joevitus (I don't think his work is any less melodic than Bernstein's in West Side Story, and once the movie company put big bucks into pushing those songs, a "score you can't hum" was suddenly recognized as a national treasure). It's about tailoring the score to the show.
I think that you're going to have a hell of a time convincing people that Sondheim is the equal of Bernstein as a composer. I doubt that Sondheim would claim that. Have you heard the Symphonic Dances he developed from the score to West Side Story. Candide? A lot of that score was just insane.
But I like what you say about tailoring the score to the show. There are a lot of theatrical anthems out there that people know and love. "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," "Can You Hear the People Sing," "Let's Raise a Glass Together," "Last Night of the World," "One". These fit because of the very theatrical shows (although some are almost too theatrical).
Sondheim generally working on shows much smaller in scope would have nowhere to go with the big number.
By the time the 60s rolled around, it’s rare to find any songs from broadway that entered into the general popular lexicon. Most came from ready-for-the-radio shows like Promises, Promises ( I’ll never fall in love again), or Hair (Aquarius), but of course there are exceptions like Hello Dolly (Louis Armstrong’s version), or People. Sondheim’s prime years came after this. It’s amazing that send in the clowns even became a hit song outside of broadway.
Surprised about "Send In The Clowns?" It's a terrific song, tackling heartbreak with bitter irony and music and lyrics perfectly matched. And it didn't hurt that Judy Collins was the first to widely popularize it. She has done that her whole career, starting with Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. If Sondheim could have written more songs like that and didn't then it's our loss.
In the 70s, when Sondheim started to roll, he still runs into Kander and Ebb, Jerry Herman and Marvin Hamlisch. I would argue, I think, that they all put our a great deal of songs that were at least more popular than Sondheim. "What I Did For Love," "We Need a Little Christmas," "The Best of Times," "All That Jazz" and "Nowadays." "They're Playing our Song," "Mame," "I Don't Know How to Love Him."
Didn't Jerry Herman accepting his Tony award take a shot at Sondheim for the latter's alleged put down of music that appealed to the public versus music that complemented the musical play?
In the 70s I can still make a case for a lot of Broadway songs that became "hits" or at least were recognizable and performed on TV and in films. Besides those I mentioned, "The Impossible Dream" and "Man of La Mancha" that Linder Eder has made a career from.
I expect that you become more and more right as we move to the mid-80s and beyond. I was distracted by having to work and such. But when you get to the last 20 years are so Sondheim runs into ALW, and I guess the composers of Miss Saigon and Le Miz. ALW generally had great scope to his musicals supported by very theatrical music and he succeeded in getting together to sing his songs The Four Tenors, The Five Altos, Domingo Plaxico and Plaxico Burress and Andrea Bocelli. 'The Music of the Night" and "We Can Hear the People Cry," "Love Changes Everything."
So Sondheim says those big overblown theatrics have overblown songs and his musicals explore the internal life of his characters and only need small voices to address this. Maybe, but before I accept that show me that you can write a couple of ballads like "Send in the Clowns" that everyone wants to record. That would shut up the detractors.
Much too big a subject for me to have started in on here. It would make a good seminar.
