Stephen Sondheim at Lincoln Center on Sunday

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:16am

Who else is attending? I got my tickets a while back, and I've been counting down since.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:19am

I'm going. I'm quite excited.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:21am

From where I'm sitting, he'll probably look like an ant. But, I'm still thrilled.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:25am

Doesn't matter. You'll be more enlightened for going, won't you?

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:26am

That is le goal.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:28am

I hope he talks about Road Show a bit. The more and more I think about it, the more fascinated I am with it. It was so exceptional. It really ought to have come to Broadway.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 12:44am

Well, maybe it could.
With the opening of so many theatres,
And the costumes and whatever of the set
could move also.
A true Producer might make that work.

[Broadway Baby 2]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 1:11am

Ill be there.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 1:39pm

"Well, maybe it could.
With the opening of so many theatres,
And the costumes and whatever of the set
could move also.
A true Producer might make that work."

I think it could do very well at the Belasco or the Booth.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 1/18/09 at 11:02pm

I was there, third row. A very fun 100 minutes.

What the board would be most interested: Sondheim said that there WILL be a recording of ROAD SHOW done in February, which he is very excited about because he finally considers the work complete and is proud of it.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 2:30am

Great news.


Did they have performers?

[D2]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 7:59am

No. It was just two intelligent men having intelligent conversation.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 9:56am

It really was a wonderful night. The conversation was lively and informative.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 10:41am

no performers? They did when he was in Boston. I'm suprised

[jv92]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 12:19pm

I loved what he said about Kander and Ebb and Bock and Harnick. I never thought about that before.
And I'll never look at South Pacific the same way after last night.

[jv92]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 7:47pm

Bump!

[fetzles1490]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 10:26pm

I was there too. It was incredible =). What he said about South Pacific was hilarious, especially because I'm not much of a fan of the show to begin with. My favorite comment he made, though, was what he said about Somewhere being the "aaaaa" song, because of how he wrote the least important word of the lyric on the highest note of the phrase. It was something I would have never thought of, and it just struck me. Also loved his "thank god I Feel Pretty is in Spanish now..." comment.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 10:34pm

Favorite:

"He shot himself after 'Being Alive?'"
-Frank Rich

[jv92]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 6:46am

Does a transcript of the evening exist?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 8:34am

Someone should write a parody lyric based on his idea that there's never been a happier war than the one in South Pacific:

Happy war,
Keep fighting happy war!...

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 11:32am

Here's an article about the evening from Phillip Boroff.

Some quotes:
On South Pacific:

“I don’t believe for two seconds that those are Seabees,” Sondheim said. “It’s the happiest war I’ve ever seen.”

“The whole lyric of ‘There’s Nothing Like a Dame’ drives me crazy,” he said. “It doesn’t sound to me like what the character is trying to convey. Where he (Hammerstein) is at his best is in the romantic stuff.”

On Reviewers:
“Musicals are the only public art form reviewed by ignoramuses,” he said. “There are very few of them, I can guarantee it, who know anything about music at all.”

On Why His Shows Do Better in Revival:
“Tastes get more sophisticated as time goes on,” he said. “Sometimes a show grows into its own clothes.”
Sondheim on Critics and South Pacific

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 12:27pm

What did he say about Kander and Ebb and Bock and Harnick that was so interesting?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 12:30pm

That to him, it's almost like the babies got mixed up at the hospital. If it he were able to pair them, he would have put Kander with Harnick and Ebb with Bock, because of stylistic similarities. But then he went on to say that it's actually the friction and the differences between the pairs as they are that make them work so well.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 1:19pm

Wow - I never would have thought of that. I wonder how that would have worked out...She Loves Chicago and Fiddler on the Cabaret?

[Pocketsquared Fanadu]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 1:27pm

It was really a terrific night. At times, you could have heard a pin drop. The comaraderie between the two of them was obvious and Sondheim really looked like he was genuinely having a good time--he blew kisses at us as he was leaving the stage. Loved watching Bernadette two rows ahead as he was talking about the different qualities that each "Gypsy" brought to the part. Fancy crowd, too--we walked in with Barbara Walters!

Hope he does as he said he was going to near the end, and writes some more new material...