February 2012
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Stephen Sondheim Set for April 21 Symphony Space... →
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Hey look, another link! →
Sondheim talks about his new book, Look, I Made a Hat, the difficulties of getting a show produced, the expectations of audiences, and how he puts it all together when writing a score.
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Sondheim talks about what made Company somewhat... →
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Passion Revival Coming to off-Broadway February... →
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Stephen Sondheim on Fresh Air →
Lovely article about Sondheim and the two-week run that Merrily We Roll Along is having at the New York City Center right now.
The audio file is 1.6MB too big to put up here, but you can see the article plus listen to a couple interviews of his in the link above.
January 2012
5 posts
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“Oh, if life were made of moments, even now and then a bad one. But if life were...”
– Moments in the Woods, Into the Woods
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December 2011
3 posts
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I just walked into my room, having forgotten that I left my iTunes on shuffle.
The first thing I heard was “AT LAST, MY ARM IS COMPLETE AGAIN” and that oh so wonderfully dramatic music that comes afterward.
I want this to happen every time I enter a room.
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Stephen Sondheim on the Colbert Report →
On November 30, Stephen Sondheim was on the Colbert Report.
They talk about Look, I Made a Hat, the meaning behind “Sorry-Grateful” and the lessons of Assassins.
November 2011
30 posts
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prettyisntbeautiful asked: Which college to you go to?
Okay guys, it’s been fun, but something you may not know about me is that I am a college student. And I have to be up for class in less than 9 hours. And I still need to do some homework for my acting class. So keep sending your musical suggestions (or other questions) to my inbox, and I will answer them at a later date.
Thanks!
amethysthesia asked: This is pedantic and fussy of me, but: films have soundtracks. Stage musicals have cast recordings.
minuetoftheforest asked: Sweeney Todd!
chrisweedboygenius asked: Sunday in the Park With George and Bounce (loljk)
mysteriousmrhudson asked: Pacific Overtures :)
philliplight asked: Into the Woods! (My personal favorite!)
whomikejones asked: Can I do more then one? Oh well, Assassins, Company, Chicago, Guys & Dolls, Curtains.
chrisweedboygenius asked: Company
amethysthesia asked: Hello, sir or miss! I was at the Sondheim event this morning as well, and likewise waited in line for Look, I Made A Hat. Perhaps our paths crossed. Given the chance, what would /you/ have asked him?
Put a musical in my ask box and I'll tell you...
onthestepsofthepalace:
starlene:
alittle-fall-of-rain:
Who my fav/least fav character is?
Who my fav/least fav character portrayal is?
What my fav/least fav song from it?
Have I seen it/heard the recordings?
How I discovered it?
Rate out of 10?
oh oh do this
Any questions for me?
Okay guys, sorry for spamming your feeds with all that. I just wanted to make sure I shared, for the people who wanted to see it all. Hope you appreciated it.
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Final Advice
From a 12-year-old: What advice do you have for an aspiring Broadway actress and singer? Also, my sister and I want to thank you for inspiring us to want to live the dream on stage. And don’t forget: Children will listen.
His response: I guess my advice would be to keep listening. That’s how you learn. And that’s how you get to be good at what you do.
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“Perfection is something you rarely reach.”
– Stephen Sondheim
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A question from the audience
Q: In the song "Move On," Dot offers the advice, "Don't worry about where you're going, move on. Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new." For the young artists today in 2011, is there any additional advice you have in this ever-changing and combatant world?
A: At the risk of patting myself on the back, I think that says it all.
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“I’ve put off writing shows, except for the one song for Sondheim on...”
– when asked if he’s working on any new shows
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“Outsiders make for great, wonderful plays.”
– Stephen Sondheim, on his characters
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“I am much more of a fox than a hedgehog.”
– It’s hard to really explain what this quote was about. It was said around the time that he was talking about it’s hard to teach his music in an academic setting. He said “Tennessee Williams is much more of a hedgehog.”
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“You know, there are women like that.”
– Stephen Sondheim’s mother, after seeing Gypsy for the first time
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“In the second act, what Lapine wanted originally to do was that the art that the...”
– talking about technology in Sunday in the Park with George
The Mad Show
There are sections in which Sondheim talks about the shows of his that didn’t quite make it. One of those is called The Mad Show.
The Notion:
“Although officially credited with a “book,” the show was a revue, a collection of songs and sketches inspired by Mad magazine.
That would have been interesting.
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“The opening of every show…is the most important number of the show,...”
– Referring to “Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd”
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“That’s the hardest thing to achieve: to make something simple without it...”
– Sondheim, this morning, talking about how hard it was to write “Maria”, from West Side Story
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This is something he talked about at the talk too, and I thought it was really interesting because I love the line anyway:
“There are many occasions in a lyric writer’s life, or at least there have been in mine, when you know a word or phrase needs improvement and you know what the improvement should consist of, but you can’t figure out how to do it and the desire for perfection...
“If there is any song in the score that exemplifies the change in my writing when...”
– from the “Sunday in the Park with George” chapter of Look, I Made a Hat
This morning I saw Sondheim interviewed (very briefly; they spent a good fifteen minutes of the hour just introducing him) as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival.
After the talk, I got to stand in line for forty-five minutes to buy a copy of his book, Look, I Made a Hat, which technically doesn’t come out in stores until November 22. The next few posts are snippets from that book.
Oh,...
October 2011
13 posts
ihavetofinishthehat asked: Since you asked so nicely, here's something I've been considering for some time, just as an idle thought. There are many of us who are completely obsessed with Steve's music. Yet he has said in several interviews that the fact that there are people like us who love his work so much, that it makes him quite reluctant to write again. Even though he fights it, he gets worried knowing...
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“I never met a writer who was satisfied with his work. Let me amend that: I never...”
– Stephen Sondheim
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