How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?- Page 3
How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
#50re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 8:34amwhen i was 24 years old. now i am 25. it was a year. when i saw Company and sweedy.. but i do know who he is...
#51re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 9:15am
I think I was 17, though it's fuzzy.
I got one of the DVDs of PBS' 'Broadway's Lost Treasures' that has a clip of OBC Sweeney's 'Worst Pies in London' and after that I was hooked and thus began my expensive Sondheim cast recording ebay habit. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
"I think it's appropriate: iSondheim - a Sondheim for the new generation! (wailing guitar riff) Get your kids hooked early on Sondheim, so they'll grow up to be just as emotionally stilted and self-conscious as we are! - BustopherPhantom
#52re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 1:32pm
I grew up with West Side Story and Gypsy but I would say I finally discovered Company @ 17. Within a few months I discovered Into The Woods and Sweeney. Then I was hooked.
And I have 'Sondheim' listed as my religious views on Facebook too =)
"If I could only do one thing before I died, it would be to swim with a middle-aged couple from Connecticut."- a dolphin
#53re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 1:38pm
As a child, I would sing SEND IN THE CLOWNS, not knowing of course, who wrote it due to my age... But once I was "old enough" to understand such things and INTO THE WOODS was out, I was a lifetime fan 
Then there was WEST SIDE STORY from the LP my parents had... SWEENEY followed.
#54re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 3:49pmI guess it was my freshman year of college, when I was 19. I had a class called "Musical Theatre," and all we did was watch musicals in there. I would have seen West Side Story, but the professor changed that one to Chicago that semester. But, we did watch A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd. Since then, I have seen Into the Woods and Gypsy. I definitely like his work, but I will not say I'm a huge fanatic, like others of you here.
dg22894
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/08
#55re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 3:51pm10 i saw West Side Story and was OBSESSED
#56re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:01pm
As posted previously on this site, my parents were Sondheim fans so I was indoctrinated from an early age. I can remember playing with my little wooden town and toy cars whilst hearing my father play an LP in the background with people singing about A Weekend in the Country. I'd have been 6 or 7.
I can also remember hearing I Never Do Anything Twice at that age on what must have been the OLC of Side by Side by Sondheim and insisting to my parents that the woman singing must do somethings twice - such as breathing and eating.
Updated On: 1/13/09 at 05:01 PM
#57re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:05pm
This is my new all-time favorite thread!
I used to drag my friends and family to Company and Follies--and none of them liked those shows! They'd all say to me, "HOW many times have you seen this? I can't believe you're going back...AGAIN!"
If only I knew all of you in 1970...if only there had been a BroadwayWorld when I was 14...I would have been so much less lonely. ;-}
#58re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:08pm
I came across an article about "Sweeney" in "After Dark" magazine (note to self: start love thread about "After Dark" magazine), when I was about 13, I guess.
Shortly thereafter, I saw the number on the "Tonys," and flipped! Bought the LP and flipped again.
After that, I think it was the "A Little Night Music" LP. And then I was hooked.
#59re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:23pmI was 11. I saw a local production of "Into The Woods" and fell in love the show. (leading to a Sondheim addiction)
#60re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:25pmIncidentally, PalJoey actually discovered Sondheim in 1492. He only began to colonize him, however, in 1970.
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
#61re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:27pm
PalJoey, we should have grown up together!
Company. 1970. I was hooked.
Absolutely hooked.
Follies
Forum
A Little Night Music
Pacific Overtures
Side by Side by Sondheim
Sweeney Todd....
During the 70s, whenever a new show of his opened, my two best friends and I would come into the city whenever we could and get rear balcony tickets and see the shows over and over. And then go home and put on the records and listen to them all night long.
I still have all of my LPs.
#62re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 5:51pmSix years old, I was sick and to cheer me up my parents showed me the Bette Midler version of Gypsy. Then when I was eleven my mom was going to a class at the 92nd Street Y about Sondheim's music taught by composer Louis Rosen and my mom took me because I loved West Side Story, A Funny Thing..., and especially Gypsy. But, after realizing that I was pretty familiar with those three musicals he told me to come back for the his later works. Needless to say, I fell even more in love from the moment I heard "Another Hundred People."
Rypm25
Stand-by Joined: 5/21/03
#63re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 7:21pmI was 12...and while visiting my grandmother, I watched "Into the Woods" on PBS. That was it for me!:)
#64re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 7:24pmI was about 8 and my music teacher played "Send In The Clowns" from the OBC recording. No one else was really paying attention, but it was the music that had me hooked. Addicted ever since.
#65re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 8:07pmI discovered his work around 14 or 15 but didn't really fall in love with it until I was 17.
"If we don't live happily ever after at least we survive until the end of the week!" -Kermit the frog "I need the money... it costs a lot to look this cheap!" -Dolly P. "Oh please, Over at 'Gypsy' Patti LuPone hasn't even alienated her first daughter yet!" Mary Testa in "Xanadu" "...Like a drunk Chita Rivera!" Robin de Jesus in "In the Heights"
"B*tch, I don't know your life." -Xanadu After that if he still doesn't understand why you were uncomfortable and are now infuriated, kick him again but this time with Jazz Hands!!! -KillerTofu#66re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 9:02pm
my two best friends and I would come into the city whenever we could and get rear balcony tickets
Addy--Hal Prince and Ruthie Mitchell sold those last two rows for $2 a ticket!
#67re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 9:50pm
Around 3 or 4
We always used to play the INTO THE WOODS tape in the car, and we also played barbara streisand's broadway album, and I have a very distinct memory of my father explaining that lots of the songs on the tape were by the same guy, Stephen Sondheim, and my parents would tell me all about SWEENEY TODD and his other shows, and we watched the INTO THE WOODS tape constantly
Then when I was 6 we went to Washington D.C. for the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration, and saw SWEENEY and COMPANY, and I was just in awe. I then watched/saw/listened to anything sondheim I could get my hands on
#68re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:01pm
(note to self: start love thread about "After Dark" magazine)
only if it includes pictures.
I was...I guess about 16 or 17 (but that was only 6 or so years ago...) when I accidentally stumbled upon Angela Lansbury's "Worst Pies In London". when I got around to seeing Sweeney (the special 1982 National Tour DVD), I was in love.
#69re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:02pmlol, I don't know if I would ever take a 6 year old to a Sondheim show. Even INTO THE WOODS would be torture for the average 6 year old.
#70re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:06pmI probably would've loved Into the Woods when I was six. I was, and still am, a huge fairy tale lover. (side note: knowing fairy tales helped me pass third semester German.)
#71re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:10pm
"(note to self: start love thread about "After Dark" magazine)
only if it includes pictures."
I have a nice collection of the magazine, I must say.
#72re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:15pm
(I hate for this thread to swerve completely off topic but...)
one of my friends bought the After Dark that covered Evita, and some of the ads were a hoot! and someone had posted a whole bunch of pics on flickr that were gorgeous...including one of very young Kevin Kline and Patti, that I loved.
#73re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:16pm
Reg--do you know the After Dark online database?
After Dark before 1973
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillyblue/sets/72157600430424245/
After Dark 1974-1976
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillyblue/sets/72157600430938268/
After Dark 1977-1979
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillyblue/sets/72157600430945166/
#74re: How old were you when you discovered Sondheim?
Posted: 1/13/09 at 10:22pm
speaking of Sondheim, this picture of Glynis Johns is to die for
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillyblue/1450888450/in/set-72157600430938268/
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