn't have a REAL appreciation for him until I was about 17 and saw "Putting It Together" in person. I feel that his lyrics are much better appreciated when sung right in front of you, and sung well.
"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#90re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/8/09 at 7:32am
"And Martin Gottfried's Broadway Musicals must be one of the best books on the subject ever.
Detailed, thorough, knowledgeable narrative; glorious photos; and the fascinating flops scattered throughout the index. Like EricMontreal22, I found it unputdownable. "
As someone else said, Gottfried's text isn't that great, but as a kid I never realized that (I think I took him as gospel I'm a bit embarassed to admit). Of course by the time I read his own book on Sondheim (again, great pictures, but...) where he calls Pacific Overtures unsuccessful, etc, I had formed my own opinions. But, pre internet, that book (Broadway Musicals) was amazing for what it showed with pictures etc.
I had seen West Side Story before, I now realize but I remember the firned I saw it with kept mocking all the dancing in the streets and I sorta played along to be cool--and didn't re watch it till after I knew who SOndheim was.
#91re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/8/09 at 1:19pmI was 8 or 9. Into the Woods was my first exposure to Sondheim. I remember clearly because I would put on little shows in my garage and I watched the movie and fell in love thought it was the greatest thing ever! I would always want to be the witch. Hahaha! Memories. But ever since that first little show in my garage I was hooked. I just kept listening to everything. Next was Assassins, my brother played Sam Byck for college. Then West Side Story, we had the movie but never really watched it til I saw Sondheim s name. Then Sweeney Todd, I bought the dvd of amazon with Angela just for a new theater experience to watch and fall in love with. Then just recently I started listening to Anyone Can Whistle, I would love to do this show. I've still yet to listen to Sunday In The Park. I watched part of the movie with Bernadette and I like it but then my computer died and I just forgot about it. But that is my Sondheim story.
#92re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/8/09 at 4:11pmThis thread makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I, too, grew up on the Broadway album and West Side Story, but I didn't know who Sondheim was. "Send in the Clowns" was my favorite song... well, tied with Barbra's "Somewhere". Then in 6th grade I played Cinderella's Prince (I wanted to be Jack SOOOO bad), and I started to recognize Sondheim when all the eight graders gushed about their love for musical theatre (and specifically Phantom, haha). Then when I entered eighth grade I realized that I needed to know musical theatre more than anyone else so it could be my edge, and I went to the library to get some shows. The first shows I got were "Little Night Music" (because of "Send in the Clowns"), Hair and Funny Girl. I devoured them, and so when I went back I ordered every Sondheim off of OPAC and fell completely in love =).
"There are only two worthwhile things to leave behind when we depart this world of ours: children and art."
-Sunday In The Park With George
gypsy4
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/07
#93re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/8/09 at 4:36pmthird grade when I bought the Into the woods cast recording.
#94re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/10/09 at 10:35amOh and may I add, the first Sondheim album I ever bought was Forum as a youngster. I liked it, but it didn't have much of an effect on me. It wasn't until Company when I fell completley in love with his music. For any Sondheim newbie, Company is the best album to get first.
#95re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 2/10/09 at 11:16amI always liked West Side Story and Into the Woods, but it wasn't until I saw Sunday in the Park with George that I really feel in love with Sondheim...that was last year and I am 29. I've always been a late bloomer. : )
