July 17, 2011

Stephen Sondheim and I

For me, Stephen Sondheim is one of the “Holy Trinity” of Broadway musical composers – along with Rodgers & Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.  I guess I first became acquainted with the work of Stephen Sondheim when I was in high school, when my drama teacher showed the class a video of “Into the Woods” – a musical involving many well-known fairy tale characters (Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, etc.) being put into some very real situations.

While I liked the story, I was not conscious at that time that The Name Of The Guy Who Wrote The Music For This Is Stephen Sondheim, And I Should Try To Look Up Some More Of His Work.  hehe.  I became fully conscious of Sondheim many years later, when I was in college and I heard the soundtrack to the show “Sweeney Todd” for the first time.  “Sweeney Todd” is a musical thriller about a barber who slits the throats of his customers, then gets rid of the bodies by giving them to a pie shop owner, who grinds them up and uses them as filler for her meat pies!  I had chills the first time I heard the music from that show.  Some of you may recall that they made a film adaptation of it about 4 years ago, starring Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd.

And I also just became acquainted with another show of his, “Company”, which my theatre group will be performing in Spring of next year.  It’s about a guy who is celebrating his 35th birthday – most of his friends are married and he’s not sure if that’s what he wants.  This particular song is the one that I can’t get out of my head.  hehe!  Buzz is that they’re making this into a movie too, starring Neil Patrick Harris.

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