The All-Sondheim Thread- Page 9
The All-Sondheim Thread
#200all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/4/04 at 3:12pm
Ok, so for anyone who has seen both versions of the movie, who do you prefer; Meryl Streep or Lansbury? I really enjoyed streep in the remake, and I think I'll like Lansbury too once I see her version. Anyone?
(and just so that I'm not threadjacking, Sondheim is great!)
Plum
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/4/04
#201all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/4/04 at 3:15pm
Lansbury, no doubt. But that's at least partly a reflection of the fact that I liked the original movie better. It was just completely ice-cold and creepy. The new version was gorier but not as scary, I think, and it was too addle-brained sometimes.
Streep did a great job putting a new twist on the character, and she should definitely resonate with people who follow contemporary politics, but on the whole, as I said, I prefer Lansbury.
#202all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/4/04 at 5:31pm
I'm still trying to keep this thread at the top, can you tell?
So, this has been done before, but why not do it again...
what's your favorite Sondheim lyric?
assassinslvr
Swing Joined: 9/4/04
#203all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/4/04 at 5:44pmNeil patrick harris in Sweeney is awesome. Not while I'm around is the most moving part of the show! He rocks in anything he's in. However, the man who plays Antony looks like a woman and it freaks me out. Great singer but....uh yeah
#204all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/11/04 at 4:13pm
Two months, one day 'till the first PACIFIC OVERTURES preview!
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#205all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/11/04 at 4:16pm
I'm getting tickets for one of the previews soon, if not today. 
sabrelady
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#206all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/11/04 at 5:02pmThe incestuous subtext in Lansbury's Manchrian in so creepy esp when you think of movies from that period its amazing it got through. Streep is a very good take on the part BUT the difference to me is she HAS achieved so much it is difficult to believe she would do the old "not me but my child" Mama Rose stuff. Mrs Islelin was STILL after the power thats what motivates her . Mrs Shaw - i found myself thinking of the Faye Dunaway characte in "Network". So on the whole appreciate ( like is to weird a word in this context)Lansbury's more. Truer to the time & character.
BT
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/04
#207all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/14/04 at 1:05pmI've been listening to Pacific Overtures a lot lately and I cannot wait for the show to open. Someone in a Tree is a wonderful song and Please Hello is some of Sondheim's best!
I sing for myself. I sing when I want, whenever I want to, just for me. I sing for my own pleasure. Do you understand that?
kissmycookie
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/21/04
#208all things Sondheim
Posted: 9/14/04 at 2:11pmI'm waiting for Roundabout to send out their HipTix notice for that. They're taking their sweet time with it...
#209all things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 3:19pm
This board needs a little Sondheim.
So I thought I'd revive this thread by saying I am going to the matinne of PACIFIC OVERTURES on December 29 and I am so damn excited.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#210all things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 3:28pm
Have a great time. The reviews were mainly positive except for the direction and Wong's performance, and you should have a great time.
Thank god for this thread. Spread the love.
#211all things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 3:31pm
I am so excited.
How is the staging for 'Someone in a Tree' and 'Please, Hello'?
Those songs are masterpieces in of themselves.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#212all things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 3:56pm
Someone in a Tree is done simply; the tree is basically a ladder with leaves at the top, the house is tiny, and it's mainly about the song. I loved it.
I also loved Please Hello, but people take issue with some of the staging. The entrances are made from in front of the stage, and it's a little hard to see from certain places in the theater. Also, because of the masks, the words are garbled; I didn't have a problem understanding (I guess because I knew the lyrics beforehand), but my friend didn't know what they were saying. You should be fine, I would imagine.
#213all things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 3:59pm
Yes, I will know what they're saying (see signature ), but the people I am with have never even heard of it.
Will they like it? Or is it a production for those who know the show backwards and forwards?
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#214all things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 4:07pmWell, my friend, who had never even heard of the show, enjoyed it a lot. I think that by adding some more obvious laughs, Miyamoto made it a little more crowd-friendly, but it's still not "Wicked" or "Mamma Mia". People who know the show backwards and forwards will most likely love it, if not simply for the fact that it's being produced at all (Although Jose', who saw the original, left at intermission). I think people who haven't seen it will enjoy it also. It all depends on what other theater they enjoy. Updated On: 12/5/04 at 04:07 PM
Addicted2Seaweed
Featured Actor Joined: 12/4/04
#215All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 4:14pmSince this is the All-Sondheim thread I finally have a chance to talk about him to some one other than my family. My other friends who are into theatre don't even know who he is or what any of his shows are. The man is amazing. He does have an amazing power to conjure up emotions that I didn't even know I had. Everything is so intricate that when you start listening you just hear the whole song as like one unit but then you go back and listen and there's all this other...stuff. I don't know, when I started writing I thought I knew what to say, but then.... my brain works in mysterious ways. I know what I think....
What is it about Lucy?? I know she's a bitch, and yet I want to be her...
#216All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 9:55pmA toast to Stephend Sondheim! Raise your glasses please!
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
#217All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 10:01pm
CHEERS! Here's to the ladies who lunch... i mean Sondheim!!!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
misterchoi
Stand-by Joined: 9/5/04
#218All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 10:05pmDid I ever tell the board that I went to the Kerry rally with Sondheim, Lapine, and Patinkin?
"Yesterday is done. See the pretty countryside. Merrily we roll along, roll along- catching at dreams."- Merrily we roll along
"The living was the prize, the ending's not the story."- Elegies, a song cycle
#219All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 10:11pmawesome! i ruv sondheim!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
misterchoi
Stand-by Joined: 9/5/04
#220All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/5/04 at 11:15pm
I love Sondheim almost as much as I love Stephen Schwartz!!!
please.
"Yesterday is done. See the pretty countryside. Merrily we roll along, roll along- catching at dreams."- Merrily we roll along
"The living was the prize, the ending's not the story."- Elegies, a song cycle
#221All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/6/04 at 12:09am
Misterchoi, that is so awesome!
And Caroline-Q, what is the website for that picture??
It is amazing and I need it for my desktop!!!
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
Racetrack
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/04
#222All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/6/04 at 12:24am
I'll just add my two cents about Sweeney Todd and then I'll shut up. I enjoyed both Jennings and Harris as Toby. I think I do prefer Jennings version of Not While I'm Around. I don't know why. I think mostly because he's the original Toby, but there's something that he had with his character(especially during that song) that Neil didn't have. Maybe it was more honesty or I felt that he was really trying to connect in the song that I prefer him. Or maybe the innocence. I can't put my finger on it. It was just something that Jennings did while performing that that made me like his version a little more. Although I do enjoy both as Toby.
Racetrack
"The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest hath borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long"-Edgar in King Lear
#223All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/6/04 at 4:34pmI did feel that Jennings performance was more genuine than Harris who gave an altogether fine performance notwithstanding.
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
#224All Things Sondheim
Posted: 12/6/04 at 7:37pm
it's my desktop currenty Priest, here it is!
the cool sondheim pic!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
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