Of the many musicals by the late, great Stephen Sondheim, some are more grisly (Sweeney Todd), more esoteric (Pacific Overtures) and more personal (Merrily We Roll Along), but few are as audience-friendly and ultimately profound than Into the Woods. Collaborating with James Lapine, the master composer-lyricist mashes up several familiar fairy tales – Cinderella, Red … [Read more...]
‘Forum’ a loose-limbed delight at the Maltz
The late, great Stephen Sondheim is best remembered for his boundary-busting musicals brimming with angst and ambivalence. But you would never guess that from the first Broadway show to feature both his music and lyrics, 1962’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Sunny and silly, yet displaying early evidence of Sondheim’s verbal mastery and penchant for … [Read more...]
Something familiar, but fresh: ‘Forum’ to open at Maltz
After begrudgingly writing only the lyrics for his first two Broadway shows — West Side Story and Gypsy — the great Stephen Sondheim at last penned both words and music for 1962’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A rare musical comedy that is actually funny, it ran 965 performances, a brief run by Phantom of the Opera standards, but it remains the longest run … [Read more...]
‘Shy’ shows Mary Rodgers was anything but second-rate
Like a less significant middle child, composer, author and philanthropist Mary Rodgers is a mere footnote in the annals of the musical theater. After all, she is probably best known for being the daughter of Richard Rodgers (Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music and so many more) – a classic “hard act to follow” – and the mother of Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, … [Read more...]
Letter from New York: Grateful for ‘Company’ revival, sorry about production choices
NEW YORK -- The late Stephen Sondheim is arguably the greatest composer-lyricist that Broadway has ever produced, and certainly the most meticulous and exacting. Yet whenever called upon by others to revise his work, he seemed more than willing to do so. Think of the London production of Follies that Cameron Mackintosh wanted to be less downbeat. Or his new lyrics for his … [Read more...]
Like Mama Rose herself, Wick’s ‘Gypsy’ soldiers on
Many shows in South Florida have had to be canceled or postponed because of the COVID pandemic, but the Wick Theatre’s production of the musical Gypsy has toughed it out and barreled on – just like its leading character, Mama Rose Hovick, the ultimate stage mother. Veteran director Norb Joerder has dozens of shows to his credit, but he has never experienced anything … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Sondheim made the musical into fine art
In 1994, a stark black-and-white cover of New York magazine asked, “Is Stephen Sondheim God?” The cheeky question tacitly acknowledged that the then 64-year-old was the reigning composer-lyricist of Broadway, perhaps of all time, and implied with a bit of wishful thinking that maybe he was immortal. Certainly his musicals, ranging from 1957’s West Side Story to 2008’s … [Read more...]
‘Putting It Together’: How Sondheim and Lapine painted their masterpiece
When encountering a fully satisfying musical, it is hard to imagine the difficulties it endured on its way to Broadway. Think of Fiddler on the Roof or Hello, Dolly! – both a shambles in their out-of-town tryouts – or virtually every show by Stephen Sondheim, the musical theater’s pre-eminent composer-lyricist, notoriously slow in completing each score. Such is certainly … [Read more...]
Sluggish pace mutes the laughs in MNM’s ‘Forum’
Stephen Sondheim was a mere 32 years old when the first show with his music and lyrics, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, opened on Broadway. A farce based on a convoluted storyline by the ancient Greek jokester Plautus, the audience-friendly musical has none of the psychological complexities that Sondheim would become known for, but plenty of his quirky melodies … [Read more...]
Appreciation: A true monarch of the theater
Broadway director-producer Harold Prince had difficulty remembering how many Tony Awards he had won. In part, that was because he was much more interested in the work than in the inevitable accompanying accolades. And in part it was because he amassed 21 Tonys during his six-decade career, by far the most for a single individual. He died on Wednesday at the age of 91, in … [Read more...]