Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

It’s the corruption, stupid.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Second rate reporter says what?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

T R E 4 5 O N

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

People are complicated. Love is not.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

You are here: Home / Popular Culture / Programming Note: “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration”

Programming Note: “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration”

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The title is taken from a song in one of Sondheim’s weirder productions — even by Sondheim standards. Wonder how many of the artists will reference Evening Primrose?

Legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim will be toasted with an all-star birthday concert, streaming live on Sunday, April 26 at 8PM ET. Hosted by Raúl Esparza, with musical direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, and coinciding with the 50th Broadway anniversary of Sondheim’s Company, Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration can be seen for free on Broadway.com and the Broadway.com YouTube channel.

This once-in-a-lifetime event, benefiting ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), will include songs of inspiration from the Sondheim catalog performed by many of the artists who delivered iconic turns in his musicals, including Meryl Streep, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Christine Baranski, Donna Murphy, Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Aaron Tveit, Maria Friedman, Katrina Lenk, Michael Cerveris, Brandon Uranowitz, Elizabeth Stanley, Chip Zien, Alexander Gemignani, Iain Armitage, Stephen Schwartz and, from the cast of Pacific Overtures at Classic Stage Company, Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh and Thom Sesma…

Directed by Paul Wontorek, Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration is being presented in support of ASTEP, the organization conceived by the event’s musical director, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, and Juilliard students to transform the lives of youth using the most powerful tool they had: their art. In times of turbulence and trauma, the arts provide a space for healing, a platform for connectivity and an outlet to express ourselves. They’re also crucial to the development of mindfulness, an important element of mental health, especially in times of struggle. More than ever, ASTEP artists are needed to create that space for the most vulnerable among us. In this current moment of crisis, the youth we serve are navigating food scarcity, economic hardships and home safety, among a host of other issues. Serving them has been the primary mission of ASTEP for 14 years, and with your support, the organization will continue to be here for the needs of students and partners as we learn to adapt to this precarious new reality



Reader Interactions

57Comments

  2. 2.

    ThresherK

    Never heard of Evening Primrose, but I did know the bottom one was Audra McDonald before reading any of the description.

    Sondheim is 90. I’ve been worried for some time about the future of musical theater. Who is the Great American* Songbook composer who is not a direct successor, but just good at hitting that space of great integrated songs with shows that are sometimes out there, and also commercially popular enough?

    Is the theater just becoming too niche for something like this to happen?

    Example: I really enjoy Jason Robert Brown, and will go 100 miles to see Parade, but how many good shows do the songwriters today have in them?

    (*or not American, just theater/standards/etc)

  5. 5.

    meander

    This news changes my watching plans for tonight.

    Sondheim Sondheim has been on NPR’s Fresh Air a few times, each gives a detailed review of his bio, working approach, and include delicious musical clips.

    The Fresh Air interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda also has some fun discussion of Sondheim’s work (Miranda has received some coaching/instruction from Sondheim), notably the importance of word choice when writing for complex and long singing passages (certain sounds work better than others).

    Although I’m generally not a fan of medleys or ‘best of’ collections, I really like the cast recording of “Side By Side By Sondheim” from 1978, which has 20+ Sondheim songs. It’s just a handful of singers and two pianos, very clear and uncomplicated. Fun fact: singer Millicent Martin played Daphne’s mum on Frasier (and was brilliant).

    Another fun fact: Anthony Perkins starred in the production of Evening Primrose recorded for television in 1966. He has a nice voice. The DVD is in the Netflix DVD library.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    @ThresherK:

    This looks like fun. Live? So I guess 5pm Pacific Time.

    Sondheim is 90. I’ve been worried for some time about the future of musical theater. Who is the Great American* Songbook composer who is not a direct successor, but just good at hitting that space of great integrated songs with shows that are sometimes out there, and also commercially popular enough?

    Is the theater just becoming too niche for something like this to happen?

    The rise of popular music has pushed jazz and classical music aside, and popular culture may be doing the same for theater. Talented people still want to be in the theater, but I don’t know if the numbers are decreasing.

    Also, what will happen with going to the theater, and to movies, in a post pandemic social distance society?

  9. 9.

    Uncle Cosmo

    …But where are the clowns? Send in the clowns!

    (Don’t bother – they’re here.)

    Has anyone ever penned a better two-line description of the world since 2016? Even if unintentional?

  11. 11.

    Dan Myers

    What ever happened to that young man who wrote those sing along lyrics to WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY?

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    @Chyron HR:

    Are you kidding, or are you the only other ALW fan on this site?

    I have to admit, I’m a bad fan. After watching Phantom last week and LOVING IT, I started Love Never Dies (I adore the title tune), but after five minutes I said to myself, uh, I really don’t want to spend another Saturday night with Erik.

    Looking forward to tonight’s Sondheim with so many great artists, including LMM.

  14. 14.

    patrick II

    I was out and about when BJ did its streaming movie thread last week.  So I am posting this on this open thread.  Both “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and “Smiley’s People” are free on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNXsEx73JaDXlb-yBcx02Jw this location.  It is a full eighteen hours of John Le Carre and Sir Alec Guinness, for those of you who are looking for something to do.

  16. 16.

    Cowboy Diva

    @Chyron HR:

    if this is damning ALW with faint praise, I’m right there with you. If this is disparaging Esteban Río Nido, fight me. To quote the great Nutt,  “come on if you think you’re hard enough.”

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    Hasn’t there been continuing for decades that Broadway musicals are dying because, among other things, they are so expensive to produce?

    Movies are expensive to produce, but you have (or had) a mass audience for them.

    Theater used to be a kind of middle class aspirational thing. It is far less so today. And we also rarely see theatrical productions adapted into musicals.

  18. 18.

    raven

    I’ve never been into this kind of music but about 14 years ago we were at a conference in Chicago and wandered up to the big bean in the late afternoon. There was a big hubbub at the bandshell and we wandered over and learned it was a big FREE Sondheim celebration so we grabbed some lawn and watched. People were going nuts and we enjoyed it. . .so there!

  19. 19.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    Also, I meant to throw in that some friends saw “Hamilton” while on vacation in London.  And, apart from the going to England thing, the tickets were cheaper and easier to get than for a US theatrical run.

  21. 21.

    raven

    I found a review, damning with faint praise?

     

    Even though Sondheim himself showed up Friday night, the material linking the songs was surprisingly stiff. Great performers — who are perfectly capable of explaining themselves spontaneously to an audience — awkwardly read sycophantic bits of Sondheim-lauding trivia from little notecards. Oy. Perhaps it’s just the complaint of one who has listened to the forced patter in one too many Sondheim revues, but surely a fresher and more personal approach would have better fit the occasion.

    Best to go back to the music.

    Kaye (currently filling in as Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle‘s Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd”) pairing up with Hearn (once a Sweeney of distinction) and rattling off with practiced precision those unparalleled lyrics about human pie-fillings: “Try the financier/The peak of his career!/That looks pretty rank/Well, he drank.”

    Danny Gurwin reaching vulnerably and beautifully for the note in the achingly gorgeous “Johanna.”

    And Mastrantonio telling James — with striking emotional investment — that if you don’t “Move On,” you spend your life in mud.

    But in Millennium Park this weekend, the grass was green, the atmosphere festive but contemplative, and life felt weirdly good.

  23. 23.

    opiejeanne

    @Brachiator: When ALW’s Phantom came to LA and SF there were articles full of advice about what to wear and what to expect. I think there was the thought that the word “Opera” in the title intimidated some people, which was a bit of an insult.

    I saw it in SF and the singers and the production were wonderful, and I’m not a big fan of ALW in general.

    A couple of years later my youngest was in the Maury Yeston/Arthur Kopit’s “Phantom”, which was brilliant. This is the Other Phantom that was finished and about to be staged when they heard that Weber was writing a Phantom, so they shelved it for a couple of years until there was pressure to produce it. It opened to rave reviews.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_(musical)

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    @opiejeanne:

    I saw it in SF and the singers and the production were wonderful, and I’m not a big fan of ALW in general.

    Everyone I know who has seen Phantom enjoyed it. And it is not just that are fans; they were able to see great productions with the cast in top form.

  31. 31.

    Bruuuuce

    @Nora: You’re welcome. It’s from a terrific tribute to ALW called “Hey, Mr Producer!” Worth watching all of, especially for Tom Lehrer coming out of musical retirement.

  33. 33.

    zhena gogolia

    @Bruuuuce:

    Okay, you confused me, because ALW did not write that song (Sondheim did), but I guess the tribute was to Cameron Mackintosh, who worked a lot with ALW.

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    ObOpenThread…

    ICYMI, David Atkins at WaMo – Yet more on rebutting Bernie’s campaign strategy:

    Yes, Bernie’s Campaign Strategy Was the Problem
    by David Atkins April 26, 2020 POLITICAL ANIMAL

    [ image ]

    Jacobin’s Paul Heideman and Hadas Thier wrote a piece this week defending the strategy of the Sanders campaign. It is meant to serve as a refutation of Zack Beauchamp at Vox and of my own widely-read article and analysis here at Washington Monthly that the Sanders campaign’s failure to consolidate more than 30% of the Democratic primary vote was a result of its flawed theory of the electorate – one that the left will have to abandon in the future if leftists want to win in the future. Nathan Robinson also wrote a similar piece.

    As lengthy as these defenses were, they rest on a few shaky foundations. Their upshots are essentially that Sanders wasn’t really running a campaign but rather a movement; that left policy cannot succeed without Sanders’ anti-partisan movement; that it wasn’t Sanders’ failure to win more than 30% of the Democratic primary vote that doomed the campaign but rather the establishment’s consolidation; that Sanders would win the general election and transform the country with an anti-partisan class-based revolution if only Democrats would let him and similar candidates win the primary; that there really is a mass group of independents and non-voters to the left of the Democratic Party who open to far-left politics, if only sabotaging center-leftists will get out of their way. As passionately held as these opinions are, they require long essays to support them largely because the evidence underpinning them is so weak.

    […]

    Quite often in the past I have thought that Atkins was almost unreadable, but these two pieces on Bernie’s campaign have struck me as being exactly right.

    Click on over.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    oatler.

    There’s  a 1971 version of “Ladies Who Lunch”  with Elaine Stritch on Youotube.

  39. 39.

    PJ

    @ThresherK: Sadly, Adam Schlesinger died of coronavirus at the beginning of the month.  He might have been able to expand the popularity of the Broadway musical.

  40. 40.

    patrick II

    @zhena gogolia: 

    I think it was just a matter of Ellen sitting in her luxurious home with her full height picture windows behind her saying “This is like being in jail”, followed shortly thereafter by a guy on the street because he couldn’t pay his rent.

  41. 41.

    Bruuuuce

    @zhena gogolia: Mea culpa. ALW played such a large role in that program(me) that I did confuse them. I plead long and faithful service and youthful exuberance

  42. 42.

    randy khan

    @ThresherK:

    Sondheim is 90. I’ve been worried for some time about the future of musical theater. Who is the Great American* Songbook composer who is not a direct successor, but just good at hitting that space of great integrated songs with shows that are sometimes out there, and also commercially popular enough?

     

    You might want to check out this guy, I think his name is Lin-Manuel something.

  44. 44.

    Shana

    @Uncle Cosmo: I have always thought that Send In The Clown is one of the hardest to get right in a performance but saw it done perfectly once.  Judi Dench as Desiree at the National in London. There’s a cd of that show that I urge you all to check out.

  45. 45.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @patrick II: Also Barchester Towers from the early ’80s for those who are Alan Rickman fans (his first definitive role as a slimeball).

  51. 51.

    MoxieM

    PS. I was lucky enough to see the whadyacall the run throughs just before the formal performances with Patti Lupone on Tuba as Mrs. Lovett, Michael Cerveris as Sweeney + on Guitar, etc. It was a very very small cast in a small theater. Just incredible. This was before Tim Burton got his filthy hands on it and butchered it in the movie. Gawd! A little priest. My kid was lucky enough to go to a high school where they did Sondheim, and the dark ones–Assassins, Sweeney Todd… such an education.

  52. 52.

    Frank McCormick

    @rikyrah:  “Send in the Clowns” is the perfect smile for the fools, but the tone of the comments, as well as my personal mood today, “Liaisons” might be the applicable song for us Olds.

    “Not even figs.  Raisins!”

  56. 56.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @NotMax: I stumbled across the cast album, listened once, called Darkrose and told her to run far away if she ever encountered it.

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