Sondheim and Lady Gaga

[RW3]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:25pm

Apparently, he wasn't a fan.
BWW Article

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:27pm

He wasn't a fan, he isn't a fan, he's never been a fan, but his boyfriend is.

I guess we should all school him in all things Gaga and make him come over to the dark side?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:33pm

"It was ridiculous, as it would be from any singer who treats that music in semi-operatic style. She had no relationship to what she was singing."

What do you think he meant by that? Is he sneering at her pop music background?

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:35pm

Now I feel a little bit better about being baffled by everyone's positive responses to her very strange performance.

I'm glad he finally addressed the "sex dungeon", and I'm glad he doesn't think it's funny.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:37pm

I hate that one has to subscribe to view the article in it's entirety.

[Tag]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:39pm

It's quite ridiculous and unnecessary for him to have made this comment, especially over a month later. What's the point?

Also his boyfriend is 48 years younger than him?!?!

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:41pm

I think he meant that she should have just performed the songs in her normal voice, instead of trying to sing in Julie Andrews' keys from the film and replicate her diction and phrasing.

I'm sorry that he sounded so grumpy, at least in the excerpts I read on Playbill.com. Updated On: 3/13/15 at 04:41 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:41pm

I totally agree with Sondheim and with jv92.

I love Gaga. She's an amazing talent. And she could have aced her SOM performance at the Oscars.

But she in fact did have no relationship to what she was singing at the Oscars. She was more Margaret Dumont than Julie Andrews.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:43pm

Didn't he also think the film version of A Little Night Music was good, though?

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:45pm

Sondheim and Romley have been together for a better part of the past ten years, if I'm not mistaken. Before that, he had a long relationship with another younger man named Peter Jones. The guy likes younger men. Who cares? It seems like Jeff makes him feel young and happy when he's feeling old and crotchety, so isn't that a good thing?

And givesmevoice, NEVER. I think he tried to persuade Prince not to do it in the 1970s, and I witnessed a few hysterical but ultimately unkind comments he made at Elizabeth Taylor's expense not too long ago during one of those live discussions he had with Frank Rich. Updated On: 3/13/15 at 04:45 PM

[brucebossa]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:47pm

Well, we all know Sondheim is called "God" in theater circles - he's just the grumpier, less benevolent God.

And I still think Lady Gaga was rather fun, showing a different side of herself. Quibble quibble. I thought while watching she might break into some raunchy version of the songs - and to my surprise, she didn't. Plus, the audience loved it. I think it was a nice tribute, fun and her bringing in Julie Andrews was quite touching.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:50pm

However, he DID like the movie of SWEENEY TODD, and did see THE WIZ six times in the 1970s. But nobody's perfect.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:53pm

haha, and I was harshly criticized on this board, by Sondheim idolaters, for agreeing with Sondheim.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:53pm

I completely agree with him that she had no relationship to what she was singing.

I said it before, too. She was completely disconnected from the lyrics. It's as if she was impersonating a singer with a trained voice, rather than singing a song from the heart.

It was mechanical. Nothing human about that performance. She sounded good (barely) and hit the notes okay, but that was it.

It was a very bizarre performance, as if she had never been in touch with a human emotion before.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 4:58pm

I feel like these attempts by Lady Gaga to sing music of other eras are like...novelty acts. It's like, "Oh look, I can impersonate Julie Andrews!" or in her jazzier, Tony Bennett performance at the Grammys, "Look everyone! I can do a pretty decent Ethel Merman, too!"

Pink did "Over the Rainbow" last year on the Oscars, and I don't recall loving it, but I do recall thinking (and still think), "At least she sang it like Pink."

Updated On: 3/13/15 at 04:58 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 5:00pm

I don't even mind a change of style, just sing from the heart.

And if her emotions are/were genuine, the result wasn't "genuine" at all.

... which means she can't act.

But it seemed to be intentional, not like someone who can't tap into the right emotions, but rather chooses not to.

... which is why I found it so bizarre.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 5:06pm

What did he say about the sex dungeon though?

[jv92]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 5:07pm

He doesn't have one, and it bothers him that the rumor runs so rampant. From the Playbill.com excerpts...

"I have heard of this. I don’t know how it got started. No, I haven’t [got one]. There is no basis of truth in it whatsoever. It bothers me. What it represents is people trying to put me down and trash me. It’s like saying, ‘So and so’s a drunk’, ‘Who does he think he is?' If you go downstairs there’s a washing machine and a boiler. There’s one great thing down there and that’s a cedar closet with all my original manuscripts in it.”

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 5:20pm

"What it represents is people trying to put me down and trash me."

I don't think so. Look at the popularity of 50 Shades of Gray. Some people might actually like that he has a dungeon.

[sarahb22]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 5:41pm

And all the time he's thinking, "Thank goodness nobody's asked me if I have a sex attic..."

[DAME]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 5:49pm

What a bitter queen.

[binau]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 6:01pm

The article does actually come across as very bitter and negative. I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of his points, but still.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 6:40pm

What's the old joke about the ape who types badly? The punchline is something like, "The point isn't that he can't spell, but that he can type at all."

I thought Lady Gaga singing "The Sound of Music" was reminiscent of that joke.

(No, I don't dislike her and I'm not trying to trash her or compare her to a chimp. I'm just agreeing with those who found her disconnected from the material. I think she won over the audience simply by singing it "straight".)

[seahag2]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 7:07pm

Since we're talking about what shows Sondheim does and doesn't like, I wonder what he thought of Honeymoon in Vegas. Several broadway twitters posted pictures of him at the show and all I could think about was when a 23 year old Jason Robert Brown directly disrespected Sondheim's show. If only I could hear Sondheim's review of it...

[mattywhits]

Posted: 3/13/15 at 7:15pm

Seahag, did you read this article? Honeymoon in Vegas is the musical he references when asked about his favorite recent musical. He said it's the type of show he grew up on and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.