HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT! Sorry, I mean STEPHEN!

 

Sondheim gets a little tearful

How could I not write about dear old Stephen on his 80th birthday and also after seeing this picture? Sondheim had just found out they were to name a theatre after him. See this is someone who really strives for his art, I bet Andrew Lloyd Webber wouldn't be so overcome if he had a theatre named after him. Then again he owns lots of theatres and so could easily name all of them"The Andrew Lloyd Webber Theatre"; thankfully that would get very confusing and so he doesn't. This being Sondheim's eightieth, I thought I'd have a little celebration of his work and a meander through "Lucy's world of Sondheim".

I guess my first exposure to Sondheim, as is 'traditional', was to West Side Story. Strangely in my family it's my Dad who is the theatre lover, with WSS being one of his favourites. A copy of Tonight could often be found atop the piano and once I learnt to play I could be found playing said copy of Tonight. Dad tried to get me to watch the film but I never made it past the endless overture. Tonight still contains some of the most romantic lyrics, the phrase "today the world was just an address, a place for me to live in, much better than alright" also ways captivates me. I found myself appearing in West Side Story many years later and, although I had very little to do in the show, it felt special to be doing such an eponymous musical.

Charles and Ella embrace in Evening Primrose

We'll start this little trip down memory lane with possibly my favourite bit of Sondheim and also because I was just listening to it on Spotify. As a small detour from the road to becoming one of the most admired songwriters, Stephen wrote a small musical for television  in the style of The Twilight Zone. Evening Primrose tells the story of Charles, a stressed out writer as he discovers the after-hours inhabitants of a department store. He meets the mysterious Ella and together they plot to escape this underground existence. Being a short television special, Evening Primrose boasted only four songs but they are four of Sondheim's finest.  If You Can Find Me I'm Here sets the story for the listener and cleverly builds up pace by adding more and more words in typical Sondheim fashion. When? Is a strange one, sung telepathically between Ella and Charles juxtaposing a card game. Charles riffs off the moves he makes in the game to construct a love song between the two of them. Much like Sondheim himself, Charles battles to find words to rhyme with Ella, conceding that his job would be much easier had she been named Jane. I Remember has become a cabaret classic- with Sondheim's trademark clever rhyming and magically conjured up metaphors. Where clever metaphors did not sit well with Maria in I Feel Pretty, they are much more convincing with the lonely and alienated Ella. My favourite of the four songs is Take Me To The World, Ella dreams of seeing this dreamlike outside world as Charles tries to convince her of the cruelty and evil that he has experienced there. They concede that wherever they go it will be with each other. I love the counterpoint between the two characters and the dreamlike quality conjured up by Sondheim's lilting melody.

Enough about shows no one has heard of. My real love affair with Sondheim started with Company- the sartorial examination of romance set in 1970s New York. Despite being in my teens when I first heard the songs such as Being Alive and Another Hundred People, I felt I could relate to Bobby. Everyone around me was starting their first serious relationship and here I was having friends but never feeling like I fitted in. As I've grown up and those relationships around me have developed I can see Bobby's view of just wanting to be loved and having someone to love.

Bernadette Peters and friends in Into The Woods

Many of Sondheim's shows tend to be the type where I absolutely love particular songs or ideas but have never got round to fully appreciating the play itself. Two examples of this genre would be Into The Woods and Sunday in the Park With George. One thing that sets Sondheim apart from his peers is use of slightly off the wall material for his shows. Into The Woods focuses on the fairytale characters we all know and love but hits you with a bizarre second act portraying what happens after they've got their happy ending. "Sunday" (did you really think I was going to write Sunday in the Park With George every time?) starts with the familiar territory of the life of Georges Seurat and extends into the perceived future of Georges' great grandson George. What appears to be a biographical show about an artist evolves into Sondheim's comment on the creation of art.

This can be seen in songs like Putting it Together and Children and Art. I'm a personal fan of Move On, Dot's message from beyond the grave to the modern day George to be grateful for what has achieved and not fret about the future. Hmph, if only life was really like that.

Oh look! Embarrassingly stereotyped Romans, must be Forum

Just like anyone, Sondheim is not perfect. I direct you to A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (or Forum as it will be known from here on in). I know many of you reading will be fans of this show (as I know many of you reading will be friends of min

So what does the future hold for Stephen Sondheim? And who will replace him when he is gone, in fact, will we ever have anyone to replace him?

This year, he'll just be doing a lot of celebrating and smiling to celebrities and audiences alike as the many tributes to the master of the musical keep popping up. There is little news of new shows being written but what do you expect from someone old enough to be my great grandad? (well, just) Road Show (or whatever it is called now) still seems to be in developing hell following an out of town tryout, whether it ever makes it to Broadway no one knows. Perhaps, much like the numerous Kander and Ebb musicals that have posthumously crept out of the woodwork, we will have to wait until Sondheim dies to fully appreciate works like Road Show and Saturday Night that have never been seen on the White Way. In my dream world Evening Primrose will be resurrected in some form so that I can see it! It is sad to think that one this amazing man will be gone but it is inevitable and so we look to the next generation of songwriters to provide the ambitious and ingenious shows that Broadway so desperately needs. Strangely my dad asked me this exact question last week, I didn't think he cared that much!

13, or Jason Robert Brown- the early years

The obvious answer would be Michael John La Chiusa for it is he (with the stupidly long name) that is associated with the 'intellegent' musical. My issue is that La Chiusa's music is hardly catchy and I find his shows being intelligent and intricate for intelligence's sake. Some of his stuff is good- Little Fish featured some nice numbers, as did The Wild Party. Perhaps if he stuck to just writing the music and the lyrics and let someone else deal with the book we could have a future Sondheim on our hands. Another writer being touted as the next Sondheim is Jason Robert Brown. OK people just because two people are Jewish it does not make them the same! Whilst I do appreciate Jason's music, I find it a bit samey (lots of quavers in the piano part and smug jazz solos) and when he does try something different it doesn't turn out as well (*cough* 13 *cough*). He also relies a bit too much on his own life for inspiration and ideas- both The Last Five Years are essentially biographies of different moments in his life. Adam Guettel could also fit the Sondheim mould- smart, intelligent musicals based on interesting source material. I find Guettel's musical, whilst beautiful and sweeping, a little dull- if he could have a more commercial hit or two he could be in with a chance of Sondheim's crown.in

If you'd asked me this question a few years ago, my two personal favourites to follow in the footsteps of Stephen were Laurence "call me Larry" O'Keefe and Andrew Lippa. Lippa, another Jew, wrote the incredible The Wild Party, taking inspiration from Kander and Ebb, twenties Jazz, Salsa and Sondheim himself to create a wonderfully dark and sordid tale of sex, drugs and violence- it's still one of my favourite musicals. He went on to write a musical adaptation of A Little Princess, one of the most memorable books from my childhood, from what I've heard of it this was equally as clever and lyrical as the Wild Party. Lippa's latest venture is The Addams Family on Broadway and it is here where my love of his music takes a dip. I've heard some pretty bad things about this show and fear this may be where Lippa loses his credibility which would be a shame. Laurence O' Keefe has also followed in a similar vain, Bat boy was a terribly witty and self knowing show based on some crazy source material. Although I am biased as this was the first show I performed in, it is still one of the shows I haven't tired of. O'Keefe's big break came with Legally Blonde, co-penned with his wife Nell Benjamin. Whilst I do have a soft spot for the show and it is still the witty, clever musical you'd expect from Larry, it is wrapped up in a huge mountain of fluff and pink. Sadly, in this climate, the balance between economical success and critical acclaim is hard to achieve.

No Big Risk goes Unpunished (and no, this has nothing to do with Wicked)

The young (now jobless) stars of Spring Awakening

After being tipped off by my literature project supervisor's secretary Broadwayworld confirmed that Spring Awakening would be closing in the West End at the end of the month. I saw Spring Awakening at the Hammersmith Lyric on Valentines Day, the theatre seemed pretty full. Although it has some obvious flaws its one of my current favourites, I gave it a really positive review as did most of the critic world. But despite some natty advertising in tube stations (my personal favourite was the giant Melchior poster, I could have stared at that for a long time)it never really picked up pace. I expected it would hang around a bit (preferably long enough for my uni work to get out of the way so I could see it again)due to word of mouth- surely a critically-acclaimed musical would have some merit to the average theatregoer? WRONG. Lets explore why...
On Broadway, most shows benefit from an out-of-town or off-Broadway tryout, it gives time to iron out any kinks and make lots of changes. This doesn't seem to be the case in the West End. Two recent shows took advantage of out-of-town or off-West End; Imagine This (premiered in Plymouth) and Spring Awakening (Hammersmith Lyric). First, Imagine This, I think in this case the tryout did help (although we can hardly say the West End run was a success but this was done to wrong place at the wrong time. People hardly want to see a musical about the Holocaust during a recession).

In theory Spring Awakening's premiere should have been a benefit. I was sceptical when I first read that it would be opening at Hammersmith Lyric- why would it want to do that? I guess the producers were unsure if there was the audience for a rock musical about nineteenth century teenagers having sex. For some reason Broadway Spring Awakening gained an almost cult like following that I assume they would have liked here and were expecting to see at the Lyric. Tickets near on sold out and the buzz around my friends was great. Here lies the problem. Everyone who wanted to see Spring Awakening saw it at the Lyric. These tended to be the theatre types who, wanting to see as many shows as possible, can't afford to see the same show twice. So once they'd seen it, they'd seen it. The word of mouth didn't particularly spread beyond the theatre types and so Spring Awakenings' grand opening on the West End was the equivalent to the switching on of Christmas lights in my tiny village on the one road that do it for charity- a damp squib. Looking at the two most recent openings on the West End- Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Sister Act, both had a huge hype around them with TV, press and even bus coverage almost continuously. Spring Awakening's cutesy Underground campaign was a case of too little too late.

And so we come to the other reason why Spring Awakening failed to gather an audience. West End audiences are afraid to take risks. There we go, I've said it, I now expect a barrage of coach parties of middle aged women banging down my door. But this is the problem! Yes there is a small percentage of people who are genuinely interested in the furtherance of musical theatre and are keen to see new and exciting shows. They also happen to be the people with the contacts to get comped seats. Beyond this small sphere lies the rest of the British public, those who like to watch Saturday night TV and read The Sun (please don't berate me, this is a blog about theatre not a blog insulting the British public. They want something recognisable and safe, they don't want to be challenged or have to think. This is all well and good but if we'd played it safe we would never have had West Side Story or Hair or any number of shows that build the basis for modern musical theatre. We would be stuck with constant revivals of Rodgers and Hammerstein where nobody dies and the guy gets the girl. I understand the need for escapism but I can see escapism in most shows. Even Imagine This, supposedly a depressing show about the Holocaust highlight the hope of the situation which made me feel kind of hopeful in myself.
This brings me to "Tonight's The Night" hosted by everyones favourite homosexual, John Barrowman. The general premise of the show is that John makes ordinary members of the publics' dreams come true by letting them sing with famous artists or casts of musicals. Hell I would love to get that opportunity but it is never going to happen because my friends would never watch something like that. I tried to watch an episode but it was so camp and cheesey even I couldn't manage it (so I just skipped to the bits with Gethin Jones in it. Each person chosen had some sort of story of loss or heartache and were "very brave" eve

The world's favourite gay- John Barrowman

This type of show, a filler for lack of Doctor Who, encourages Joe public to keep attending the same shows: Phantom, Mamma Mia or at a pinch Hairspray. Yes I do like Hairspray but I can think of better and more worthy shows to spend my money seeing. These shows also give musical theatre a bad name. No wonder so many people are turned off by the idea of the musical- they can't see pass the stereotype of high kicks, toothy grins and lots of froth. Not helped by the likes of our beloved Mamma Mia. I'd like to see what Benny and Bjorn have to say about the situation, would they prefer if it was Chess that had the long run? Tim Rice has always said it is Chess that he would like to be remembered for rather than Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
As a producer once told me, if we have no new shows what will we have to revive in ten years time?

n if they were rubbish. The episodes were book-ended by performances by Barrowman himself who must die a little inside after each show. Come on! Here's the man whose had a successful theatre career in parts as diverse as Billy Crocker in Anything Goes to Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard to even Cal Chandler in The Fix. I know he says he loves to entertain and I would love to entertain too but a man has to have some integrity. The numbers are accompanied by perky dancers in ugly costumes and dodgy backing tracks (for God's sake, if you are going to have a show involving music at least use a live band!)I like to call this concept "The musical theatre equivalent of The Sun".

Musicals That Rocked The World Part 1

Just a word of warning: this series of articles were created for an audience that doesn't know that much about theatre. Let's call them theatre virgins, snigger.
















West Side Story

History
In 1949, Jerome Robbins goes to Arthur Laurents with the idea of a ballet/musical about the gang warfare in East Side, New York. The original East Side Story was a battle between Catholics and Jews, this being post WWII the location was moved to the West Side and gangs became the Americans and Puerto Ricans (yeah, cos that’s less racist). This idea became West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music and a new kid on the block: Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics. If you don’t know who he is then shame on you and get thee to wikipedia! The show premiered in 1957 to rave reviews despite the creators being scared shitless as noone had ever combined dance and storytelling in this way before. This is what makes it such a pivotal show in the history of theatre. West Side Story was almost an operatic ballet, the first to put so much dancing with music and to use the dance to move the story along. It was also one of the first musicals to deal with a realistic storyline rather than the usual “look at us, we’re all happy as we’re singing and dancing”. The first act ended with two dead bodies and the second with another- nothing was resolved at the end of the play. The show went on to be a major hit, having many revivals and showing all around the world. A film was made in 1961 starring Richard Beymer (yeah, I don’t know who he is either) and Natalie Wood whose songs were actually sung by Marni Nixon, the woman behind the singing of Deborah Kerr in “The King And I” and Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady”.


Plot
Generally if you know anything about Romeo and Juliet you’ll get the plot. If you don’t, what have you been doing with your life? (Sigh of despair). It’s about a guy and a girl who love each other but their love can never be as they are from rival gangs, so they have to carry out their relationship in secret. When everyone starts to realise what is happening they have to find a way of stopping everyone from killing each other, they’re obviously not very good at that as Tybalt kills Mercutio and then Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge. Romeo runs away to avoid getting jailed for murder making Juliet think he’s dead so she takes a sleeping draft that makes her seem dead. Romeo returns to find a dead Juliet and kills himself, she wakes up to find him dead and kills herself. Phew. Except this was a musical in the 1950s so although the original out of town tryout was faithful to the Shakespeare story, by the time it came to Broadway Maria did not die (those damn stiff upperlip 1950s Americans finding death on stage too upsetting)


Main Characters:
Tony (Romeo): The love struck Romeo character and ex leader of the Jets, he fancies Maria.
Maria (Juliet): The younger sister of Bernado, the leader of the Sharks, anyone just worked out the problem? Shit.
Riff(Mercutio): Leader of the Jets and best friend of Tony
Anita (Nurse): Girlfriend of Bernado and confidant of Maria
Bernardo(Tybalt) : Leader of the Sharks, he gets a bit moody if you touch his sister
Jets: The “pure Americans”, they think they own the streets because they got there first.
Sharks: The Puerto Rican newcomers, who also think the own the streets


Songs to look out for:
Tonight: Personally I prefer the end of act one quartet version, but that or the Tony/Maria duet are both amazing
Officer Krupke: Two words: Funny As.
America: So I’m a bit biased (I got to dance this in the MTSoc tour last summer), it’s still a very memorable tune, who doesn’t know bababa bababa ba ba ba….?


Where can I get it?
The DVD is still readily available, as are many different recordings.
It is rumoured that a fiftieth anniversary production is in the pipeline.

If you liked this, try:
Well anything ever made since really. But to give you a few ideas try:
Billy Elliot: This also utilises ballet within it’s storytelling and if you know the movie then you’ll know there’s a lot of male angst here too.
Romeo+Juliet:If you don’t think you can stomach a full blown musical, try Baz Luhrmann’s modernisation of the classic tale. But I won’t be too downhearted if you favour this over the musicals, it’s well made and has a kick-ass soundtrack!