Sondheim has been screwed... — Page 3

"What I find sad about this thread is that we are looking forward to yet another Sondheim revival instead of a NEW Sondheim show."

Perhaps they saw Bounce. Yikes.

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Sondheim was indeed screwed...22 years ago when he lost the Best Score award (for SUNDAY) to Jerry Herman (LA CAGE.) He survived that slight.

He has survived critics misunderstanding and mis-representing his work.

He has survived winning Best Musical for PASSION only to have the show close after an 8 month run, while the show it beat (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) is still running.

He has survived audience indifference, watching as they flock to see the latest ALW garbage multiple times while some of his best shows struggle to stay open.

He has survived umpteen revisions and workshops of WISE GUYS/BOUNCE, which has still not managed to get to Broadway.

And he has survived Tony losses before. (I am reminded of an interview I did with Charles Strouse many years ago when he commented that "winning a Tony award is always nice, and losing is not, but in the end it is the shows that matter.")

The past 5 seasons have had one Sondheim revival nominated each year, and two (ASSASSINS and INTO THE WOODS) won the award. The best way to honour Sondheim is to keep his shows coming back in new interpretations to intrigue, entertain and challenge audiences while at the same time winning over new fans.

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Actually, Richard Rogers is the most produced Broadway composer in history.

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"Ie: if you insult the musical, you are insulting its creators."

And if you insult the revival, you insult the....well, not the composer who already won the Tony for his score. The entire production of the revival was not Sondheim's doing. In fact, he had very little involvement.

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To be totally honest, "PG" is a lot more likely to do well on the road than "Sweeney" would. Sure, Connick's not going to do it and if even Kelli can do it she's not a national draw until she gets a TV show, but it'll do well with any good-looking guy who can swing a song and any charming clear-voiced soprano.

"Sweeney" is probably good for another round in the regional NFPs--and just like every Carrie Pipperidge in "Carousel" was black for some years after the Broadway revival, we're now going to get actors trying to be musicians in every regional NFP production of "Sweeney" for a while.

"Actually, Richard Rogers is the most produced Broadway composer in history."

Did someone say that he wasn't? I see a post stating that "Sondheim has been among the most awarded, lionized, feted, anthologized, analyzed, honored, critiqued, and produced composers in American history and he lived to see it in his lifetime."

But I see no post stating that Sondheim is the most produced Broadway composer in history. Maybe I'm missing it.

As for the fact that we now look forward to the next Sondheim revival rather than the next Sondheim show, this does seem to some degree to be precisely because Sondheim has been so awarded and honored (as I tried to point out earlier in the thread when I quoted Sondheim himself). He has more than once said that he feels nervous because so much is now expected of him, people expect that everything he writes will be a masterpiece. It makes it even harder for him to write than it used to be (and it was never easy for him).

And, of course, he's no kid. He is well aware that very few successful Broadway musicals (or even good Broadway musicals) have been written by composers over 65. And that makes him nervous.

Much as I'd love to see a new Sondheim show, he's given us plenty at an incredibly high level of accomplishment and inspiration.