A Slap In The Face of Stephen Sondheim

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:52pm

The entire tribute to Stephen Sondheim was a complete joke and an insult to the most legendary and distinguished musical theatre composer of modern times. Having Aretha Franklin perform "Somewhere" with obvious health problems, a song that was not even composed by the genius was a slap in the face to Sondheim. I was personally disgusted. I might be taking it to seriously but I expected more from representatives of the theatrical community.

Updated On: 6/5/05 at 11:52 PM

[mebice]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:53pm

hehehe...maybe this portion wasnt a waste of time
hehe (devilish smile)

kisses

[crazy smiles]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:56pm

Felt the same way Sum.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:56pm

Hey he might not have composed it but at least he wrote the lyrics, right? And I agree the performance left alot to be.........desired.

[ally_kay_on_broadway]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:57pm

here here

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:58pm

Yeah let's celebrate the music of Stephen Sondheim by featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein! Great idea guys! Oh, we should get a woman they haven't let on a stage in years sing it! But who? Whitney? Nope, addicted to meth now. Jennifer Holliday? Hell no! Aretha! That's it!

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 11:59pm

It was stupid and ridiculous and silly.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:00am

They should have made it a duet between Christina Applegate and John Lithgow.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:01am

You're right. You're taking it way too seriously. It was a really bad performance, nothing more and nothing less. There will be more and better tributes to Sondheim. It's not the end of the world.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:01am

On top of all that, La Cage beat him again!!!!!!

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:01am

I just expected the Tony awards, the most important award in the theatrical industry to be more tactful.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:03am

I understand that, but it wasn't really a real tribute to Sondheim. They just wanted Aretha and Hugh to sing a very well-known ballad where they could scream their lungs out...and it just happened to be Sondheim's birthday. I'm sure if they were planning a real tribute, it'd be done better.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:04am

Watch out Sum.. these comments make you elitest scum by the juice-box members.

Updated On: 6/6/05 at 12:04 AM

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:08am

I agree, Sum. It was painful to here her butcher that song.

[theatreisnice]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:10am

i agree with Vietgrl.. or rather, i hope she's right. They had Bernadette around - a Sondheim tribute would've been much better with her involved.

[Plum]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:14am

Other people are lucky to even get 2 seconds on a monitor when they die. Sondheim gets a whole song during the ceremony and you call it a slap in the face?

Now, I have my doubts as to whether this is a Sondheim tribute at all- I think they just kind of realized that he wrote the lyrics to "Somewhere" and put that line in the introduction. And the performance itself? Wasn't strong. Those two vocal styles were not meant to go together. But really, I don't think it was meant as any kind of gesture of disrespect.

[rKrispyt]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:01pm

First of all, my friend has a theory that the Tony broadcast got a little moolah from the company doin' the "Somewhere" commercials, Secondly - c'mon, it's not like they could've found someone who has more experience with Sondheim to do a tribute to him, so Aretha's not such an odd choice (neither is having Hugh Jackman doin' a soulful version of...well, anything actually) and Thirdly, if not Somewhere, then what? This is Sondheim we're talkin' about, he's not that influencial (in fact, I'm surprised that there was any kind of nod in his direction, lowly as he is), PLUS have you heard what he's written? Face it ladies and gents, the guy hasn't written anything good to choose from for a 'tribute'...

kindly note the sarcasm. thank you for your time.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:04pm

The couldn't have just had Hugh sing BEING ALIVE?

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:04pm

Unfortunately, Sondheim is bound to be used to a slap in the face. La Cage beating Sunday for Best Musical is a good example.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:05pm

Well Stephen Sondheim is notoriously kinky, so a slap in the face probably wouldn't bother him too much.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:13pm

They could have chosen a better song. Pretty bad song IF it was a tribute to Sondheim. That much is obvious. At least they said something about it.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:14pm

Michael, I've heard that too. I imagine you're correct although his face is probably not the preferred target.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:17pm

Considering that Sondheim is probably the most lauded, lionized, feted, awarded, anthologized, and revived living American composer (and has been for the last thirty years), last night's bone-headed travesty probably didn't even make a blip on his radar.

[rKrispyt]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:27pm

Honestly, yeah...he don't care, it's just an easy excuse for a "how can we pull in the non-theatre crowd to watch...Aretha Franklin?" performance.

I think they got Franklin and catered to her and then threw in Sondheim as the 'legitimacy'. right before they started singing my friend was like "have you heard her rendition of Somewhere? it's really fabulous" - which it turned out not to be and he kept apologizing but...she had the 'fantastic' rendition of a musical theatre song, that's what they went with and filled in the blanks later.

Sondheim wasn't even there man, how you gonna put that on him like it's really FOR him?

I shake my head.

Honestly, we gots to get htem to stop this 'tradition' before it really is one nad haunts us and our children's children for decades to come!

[grizzabella]

Posted: 6/6/05 at 12:29pm

If that was a tribute, it was one of those "With friends like these, who needs enemies" variety. Poor choice, badly executed.
Sad.