February 2012
96 posts
Front row for Now. Here. This. with fuckyeahstephensondheim?
YES, PLEASE.
This is happening. And thus begins my Twitter campaign to get the cast to meet us after the show for a brief video interview for Fuck Yeah Stephen Sondheim.
(And quite a bit better than the obstructed-view seats I had for [title of show].)
Play
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London’s Open Air Theatre production of Into The Woods two summers ago, meanwhile, will open with a new cast in New York’s Central Park in August.
Meryl Streep is cited as a possibility to play the defining role of the Witch. “We will see,” says Sondheim. “I think she’d be great.”
” —Matt Wolf, “In New York we’re starved of plays, says Stephen Sondheim,” London Evening Standard
“But not content merely to revisit the past, Sondheim speaks of pushing forward and says he has “20 or 30 minutes” written of a new musical that he is collaborating on with American playwright David Ives, a New York regular little known in London. “Having spent the better part of four years writing two books [both sizeable tomes in which he anatomises his own career as lyricist alongside that of others], I’m really rusty. I sit at the piano and think, ‘Where’s middle C?’ Any muscles, as you know, atrophy when you don’t use them, and I haven’t been using my musical muscles.”
—Matt Wolf, “In New York we’re starved of plays, says Stephen Sondheim,” London Evening Standard
11 Could I Leave You?
Gay Byrne
This album…
When I was in the fifth grade and first started being obsessed with Stephen Sondheim, I devoured the book Sondheim & Co. by Craig Zadan. Like, memorized it. Including the appendices, which included both a list of songs cut from each of Sondheim’s shows, and a list of cast recordings of each of the shows.
Over the years, I’ve managed to hear each and every one of those cut songs. And I had tracked down copies of every single cast recording mentioned. Except for one: Songs of Sondheim, the Dublin cast album of Side by Side by Sondheim.
I was starting to think this album didn’t actually exist. The reference to the album was removed from the second edition of Sondheim & Co., and one of my theater friends on Twitter who has EVERYTHING didn’t have it.
And then today, through the amazing connections we’ve all developed with people on the internet, and some indispensable help from youregonnalovetomorrow, I finally got to hear this album.
After about 25 years of build up, it was necessarily a let-down. But I love Side by Side by Sondheim so it’s a treat to hear an album of the material recorded by a different producer. This one is recorded live, and includes a bit of the narration. And, as you’ll hear on this track, the narrator steps in to sing one of the songs. And if I have any Irish readers, I hope they’ll forgive me for saying that I think “Could I Leave You” sung by someone who sounds like a leprechaun is simply irresistible. (Perhaps Jason Graae, Broadway singer and former voice of the Lucky Charms elf, could add this to a future cabaret act.)
Anyway, I can’t imagine that any of you reading this are as fascinated with this track as I am, but I couldn’t wait to share it. Enjoy.
The Ballad of Booth
Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin ends the first act of his current tour (called Let Go after the song Canto de Ossanha) with “The Ballad of Booth” from Assassins.
are you openly catering to my west side story obsession, or is this just a coincidence
Just a coincidence - I queued these up before you started posted about your WSS obsession. But happy to help!
(And speaking of the queue, in typical Tumblr fashion, it hiccuped today, so I apologie for the double posts…)
Play
Send In The Clowns
Alex Niedt
Here’s a new cover of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send In The Clowns” recorded for the upcoming Funny Days series!
“Send in the Clowns” was written for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night.
Download FREE MP3
Word on Twitter is that the UK Sweeney Todd cast album is being recorded (live) today.
Yep, this is what Michael tweeted this morning:
Yeah, my info came from @SweeneyToddUK:
A very exciting event is happening today- it’s the live recording of Sweeney Todd the Musical! Keep an eye on the page for updates!
— Sweeney Todd (@SweeneyToddUk)
…and it seems to me that whatever they meant by “live” wasn’t what I thought it meant. That is to say, they seem to be recording it in a studio the normal way, and not straight-through in front of an audience. And might I add, I am relieved to learn this. :)
Word on Twitter is that the UK Sweeney Todd cast album is being recorded (live) today.
Sooner or Later
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski: “Sooner or Later” from Dick Tracy
from Sondheim at the Movies
Listen
Raúl Esparza, Maria Friedman and Jim Walton sing “Our Time” at the NY City Center Sondheim Birthday Celebration.
You see how often I reblog youregonnalovetomorrow, right? So why aren’t you following him already?
