Stephen Sondheim DEAD

OMG! What timing too just as he’s been portrayed in Tick Tick Boom and the West Side Story remake about to come out.
 
What an icon indeed.

These performances from his 80th Birthday concert are incredible and, naturally, very camp.



 
The first time I was aware of him was from the 1995 National Theatre revival of A Little Night Music, with Judi Dench, Sian Phillips and Patricia Hodge. And Issy Van Randwyck performing my favourite version of The Miller's Son.



I also saw it again for the 2008 revival with Hannah Waddingham, Maureen Lipman and Jessie Buckley. The same production which went to Broadway where Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones took over. I'd happily watch it again, when we inevitably get a new production.
 
Another amazing one. Surely one of, if not the greatest, writers for female stage performers ever?

 
I have just discovered that he rather than the Pet Shop Boys wrote Losing My Mind.
 
Went to a Sondheim show at the Philharmonic only the other week ☹️

Surely you know ‘Sooner or later’ by Madonna @Ag ?
 
jyxz said:
Went to a Sondheim show at the Philharmonic only the other week ☹️

Surely you know ‘Sooner or later’ by Madonna @Ag ?
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It's not like I've made a conscious effort to learn nothing about the man. I just have no interest whatsoever in musicals. He never crossed my radar. It was only recently I realised Sondheim was a significant gap in my knowledge.

And no, I don't know the song!
 
Ag said:
It's not like I've made a conscious effort to learn nothing about the man. I just have no interest whatsoever in musicals. He never crossed my radar. It was only recently I realised Sondheim was a significant gap in my knowledge.

And no, I don't know the song!
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This intensely :disco: perf from the Oscars is worth checking out

 
Let's face it, if you're British and grew up in the 80s and 90s and not particularly into musicals, it's probably quite likely your knowledge would begin and end with Andrew Lloyd Webber. And he's also quite probably the reason why a lot of people of that generation aren't particularly into musicals.
 
Surely the pinnacle of Sondheim's work, or of musical theatre in general is Somewhere from West Side Story, this version is divine:

 
ZenGiraffe said:
I wasn't this bad, but I was shocked to learn he was still alive whenever Into The Woods came out. I assumed he had died in the 60s or something
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I learnt three things this morning:

1. Stephen Sondheim wasn't already long dead
2. Andrew Lloyd Webber didn't write Send In The Clowns
3. Judi Dench is a hell of a musical theatre performer
 
i'm don't know his work beyond the big ones, this is definitely one of those:



i actually liked adam driver's rendition.
 
My word, what a talent and what a body of work. I could talk about his shows all day long.

RIP :(
 
lolly said:
The first time I was aware of him was from the 1995 National Theatre revival of A Little Night Music, with Judi Dench, Sian Phillips and Patricia Hodge. And Issy Van Randwyck performing my favourite version of The Miller's Son.
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Such a fantastic production! I went to see it twice and it's still my favourite recording of the show. Joanna Riding was perfect as Anne alongside the rest of that lineup.

I saw the film version with Liz Taylor a few months ago and it was less than fantastic (Liz especially) and rewritten to be quite a different beast. Diana Rigg plays Countess Malcolm though and is as :disco: as you might expect.
 
I've never seen A Little Night Music in any form :shy: I have seen Smiles of a Summer Night though, which I thought was utterly dreadful.
 
Christian said:
Such a fantastic production! I went to see it twice and it's still my favourite recording of the show. Joanna Riding was perfect as Anne alongside the rest of that lineup.
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Did you get the soundtrack? It was going for well over £100 on CD a few years back. I considered ripping and selling it, but never did.
 
Ellie said:
I've never seen A Little Night Music in any form :shy: I have seen Smiles of a Summer Night though, which I thought was utterly dreadful.
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I love it :D but I'm sure it wouldn't affect your enjoyment of the musical unless you really hate farces though.

I'm sure it'll come on again soon. The score is really accessible, has THAT song and is made for stunt/star casting (within reason!).
 
lolly said:
Did you get the soundtrack? It was going for well over £100 on CD a few years back. I considered ripping and selling it, but never did.
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Yes, got the CD at the time. Didn't realise it was such a rarity now - I see it's not even available on streaming!
 
Sorry, I follow a lot of West End actors and such on Twitter so they’re posting a LOT right now. Apparently the West End will have the lights dimmed on Monday.

One from 2020 re-posted :D

 
I don't think they dim the lights very often in the West End. It seems to happen at the drop of a hat on Broadway so maybe that's something that's been imported. Not that you could argue with it being entirely appropriate in this case.
 
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