Least Favorite Sondheim?- Page 3
Least Favorite Sondheim?
#50Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/24/04 at 9:55pmI don't think anyone can HATE Sondheim. I think more people can not find appealing one or two shows. But if you dislike any more than that, eeek! Really, SWEENY was the one that I didn't like so much. Not that it was bad, just not my cup of tea.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
Corine2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
#51Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/24/04 at 10:01pm
Or should you say not your pie?
Forgive me I am hungry.
Updated On: 5/24/04 at 10:01 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#52Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:26pm
I stilll think Assasins is my least favorite.
My favorite is Little Night Music
and
Sunday in the Park with George
#53Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:38pm
Can't say that I hate Sondheim, but that "dog song" in "Sunday in the Park with George" makes me cringe every time I hear it.
My favorite Sondheim shows:
1) A Little Night Music
2) Company
3) Sweeney Todd
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#54Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/24/04 at 11:41pm
Ha, I must be hopeless. I even like the "dog song." (Which I believe is called "The Day Off")
"And some ants, if you would. I love fresh ants."
leomaxfrank
Broadway Star Joined: 3/19/04
#55Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 3:06amthank you Redhot and Robbie for saving my life and making me smile - and of course singing to me :). ill be in the city tomorrow seeing Caroline - are you boys going to be around?
But I won't live alone in a house of regret.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#56Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 5:11am
My least faovite is ANYONE CAN WHISTLE - a few good songs, but mostly a mess.
Anyone notice one fragment of song - I think the lyric is "Take a look and see what it gets you, see what it gets you..." - sounds an awful lot like "All your life and what does it get you, what does it get you..." from "Rose's Turn"?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#58Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 8:46am
Leo - I'll be here!
As for "that dog song" in Sunday in the Park - when I did the show on the road, our second to last performance was in Ft. Myers florida (where my family is) and the day after we did the show there (we had a couple days off before closing the show)I was getting a haircut and while waiting, I overheard the manicurist going on and on about this HORRIBLE show she had seen the night before - Sunday in the Park - she just couldn't make heads or tails of it and wondered why there was this "cardboard dog"...She was SUCH white trash...I laughed to myself and mentioned that I'd been IN that show and she turned all red and got very quiet, but not before saying that the reason her family goes to see "Broadway-style" shows is that they expect big dance numbers and showgirls in feathery costumes.....LOL...stupid Hussy....
"I don't really get the ending,all i can go with is when after several months,Judith saw Pat sang,and later she kissed him on the toilet,after that the story back to where Pat went down from the stage after he'd sung,and he went to the italian lady.I just don't get it,what Judith exatcly meant when he kissed Pat that she had seen,and did Pat end up together with The Italian Lady?Please help me,thank u very much!"
Quote from someone on IMDB in reference to a movie he/she didn't understand. Such grammar!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#59Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 12:15pmMy goodness. More than 50 years after Oklahoma had "No gags, no gals, no chance" people still think Broadway is about dancing girls. Sad, really. Updated On: 5/25/04 at 12:15 PM
Peter
Leading Actor Joined: 5/28/03
#60Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 12:17pm
I usually find something to like in every Sondheim musical, but there have been some shows with very few standout songs for me. Passion is one example. I remember being very impressed with the opening song between Georgio and Clara, but that was really the highlight of the entire musical to me, which is IMO his most pretentious show. I also think the music for Into the Woods is overrated. Critics like to accuse other composers of repetition, but the overuse of its title song really irked me.
What I find quite amusing with Sondheim are those desperate fans who are determined to like his music, and after listening to the cast recording for the fifth time, proclaim they now love it and the show is now great. Funny, the same thing happens to me with many other composers, not just Sondheim, but that doesn't mean the show, or even the music is particularly good. To me, a good musical should have an of-the-moment quality; otherwise, the magic is lost and the entire evening risks becoming an exercise in pretension.
Updated On: 5/25/04 at 12:17 PM
twogaab2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/03
#61Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 1:03pm
On the other hand. Given the procilivity of popular music (rap and such other tuneless music). Ears and become tinnier and tinnier. So... for some people repeated listenings are imparitive. Rodgers even said this. That is why his shows employ so many reprises.
This is just my opinion, I may be wrong.
TWOGAAB
"A Class Act" will never die!
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#62Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 2:05pm
I dunno- does anyone really call the score of Into the Woods a masterpiece? It's a good score, and much more accessible than a lot of other Sondheims, but it doesn't even come close to his best stuff.
And to be honest, Company, my first Sondheim, was the only one that I kind of "forced" myself to like, or at least appreciate. I loved Sweeney instantly, for instance, but all the listenings in the world aren't making me love Follies.
Sondheim, for me, requires repeated listenings not so much for adjustment to the sound as to appreciate all the layers and subtexts in the music and lyrics. I can love it the first time through, but I also love finding all the little clues, connections, and fun touches he puts in by listening several times.
I guess I understand why people would prefer their musicals to require no previous preparation, but what about a play like Jumpers? From what I've heard, you need to have a solid background in philosophy, or at least read through the Playbill, to begin to have an idea of what's going on there.
#63Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 2:10pm
You're right Plum "Jumpers" is a bit hard to "get" at times. A 101 course in Philosophy doesn't hurt either (also a little Milton) But all in all a good show, and VERY British! My suggestion is make sure you are full of caffine because Act 1 is quite long.
B
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
#64Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 2:59pmAlright, the Sondheim musical I hate most (but I like Sondheim so don't worry) is....West Side Story! Just kidding. I actually don't like 'Bounce' very much. It recieved bad reviews for a reason.
#65Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 4:36pmOops.. entered this twice by accident... &$#*@!!! Updated On: 5/25/04 at 04:36 PM
#66Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 4:36pm
A Little Night Music is my least favorite, followed by Sunday in the Park With George (but I LOVE Bernadette so....)
I can't believe that some people picked Follies as their least favorite. I think it's amazing! But then again, I also like Merrily We Roll Along so go figure.
I just saw Assasins and I thought the music was pretty good. My favorite (even though that's not the topic here) is Into the Woods.
#67Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 4:54pm
what is unlikeable about sondheim? i dont get. unfathomable.
-d.b.j-
Vary My Days.
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#69Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 5:57pm
I always think I don't like A Little Night Music until I see it. Then I remember how unbelievably funny it is. The a good cast and a good director, the show is great.
michaelm730 - I understand your confusion. I could never get how others thought Follies was so great. The book is one of the weakest of his shows.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#70Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 6:47pmLOVE the score for "Merrily We Roll Along" but oh, that dull, uninteresting book! Favorite still has to be "Sweeney Todd"
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#71Everyone is entitled to their opinion
Posted: 5/25/04 at 10:21pm
(With) a good cast and a good director, the show is great.
And that's just the thing with Sondheim, isn't it? Many of his shows, despite their greatness, are usually delicate things. They need to perfectly executed by very good talent to be good at all.
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