Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
MarkBearSF
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/25/11
#3Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:19pm
No, not at all. He's underrated for the amount of people who says he's overrated.
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BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
rattleNwoolypenguin
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/11/11
#6Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:53pm
He's spent most of his career being severely underrated especially musically. Mainstream media still only focuses on him writing the lyrics to "West Side" and "Gypsy" and "Send in the Clowns". I would love a world where everyone gets sick of hearing the songs/seeing remakes of Assassins or Little Night Music the way they're tired of The Music Man and Annie. Then at least people would have so much more exposure to him.
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#7Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:53pm
In fact, a hallmark of Sondheim's career has been how impossibly difficult it has been for some of his works to translate to commercial appeal/success. Overrated? Not even close.
rattleNwoolypenguin
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/11/11
#8Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:57pm
I've also been thinking recently a Broadway revival of Sweeney, with a commercially appealing staging and larger orchestra could be as successful as a Les Mis or Chicago.
Especially when I've noticed a slow cult following building with the Tim Burton film.
#9Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:02pm
^ that's just sad to hear, rattle. Because Sweeney the movie was just bad.
Phantom of London - why would you start this post? What do you not like about/from Sondhiem?
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#11Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:17pm
Not in the slightest.
They/them.
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#13Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:33pm
The quality of Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations and recording quality for the Sweeney film are probably the best recorded for any Sondheim show ever in any medium. The voices might be thin, but Sondheim's melodies are still coming through strong (e.g., My Friends; Epiphany; Pretty Women; Not While I'm Around etc.). Personally, I'm not sad if people are enjoying this music.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
sephyr
Leading Actor Joined: 11/21/10
#14Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:33pm
rattleNwoolypenguin said: "I've also been thinking recently a Broadway revival of Sweeney, with a commercially appealing staging and larger orchestra could be as successful as a Les Mis or Chicago.
Especially when I've noticed a slow cult following building with the Tim Burton film.
"
I completely agree. Get an all star Sweeney and Lovett and you've got it. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters maybe? I'd love to see Sweeney with all the grandness it deserves back on Broadway.
godlessondheimite
Understudy Joined: 7/30/15
#16Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:38pm
in words even you can understand...NO!!
broadwaysfguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/14
#17Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:55pm
no...
and you do have to be willing to invest in seeing great productions of sondheims best works to truly appreciate his multi layered genius
listening to a few of his songs or cast recordings without seeing the genius unfold live is like trying to truly apprciate shakespeare by just reading it....
#18Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 7:27pm
From a technical standpoint his lyric work is superb so he's worthy of all the praise, but his works can be a bit highbrow so the lack of mass appeal is understandable. I think he is rated just about evenly.
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#19Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 7:55pm
No, but if you really wanted a discussion, perhaps you could've given your own answer and at least attempted to make an argument for or against.
Hopefully the people who respond will put a reciprocal amount of effort into their posts.
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#20Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 7:56pm
if anything his work is underrated with the vast majority of the populace.
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henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#21Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 8:22pm
Imagine the musical theatre of the last 60 years without him.
Now, do you still feel like asking this question?
pupscotch
Broadway Star Joined: 1/24/16
#22Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 8:29pm
No. If anything, he's underrated. One of the best composers of our time.
#23Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 10:12pm
Valentina3 said: "^ that's just sad to hear, rattle. Because Sweeney the movie was just bad.
Phantom of London - why would you start this post? What do you not like about/from Sondhiem?
"
I think if they wanted to do anything other than stir the pot they'd have elaborated at the start.
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#25Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?
Posted: 10/29/16 at 11:34pm
Is Sondheim overrated? Of course not. His lyrics can be as sophisticated as those of Cole Porter or as colloquial as those of Oscar Hammerstein, as funny as Larry Hart's or as touching and true-to-character as Sheldon Harnick's.
His minimalist music is not only memorable in its own right (think of the opening theme of FOLLIES: most of us didn't even know it had lyrics until years later), it is the perfect medium for stage music, where the lyrics must be intelligible even as an orchestra plays, scenery moves, and the dancing chorus taps.
I don't know why "mass appeal" is even a criterion, Mr. Nowack. Are the paintings of the Cubists inferior to "Dogs Playing Poker"? Mass appeal is usually enjoyed by those who tell us comforting clichés (pets are like people); artists such as Sondheim confront us with truths we usually do our best to avoid.
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