Here's Clive on COMPANY:
"...The music is academically very interesting. Sondheim must be one of the most sophisticated composers to ever write Broadway musicals, yet the result is slick, clever, and eclectic rather than exciting. It is the kind of music that makes me say, "Oh, yeah?" rather than "Gee whiz!"...
Here's Clive on FOLLIES:
"...It has some of the best lyrics I have ever encountered...Sondheim's music comes in two flavors---nostalgic and cinematic. The nostalgic kind is for the pseudo-oldie numbers, and I must say that most of them sound like numbers that you have almost only just forgotten, but with good reason. The non-hit parade...gives little in return. It has all the twists and turns of yesteryear but none of the heart...The man is a Hart in search of a Rodgers, or even a Boito in search of a Verdi..."
Here's Clive on A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC:
"The real triumph belongs to Stephen Sondheim who wrote the music and lyrics. The music is a celebration of 3/4 time, an orgy of plaintively memorable waltzes, all talking of past loves and lost worlds. Despite the idea of a waltz-musical, which somehow suggests one of Strauss's, or the title, so redolent of Mozart, it seems that Sondheim is aiming at the lilt of Mahler...Good God--an adult musical!"
Here's Clive on PACIFIC OVERTURES:
"Sondheim's music is a style that might be called Japonaiserie (Leonard Bernstein quite often seems to be trysting with Madame Butterfly in the pit)...Musically, there is a disparity between Sondheim's operetta-like elegance and ethnic overlay, but even this succeeds with all its carefully applied patina of pastiche--that on demand can embrace Sullivan or Offenbach. Sondheim is the most remarkable man in the Broadway musical today--and here he shows it victoriously...the music and lyrics are as pretty and as well-formed as a bonsai tree..."
Here's Clive on SWEENEY TODD:
"Sondheim's score--the most distinguished to grace Broadway in years--owes more to Mahler, Alban Berg, and Benjamin Britten than Weill. The score is, of course, popularly intended, nothing highbrow, gorgeous lyricism...and lyrics as deft as Sondheim can make them...it will be talked about for years.
Even in this small sampling, not bad at all.
Updated On: 4/19/05 at 10:50 PM
