For Sweeney Todd, he used old maps of London to find exactly the right street names of the right number of syllables, with the stress on the syllable he needed.
My heart is devestated. There will NEVER ever be another Stephen Sondheim. An unforgettable genius who changed the face on how we see Live Theater today. Thank you for inspiring me to be the artist that I want to be. RIP
I agree there will not be another Stephen Sondheim, but I do not agree that somebody like him won't pop up. As he states as the video concluded, he taught through his musicals as he didn't have his own children. He made us all his children by doing so. Somebody will come along and be in tune with his ideas taught and carry them on, for sure. Following the idea that you write 90% you, you should write your life though, and not write imitating his. His style will only naturally come through the circumstances that made him.
I think it's very silly to assume that it's somehow "cheating" for a lyricist to use a thesaurus or rhyming dictionary. These are tools at a lyricist's disposal. Is it cheating for a farmer to use a combine harvester?
@@joshuakohlmann9731 Agreed. I think it comes from the myth of the singular "heroic" genius, someone who just spouts forth brilliant books (or art, or music, or architecture) that require no effort. No drafts, no research---they just will it into existence and it's perfect. It's such a powerful myth that it makes people believe that they can't create art themselves.
Some years ago I was backstage at a Broadway theatre looking for a dressing room, to congratulate a British actor friend. I was a bit lost but joined by a tall man who was also looking to find the same. We shared a lift. I didn't recognise him, until we knocked on the dressing room door. When it opened, my actor friend inside gasped to the assembled cast - " Stephen! Everyone - it's Stephen Sondheim!" Unforgettable. Thankyou Stephen Sondheim, for the music, and it all.
Thank you so much for posting this. My favorite song of his is "Nothing's Gonna Harm You" from Sweeney Todd. What a brilliant and talented man. Rest in Peace and much comfort to his family at this time.
The only kind of immortality that's real is what you achieve when the work you leave behind continues to enrich the lives of others. On that basis, Stephen Sondheim will live forever.
Isn't it terrific that we have his brilliant work to remember him by? His songs have always brought me comfort and joy, whatever time of day it is. I will forever adore Sondheim.
Decades ago: I was a young secretary at Ted Bates Advertising. We had gotten comps to a new show. On Valentine's Day evening....a group of us from the media buyers went to see it in preview. The cast included Glynis Johns, Hermione Gingold, Len Cariou and an astonishing singer named D. Jamin Bartlett who stood the audience on its ear with a song called "The Miller's Son'... But my most vivid memory: a white canopied bed. Glynis in a bright red empire gown, whispering, "Isn't it rich, isn't it queer..?".. as a transfixed Cariou in his tuxedo watches her lovingly from downstage. You could have heard a pin drop. We didn't know it then, but musical theatre history was happening - before our very eyes as we watched this incredible production. Sondheim, with his unique genius made it happen... RIP...
Thank you, Cynthia Hawkins, for this story! I've been listening to Dame Judi Dench singing "Send in the Clowns" - another brilliant interpretation of that memorable song!
I don't know if it is only me but I like looking at Sondheim all this interview. His smile and his expressions are larger than life. There is a certain sweetness on the way he responds. I'd even call him an eye candy. Even when at 90 years old, he still had that charm.
how often do we get to say we were alive at the same time as a legend? Sondheim constantly changed musical theater, and touched the lives of all the people he worked with. You can see the absolute joy he got from everything he did. Rest in peace, Mr. Sondheim. Your music will live on for you.
Someone else said this elsewhere, so I'll say it here-- There's a giant in the sky now. And we are not alone. RIP, Stephen Sondheim. You are forever honored, loved, and missed.
I just watched Tick, Tick, Boom this week. It has a wonderful example of Sondheim’s generous sharing of his insights with young show writers. He even rewrote and recorded the final audio clip heard from his character in the show.
@@riverebec1 According to Lin-Manuel Miranda on the Colbert show, Sondheim saw a early cut of the film and told him that the dialogue that Whitford’s Sondheim used in the original phone message was way too cliche to be coming from him. He volunteered to rewrite the message and then said he’d be willing to record it if Whitford wasn’t available. LMM immediately said that he wasn’t (even though BW probably would have been fine with re-recording it) and snapped him up on his offer.
@Kathy Astrom me too! Now I understand all the talk about Andrew Garfield - what a gifted actor. Loved the clips of Jonathan under the credits. Remarkable movie.
Can't believe he's dead, didn't know him that much. I found just earlier how he has greatly influenced broadway and etc. I just saw and heard him from Jonathan Larsons story and the film *"tick, tick...boom!"* . This news is big. I just know now that he is legend, for creating many musicals. RIP Sir Stephen :(
Sunday and Wednesday, in cities all over, Fathom Events is hosting West Side Story. You might be near a theatre. Sunday is 3pm and Wednesday 7 I believe. Check it out.
A true genius in every sense of the word, putting lyrics and music together like stringing diamonds together in making a gorgeous necklace. When my child was born I sang to him “Not While I’m Around” the lyrics are gorgeous the music as well. So glad there was a Stephen Sondheim to fill the world with such beauty, such beauty we may never hear or see again. Thank you Mr Sondheim for your “ other worldly talents” that will live on forever for generations to come may know your music , it’s beauty , music that touched your very soul and heart. RIP
For me the most emotional moment in the interview is when he says that art & teaching are "the other way " of having children...echoing a song in Sunday In The Park With George. RIP Stephen Sondheim, father to millions.
A one-in-a-million genius whose work will go down in history as a treasure-trove of brilliance and profundity. I will always treasure the countless hours of thought-provoking entertainment he has provided me.
Rest in peace, dear Stephen Sondheim. You will forever be remembered as an exquisite and incredibly gifted composer, lyricist and creator. Thank you for all you've given us, your artwork has heavily impacted and changed my life. Thank you, sir.
His life, his genius, was as such that if the world ever sought to make a movie of his life, one could never imagine anyone else playing the role of Mr. Sondheim because no one ever could--he was as singular as could be...Rest in the thunderous applause that your life inspired, sir!
I understand. I accompany and play in pits. I first played Into the Woods in 1990, probably the post-Broadway west coast premiere at a LORT house in Palo Alto. I have since then played over a dozen different productions of Woods. It doesn't get old.
@@chrisa0001 you probably saw it, but there is is a 50+ minute RU-vid video called "into the woods - MTI conversation piece with stephen sondheim" where he explains how to play all the songs if you are putting on a production. I found it fascinating and I am not involved in theater
I remember watching this on TV one Sunday night in 1988. Thank you, CBS for uploading. Thank you Mr Sondheim-- your music will remain a blessing in everyone's memory.
Rest In Peace, your work will be with us forever, generations will enjoy your work and your legacy is secure. I feel blessed where work like this was being made in my age
Passing in your sleep at 91 is a blessing. It is so often not so gentle. Yes, sad a chapter of humanity has ended, but we should be celebrating, not wallowing in pathos.
He gave musical theater permission to be heavy, to explore the depressing side of the human condition. In that regard, he pave the way for modern favorites; Les Miserable, Rent, Wicked, Spring Awakening, Hamilton. Personally, I have never found depth or triumph or satisfaction in the more flowery musicals the way I have with his works and the works I listen above. Thank you, Stephen Sondheim.
Watch Sunday in the Park with George, here on RU-vid with original cast pro-shot. If that's too much, just listen to "Children and Art" (and the rest of this 2 1/2 hour birthday celebration)... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MMugkMweZMg.html
I love Franklin Shepherd Inc too. It's like the comedy equivalent of "Epiphany" from Sweeney Todd. Both deal with characters having some sort of breakdown and turning away from their former lives forever, but one is chilling while the other is funny.
RIP Mr. Sondheim, your legacy will be eternal. The world has lost one of the best artist of all time. I hope someday we can watch your last work, your final farewell, your last curtain call, your "square one"
“May his memory be a blessing” would be the more appropriate thing to say to honor him since Sondheim is Jewish. And I agree, I hope we can witness his last work some day again.
Sondheim mentioned on Colbert's show that "Square One" had been run through workshops, so that's a good sign that at least his compositions had been completed.
The one trully magnificent thing about this amazing human being..is that he will live for decades on end..he will live much after we're all gone (and I'm in my early 30s) because his music is everlasting and it will continue to live as it passes generations...he will never actually be gone..and he is a part of that amazing group of people who pass on...but never actually die..how can one die when you hear Being Alive, No one's gonna harm you, and so on..? Glad he got to see his last work in previews..he can rest now. Stephen, you'll live forever, man! Everytime someone in this huge but small world will sing one of your songs..you'll live again..and again..and forever. Thank you!
One of those rare, special, one-of-a-kind people from whom the human community can't get enough so every minute with him or his music is deliciously savored and valued like gold. People like Stephen are "sent" to us from another place to channel what we need to hear, see, feel and learn and that's called "talent" or a "gift." Thank you, Stephen for accepting your mission and agreeing to act as the human conduit for all that flowed from and through you.
She sure showed her female wish & a prayer to put a talented man way up on an impossible 'Disney like' pedestal. I appreciate his clarity on utilizing books to help his process. Human. Oh, Diane, you let me down. Impossible stars. ;) Good stuff, tho.
Sondheim the musical equivalent to Shakespeare or Beethoven is to classical music. He may be gone but his work will live on for five hundred years from now.
Sondheim may not have got the children he envisioned - but as a theatre kid I feel like I've been raised on his music, his ideas and his wonderful shows which have taught me so much. He's the father of the modern american musical - and if the standards we have today (see Lin Manuel miranda's Tony acceptance speech for into the heights) are anything to go off; he taught his children well :))
Eminem is the thesaurus, no reference needed like these dinosaurs. Just kidding. I bet M holds this guy in high esteem, anyone who doesn't is just not honest. RIP you crazy genius.
RIP, Stephen Sondheim an absolute giant of Broadway. I'm glad he got to see the new West Side Story and hopefully it will be as revered as the original theatre and movie version's.
Into the Woods is my favorite musical (technically tied with Phantom of the Opera) and 2 months ago i played Cinderella for the second time. Obviously the algorithm keeps suggesting Sondheim stuff to me after all my research for the recent production and I'm still missing the show but these kind of videos just make me smile to see the genius talk about his work and make me glad I've gotten to perform one of his beautiful creations
What comes through in this interview is how deeply he loved writing and composing music. His enthusiasm for music and words and painting character and feeling with song was boundless. As if there is nothing he could have ever possibly done with his life. Truly one of our age’s great artistic geniuses.
At 4:30 he talks about using a thesaurus. I wonder if he ever considered using a computer program to search for words much faster than even the thesaurus. I really like that he goes into detail about his thinking process.
60Minutes continues its unbroken record of violating equal access civil rights obligations under US federal law by not providing accurate, synchronized captions - and Google-RU-vid continues to be complicit and criminally negligent. Why? 12-6-2021
Keep those video images of the Broadway productions, they will not be repeated. Sondheim wrote stories to entertain. Broadway productions now have the mandate to ideologically cure our country. The ethnic makeup of the casts depicted here is no longer allowed. A great talent -- my favorite was West Side Story.
Broadway (and Hollywood) have shifted far left, politically, within the past decade. That is why there is currently an anti-white sentiment in the entertainment industry. But when the pendulum swings back toward the center and moderates are in charge again, you will see traditional casting again. In fact, many white liberals are already expressing misgivings about the left, and considering that whites are still the great majority (70% of the U.S. population), Democrats shouldn't take their votes for granted, as they have been. A friend of mine is an expert about these things, and he predicts that the country will shift right this decade. It's already underway. The 2022 midterm elections will be a bloodbath for Democrats, he says. Most Americans, especially during these pandemic times, are yearning for normalcy; a return to "how things were." That is the definition of conservatism.
@@musicaltheatergeek79 There’s so much wrong with your comment. First the GOP has moved so far to the right in the past decade alone that it’s unrecognizable to me who lived through the 1960s. The GOP is no longer conservative. It’s a white nationalist authoritarian cult, and it’s hostile to democratic norms and traditions. The storming of the Capitol should be your wake-up call that whites have given up on democracy. Trumplicans are pawns in a Russian-inspired attempt to destroy our democracy from within and it’s working. Because the GOP is no longer a conservative or conventional party, anything to its left looks radical. But Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are center-left. There’s nothing far left about his administration from a policy perspective. Building roads and bridges isn’t radical. Providing universal health care isn’t radical. The rich who own the GOP call it radical because they don’t want their taxes to go up and they could care less if you get cancer and go broke because of it. Being a conservative also means being hostile to art itself, because art challenges conventional ways of thinking, challenges orthodoxy and American myths. It makes you think about our world. Conservatives look at everything through an ideological or political prism. That’s exactly what communists do. That’s why there are few great real artists who are conservative. That’s why Broadway attracts progressives. No pendulums will be swinging back. Whites are less than 70% of the population and shrinking, and they know it. That’s the big source of their anger: the browning of America and the threat to their power. If Democrats lose in the midterms, it’ll be because the party in power historically loses seats and at least half the electorate isn’t sophisticated enough to discern between manufactured nonsense about AOC and real progress being made to address our long-term problems. Finally, do you realize Americans’ yearning for normalcy is a direct result of Trump’s gross incompetence and his party’s denial of common sense measures to defeat a virus? When Biden took over, 2 million people had gotten the shot. Now over 200 million have gotten it. The only reason this disease hasn’t been defeated is Republican refusal to take a vaccine that they praise Trump endlessly for producing,
My son Mike sent this to me! How wonderful (and seldom) in life that we are so intimately known by someone else that they can send you a lifetime of what you loved wrapped up in a video! ❤😂😢🎉😊😅
He was the stage's equivalent of Kubrick: a unique, uncompromising creator who left conventional trends and commercial fare to other people. You never knew what his next work would be like, only that it would be unlike anyone else's.
The score for A Little Night Music will always have a place in my heart, a deep deep place. I’m so sad there are no more Sondheims: nobody nowadays will be able to touch him.
