What people [3 and hate about Sondheim — Page 4

Alright, first of all this has been a very interesting thread to read, so thank you.

As for me, I LOVE Assassins, Gypsy (although the show is hardly underrated, I feel his lyrics get overlooked in this, which is a shame since I consider them up there with some of his best - everything from Little Lamb to Rose's Turn is just touched with this etching of perfection), Into The Woods (his most accessible and IMO utterly flawless show), and I've loved every production of Sweeney I've seen/heard (I love me some LuPone but til' this day I still prefer Lansbury's Lovett).

I dislike (and yet, if I turn it around: I suppose I like) the fact that his shows grow on you. Let me explain. Yes, it's nice to hear a song or an entire score, rest, play it over and over in your head, and THEN decide you like it. But the problem with this is that a lot of people get turned off to amazing pieces of his works because of this. I myself (and I so wish this wasn't true) can't get past the first thirty minutes of SITPWG (original version obviously). This was not so with any of the other Sondheim shows I have experienced, but even with some of my favorites (ITW especially) at first I somewhat like the score or a certain song or even character, then I will really think it over, or listen to it ad nausem, and the brilliance suddenly dawns.

ok, I love Into the Woods. I saw the national tour of Doyle's Sweeny Todd and didn't really like it. I think I have to see a production with a proper orchestra, cause the cast playing the instruments was a little distracting. And they I think I would appreciate it more.

Right now, my college is doing A Little Night Music and I'm stage managing it. We are in week 3 of singing rehearsals and I've figured out I never want to work on A Little Night Music ever again. Weekend in the Country is the only song that gets stuck in my head and it kills me. Also, the cast have one type of score in the back of their scripts (it's handwritten photocopy that MTI gave us.) I have a handwritten score separate from the script, and the musical director has a printed score. In two songs now, we have found discrepancies in all three scores. Mainly the words. Sometimes the notes have been wrong. and in one cause, the notes written on the page are not the same as the notes sung in the cast recording. Maybe I just hate the musical cause it's so problematic right now, but the music doesn't really do anything for me right now either.

But I love Into the Woods.

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I love the way a particular phrase that I've never paid attention to in the past will suddenly reach out and grab me on a later hearing and I suddenly see the song and character in a whole new light. It makes me feel that there are always going to be new layers for me to discover, no matter how familiar I think I am with a recording.

I love the way the themes and reprises intertwine. Sweeney, Merrily, and Sunday are particular favorites in this regard.

I love the way he grew as a lyricist making the words fit the characters better and better over the years. With Company, I loved that the various incarnations of what became Being Alive are available because each gave me a different glimpse of possible Bobbys.

I don't always like the subject matters that interest him (Bounce in particular didn't do anything for me), but I can't imagine him picking any subject that I wouldn't want to see what he did with it.

It took me a while to figure out the main reason I always return to Sondheim's works. The reason I love him as a composer is because his works are the only ones where I feel like a character is truly speaking what and how they feel through their song. I know that this is pretty much the idea of every song in existence, but I think Sondheim writes with the most honesty and truth of ANY living composer.

Also I love the line "harder than a matador coercin' a bull."

I hate that Sondheim doesn't write a new score every year.

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