Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:40:28 -0500
From: Steve Abrams <sapuppets-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Subject: [Puptcrit] Stephen Sondheim


Hi AllI am very excited about an event I attended Saturday night
On stage -Frank Rich (former NY Times Theatre critic) had a conversation
with Stephen Sondheim.
(this was presented in the 2500 seat home of the Philadelphia Orchestra

Of course there were some gossipy tales about legends of the theatre
including Elizabeth Taylor, Ethel Merman, Jerome Robbins, Cole Porter, and
Angela Lansbery

Just to remind readers- At the age of 25 Sondheim wrote the lyrics to
Leonard Bernstein's music for West Side Story, followed by writing the
lyrics for Gypsy, His first show where he wrote music AND lyrics, was Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Of great interest were Mr Sondheim' s ideas about writing song lyrics, and
the structuring and directing of shows.

He said that he depends on the creator of the libretto to invent the
characters.
The character always comes first, He goes through the same process that the
actor does.
He needs to become the character or at least have a vision of the character
before he can  write the lyrics.
It helps even more to know who will be playing the character because then he
can write the song with their vocal qualities in mind.

One of his most famous songs "Send in the Clowns" was written for a  gifted
actress with a lovely but limited vocal range. He said she could not sustain
notes, so he wrote in very short phrases for her. The short phrases became
short questions
"Isnt it rich?'
"Arent we a pair?"


He said the basics of song writing could be taught in 20 minutes.
He offered 3 rules, but he admitted that putting them into practice takes
years of experience

1. Less is more
2. Content dictates form (and not the other way around)
3. God is in the details

He spoke about the need for clarity.
Clarity of thought and emotion, clarity of diction
A song in a show is heard once. You can go back and re-read a poem or a
novel. You can make a 2nd attempt to get something you missed but you can't
do that in the theatre.

Many of his stories had to do with the  perils and intricacies of
collaboration,
and the importance of a director's eye

He also talked a little about which of his shows were performed by college
and high school theatre departments. He said shows with lots of small parts
that are fun to do, give an opportunity to the most students. He recognized
that a shorter less complex show sometimes works for high school students
and he has authorized a version of "Into the Woods" using only the first
act.

My favorite story had to do with the musical Gypsy
He described "Rose's Turn" one the great arias of American Theatre, as a
nervous breakdown.
Because of the high drama, he did not want the audience to applaud at the
end of the number, and he  tried to structure the music and lyrics to
prevent applause.

His mentor, Oscar Hammerstein, looked at the show in previews, and advised
him to change the number to make room for the audience to applaud.
Hammerstein said, the audience has just experienced something extraordinary.
If you deny them the release of applauding they will miss the next few
crucial pages of dialogue. You must let them applaud. Sondheim and director
Jerome Robbins agreed to make the change.


In my humble opinion I dont think any theatre discussion is off topic here
but just in case I want to mention a few connections that Sondheim has with
puppetry.
He was a big fan of Kukla and Ollie. In his early 20s he wrote a song for
them.
Years later in 1978, Burr Tillstrom and Kukla and Ollie performed in Side by
Side by Sondheim on Broadway. People at the 1980 Puppet Festival  in DC got
to see Burr perform "Little Lamb" from Gypsy

In 1976 Sondheim included a Bunraku style puppet in Pacific Overtures.
In the 2004 revival of Into the Woods, the cow, Milky White, was a puppet
Most intriguing to me-
in the 60s and 70s Sondheim and his friends Jerome Robbins and Leonard
Bernstein frequently attended the  puppet shows by the Little Players. Frank
Peschka and Bill Murdock performed in their living room on Central Park West
for audiences of 25.

Those puppets are now at the Center for Puppetry Arts, along with the guest
books from the Little Players with the signatures of many theatre greats who
attended the shows.

Steve
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