SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 10:28am

Today is Thursday, April 22, marking the official opening of Roundabout's Sondheim on Sondheim, a unique musical that is part video documentary and part starry Broadway revue, playing Studio 54. Previews for the production began March 19.

Helmed by longtime collaborator James Lapine, who created the musicals Into the Woods, Passion and Sunday in the Park With George with Sondheim. The cast includes Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, Leslie Kritzer, Norm Lewis, Euan Morton, Erin Mackey and Matthew Scott.

"By writing songs that reflect the complexity of his characters, he has changed the way we define a great musical. But even though millions of fans know his songs by heart, few know much about Stephen Sondheim himself," begin press notes. Until now. Roundabout presents Sondheim on Sondheim, an intimate portrait of the famed composer in his own words... and music. Through the use of exclusive interview footage, you'll get an inside look at Sondheim's personal life and artistic process. An ensemble cast of Broadway's best will perform brand-new arrangements of over two dozen Sondheim tunes, ranging from the beloved to the obscure."

Performances of this limited engagement are slated through June 13, TONY Awards Sunday.

Best to everyone involved, anxiously awaiting seeing this next week!

Always,
- M

[Mike3]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 7:10pm

Four out of five stars.
Financial Times

[Mike3]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 7:12pm

Associated Press

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 7:46pm

AP is glowingly positive, with a rave for Cook.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 8:20pm

Sommers is POSITIVE.
Michael Sommers

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 8:33pm

Chicago Tribune is POSITIVE
Chicago Tribune

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 8:36pm

Backstage is POSITIVE, calling the show "entirely wonderful."
Backstage

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 8:58pm

Christ, these are coming in slow tonight.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 9:17pm

I saw it last Saturday and, personally, I thought the first half was pretty boring and the second half was pretty strong. Blocking throughout was horrendous. Vanessa Williams and Euan Morton were standouts to me and Cook knocked "Send in the Clowns" out of the park. Tom though.......complete disappointment with giving no emotion and he kept flubbing lines.

Updated On: 4/22/10 at 09:17 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 9:18pm

The LA Times is horribly written...

He likes the show, then at the end he says there's just a little too much dead air.

I guess this is a definite MIXED.
LA Times

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 9:21pm

Entertainment Weekly is MIXED-TO-POSITIVE:

The concept of the Roundabout Theatre Company's new revue, Sondheim on Sondheim, sounds like an overambitious senior thesis: Interviews with the composer-lyricist (some vintage, some newly recorded) play on a wall of LCD screens on stage, while actors perform his greatest hits, plus a few oddities and obscurities. But it's actually quite clever. Sondheim doesn't open up to journalists on a regular basis, so watching him work at the computer, his black poodles curled at his feet, or peeking at old photos (baby Sondheim, preppy Sondheim, Sondheim with a Dorothy Hamill 'do) feels a little like you're having an intimate chat with the master himself.
Review

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 10:11pm

I guess Murray is "positive". He's also a jerk.

Given that it’s the 80th anniversary of Stephen Sondheim’s birth, and that the famed composer-lyricist has had no shortage of celebrations and honors this year (including the renaming of a theater for him), it seems only fitting to let him describe endeavors like Sondheim on Sondheim, the new revue of his work that Roundabout Theatre Company is presenting at Studio 54.

“Mary Rodgers has a nice term for shows like that. She calls them ‘why musicals.’ I mean, they’re perfectly okay, but why write them? They’re not necessary. They don’t improve on the original. They’re at best painting the lily and at worst they are nowhere near as good as their original source.”

All right, so Sondheim was actually referring to Do I Hear a Waltz?, his rocky collaboration with Rodgers’s father, Richard. (You may have heard of him.) But the words could not be more apt for this evening, which has been conceived and directed by James Lapine, musical directed by David Loud, and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, and is performed by a stunning cast, all of whom accomplish next to nothing lasting for their troubles. And yet, despite the prevailing pointlessness, the show is - to quote you know who - perfectly okay.

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 10:34pm

TheaterMania is VERY POSITIVE:

"...Unfortunately, much of the show's first act borders on the offensive in the way it often features annoying too-cute medleys and otherwise ill-reconceived approaches to Sondheim's work. In the considerably better second act, however, the singers are allowed to warble most of their gorgeous material in a more rewarding fashion.

For many audience members, Sondheim talking about himself -- easily and articulately as it happens - is the show's major selling-point. He's forthcoming (except when he isn't) and the subjects run the spectrum from devastating (a story about his aloof mother, Foxy Leshin) to insipid (a lame joke about sending his nail clippings to the Smithsonian)..."

http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/reviews/04-2010/sondheim-on-sondheim_26701.html





Updated On: 4/22/10 at 10:34 PM

[Mike3]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 10:38pm

"Mr. Sondheim bears a relationship to his vocation that is unlike that of any artist in any other field."

I like that. A lot.
New York Times Updated On: 4/22/10 at 10:38 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:08pm

Brantley's review is very strange. It's mixed in terms of content, but somehow at the end of it you feel like it was a rave. It was mostly a love letter to Sondheim without much to say about the production. It looks like Barbara Cook is getting those Tony-worthy reviews. This should make things interesting.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:16pm

"It’s a lovely reminder that for all his much-touted cleverness, Mr. Sondheim is great not because he’s a wizard with rhyme, rhythm and key changes. It’s because he senses and conveys the darker currents of pain and loneliness that swirl beneath even the shiniest surfaces. He sees inside us. And there is something kind of Godlike about that."

LOVE that. It may be a little over the top. But I still love it.

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:19pm

How much "personal" information is imparted in this show? Just wondering. I love Sondheim's music. I think he is a genius. But I would love to know more about the man, his life, his loves, etc. I think if you are going to do a show called "Sondheim on Sondheim" then you should open up completely, about everything. Otherwise, call it "Sondheim on his Music". Now, I have not seen the show, so if I am wrong let me know. I am not being sarcastic. He is such an enigma, and I have always wanted to know more about him. Are there any revelations?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:20pm

The first part of that paragraph in Brantley's review is also great:

Mr. Sondheim turned 80 last month, and the occasion has already been honored by more tributes than are normally accorded the Yankees when they win the World Series, with more to come. This is not overkill.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:28pm

There really isn't much in the way of new personal information in the show. Most of the info in the interviews can be found online (and on youtube). The story about his mother was completely new to me.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:29pm

Interesting that the Best Actress in a Musical is now between 3 performers. I'd actually wager that it's between Scott and Cook now with Zeta-Jones no longer the front runner.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/22/10 at 11:36pm

"It's a palpable Hit!"

Love Cook's notices, best this season after Lansbury.

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 12:05am

"Mr. Sondheim turned 80 last month, and the occasion has already been honored by more tributes than are normally accorded the Yankees when they win the World Series, with more to come. This is not overkill."

It's overkill.

And in light of the reviews for this plodding, uninspired revue, one can wonder if in the history of the theatre anyone else been given such overkill, or such a bye.
Updated On: 4/23/10 at 12:05 AM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 12:15am

I'm probably going to burn in Broadway hell for this, but Barbara Cook does not deserve a Tony for this, even though she was great. In fact, no one in the show does. It was a good revue but nothing Tony worthy.

defygravity - when he talked about his mom, I gasped out loud. So sad!

Updated On: 4/23/10 at 12:15 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 12:15am

The story about his mother was completely new to me.

Sondheim revealed some of it in Meryle Secrest's "Stephen Sondheim: A Life," but nothing as frank and as moving as what he says in Sondheim on Sondheim.

Updated On: 4/23/10 at 12:15 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/23/10 at 12:15am

So happy for these mostly positive reviews!

As great as she is, I really don't see Cook winning for this.