sondheim's next project

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 6:49pm

yesterday i had the fortune of meeting with one of sondheim's assistants, mark l. horowitz. i thought i would let you all know that bounce is still being worked on and they are hopeful for a fully staged new york production maybe 07/08.

ALSO. he told us that the project sondheim is next hoping to work on is a staged musical version of the film "groundhog day". he wants to do this mainly for the reason that there has never been a musical made out of theme and variations, and this would be the "perfect" material to explore bridging the gap between such a standard classical practice and the moderness of musical comedy.

anyway, hope you find that as fascinating as i do!

[pab]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 6:53pm

There has been talk about a Sondheim Groundhog Day musical for over two years now. Is this person saying that it's moved from the "talking about it" stage?
Is "Groundhog Day" next?

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 6:58pm

ah, it was made to seem like it was a new idea, just beginning, so maybe it's that it's starting to come to fruition...

sorry, i had no idea it's an old idea, i had never heard of it before.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 7:22pm

This is weird, because we just watched Groundhog Day yesterday in Flim Script Analysis class... It is such a brilliantly structured, incredible story and film... What a great project for Sondheim- I'm just glad he's still actively working! We need him!

[Isabella2]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:05pm

i've always liked that film. i hope it does well if it does go to broadway.

[neomystyk29]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:11pm

Loved that film. I think it's great material for Sondheim. Although it does make me kind of mad that Sondheims next project is another movie to musical adaptation for the stage. But, better something than nothing especially in this case.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:20pm

Well, he had great success adapting films into A Little Night Music and Passion, so why not? Who cares about the source? Execution is the most important thing and giving such a compositional genius the opportunity to explore theme and variations in a musical score is incredibly exciting.

Updated On: 4/13/06 at 11:20 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 12:12am

You know, this is one of the few movies I think SHOULD be made into a musical. It could be brilliant.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 12:33am

Sondheim has already explored theme and variations in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (every number in Act One finds a corollary in Act Two), although GROUNDHOG DAY would give him opportunity to develop it even further along the lines of the RHAPSODY ON A THEME BY PAGANINI by Rachmaninoff, of which Sondheim is enamored and which has been a self-confessed influence on his writing (the quality of the eighteenth variation in the above work seems to have inspired SEND IN THE CLOWNS.)


Tootie 'The Most Horrible' Smith
St. Louis, MO

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 12:36am

I really like the movie, and its themes, even, but Groundhog Day as a musical? I mean, I know Sondheim is God and all that jazz, but..... hmm.

Updated On: 4/13/06 at 12:36 AM

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 12:36am

Im more thrilled that Bounce is being reworked to open in the future. I loved the score and would love to see Gavin Creel reprise his role.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 1:41am

I adore Sondheim as much as anybody, but frankly, I don't think the GROUNDHOG DAY project is ever going to come to fruition.

[DG]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 1:47am

I know this is sacriledge to the acolytes, but aren't we about ready to start work on the Requiem?

[Parks]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 1:57am

Sounds interesting. Loved the movie as well...weird choice.

[DG]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 2:01am

"The Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church and its Eastern Rite. Its theme is a prayer for the salvation of the souls of the departed, and it is used both at services immediately preceding a burial, and on occasions of more general remembrance."

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 3:24am

At a Q & A in 2002 at Kennedy Center someone asked Sondheim about recent films he thought would make a good musical and he mentioned GROUNDHOG DAY then but it seemed he wasn't all that serious. I really wish he had put WISE GUYS/BOUNCE aside when it wasn't working and gotten onto something else. I mean it's been 12 seasons now since PASSION. ( I know it doesn't SEEM that long...but it is.)

I remember the excitement and anticipation for the opening night reviews (and that was before we had internet!)- watching his interviews on ABC Good Morning America, Larry King Live and Charlie Rose. Taping them all to get as many samples of the score as pssible. Watching with glee as PASSION swept aside BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at the Tonys (then chagrinned when AP reprted it as follows: "Broadway snubbed Disney as it gave its top musical award to a gloomy musical called PASSION instead of the glittering BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.") And then the wait for the cast album which finally came out in August. It was also at that time that the very first issue of TEH SONDHEIM REVIEW appeared.

Who knew?

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 3:42am

>>>I know this is sacriledge to the acolytes, but aren't we about ready to start work on the Requiem?<<<

Stevie Baby already wrote his Requiem 25 + years ago when he penned SWEENEY TODD. Requiescat in pace.


Abner Hale (aboard the Thetis)

[DG]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 3:47am

Aaaaaaaaaamen.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 5:00am

Hmm...I'm sure it could work but "perfect" didn't come to mind as a fit for Sondheim and Groundhog Day. I love the movie and I love Sondheim and I think that it could be very cool if it ever happens, but something about it just seems...off.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 6:27am

Is this really new talk? I know this rumour for years so it doesn't come off fresh to me. Anyhow, any new Sondheim show is welcome to me. I'm hungry for a bunch of new Sondheim tunes.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 9:45am

Loved that film. I think it's great material for Sondheim. Although it does make me kind of mad that Sondheims next project is another movie to musical adaptation for the stage. But, better something than nothing especially in this case.

I don't like the idea, either.

IDK this movie never did it for me . . . ..

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 12:27pm

Sondheim has long wanted to do a show based on "theme and variations." Even the early idea for ALNM was to have Mme. Armfeldt shuffle cards and the whole weekend would begin all over each time arriving at a different conclusion.

GROUNDHOG DAY certainly opens up possibilities for that idea and I could see right away why Sondheim would like the idea of doing it as a stage musical. I just hope he can find a book writer who can translate it into a cohesive show: Broadway is littered with failed musicals that cannibalized hit movies without adding anything of value. Anyone remember the mess John Weidman made of BIG?

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 12:36pm

If he's not serious, it's been tossed around so much that the film rights are being reserved for him. There's a really cute musicalized version of this show created by some writers from the BMI workshop which is essentially dead in the water now because of it.
It's too bad they virtually finished the show before securing the rights because it's really good.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 2:26pm

It must feel good to have so much clout that even though your shows make no money, studios will reserve the rights to a film for you just because you're toying with the idea of trying to make a musical out of it.

But is it cute, or is it actually really good?

Funny that you mention that, Hunter. I was listening to that the other day (Rachmaninoff's Themes and Variations) and I kept thinking, "Man, where have I heard this before? Where have I heard this before?"

Then it struck me. Where else? Andrew Lloyd Webber. I did some research, apparently many, many composers for the past few centuries have been enamored of Paganini's little violin exercise. I found all kinds of Themes and Variations on it. Personally, I think it sounds like a Dance Dance Revolution song. It probably is.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 3:52pm

The sheer complexity of writing the score to a concept like the one presented by Groundhogs Day can only be taken in by a genius of Sondheims type. Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park With George and Into the Woods are the prerequisites to know that he is capable of such a feat. Think about the complex variations, it's really incredible to consider. I think this is a perfect Sondheim fit and would allow him to explore his musical comedy roots again.