well, That's Show Biz, 11-27-2022 35 Sondheim Remembered Part 1

Sondheim Remembered Part 1

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

11-27-2022

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• Welcome to “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman, and each week I bring you music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers along with some anecdotes, information, and commentary all based on a theme. One year ago, on November 26th, we lost who I consider to be the greatest Broadway composer of all time, Stephen Sondheim. Throughout the 20th century, the musical was evolving from song and dance musical comedies into musical plays with serious themes.  Major innovations were made by several composers such as Kern and Hammerstein with Show Boat, Cole Porter, and Rodgers & Hammerstein and Oklahoma. These innovations involved attempts at integrating the music and lyrics with character development and plots. These innovations reached their pinnacle with Stephen Sondheim. 

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• Sondheim’s body of work is so rich that it is impossible to do him justice in one hour. So this is the first of at least two shows celebrating and examining his work.  Today’s show will focus on his early works, his works as just a lyricist, what I call “quirks’, and some of his movie contributions.

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• His first major contributions were as a lyricist although he preferred writing music. His mentor, Oscar Hammerstein convinced him to work with Leonard Bernstein to write the lyrics for 1957s West Side Story. He never liked his lyrics for the show finding them not authentic for the characters.  He believed that lyrics should be conversational and true to who is speaking.  Leonard Bernstein, the composer, wanted poetry.  We are going to hear Russ Tamblyn and company singing the “Jet Song”, lyrics that Sondheim didn't mind,  from the original movie version. He was then offered the opportunity to write for Ethel Merman and the composer Jule Styne. Once again, Oscar Hammerstein told him it would be good for him to write for a major star. The result was 1959s Gypsy, arguably the greatest musical ever written. Lisa Kirk dubbed Roselynn Russell for the movie version and we are going to hear her sing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”. Although the lyrics are upbeat and positive when taken out of context, they show the dual nature of Sondheim’s work as the characters of Louise and Herbie watch Rose go careening out of control. And we will follow this with Bette Midler’s version of “Rose’s Turn” as Mamma Rose confronts the culmination of her life.  Here’s the “Jet Song” from West Side Story.

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• You just heard the “Jet Song” from West Side Story, and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy as we remember the life and career of Stephen Sondheim on this week’s edition of “well, That’s Show Biz!”

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• We are remembering composer Stephen Sondheim on the anniversary of his passing last year at the age of 91. West Side Story ran for 732 performances and Gypsy ran for 702. In 1962, Sondheim, writing both lyrics and music, had his greatest success with A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum which ran for 964 performances. We are going to hear Zero Mostel from the movie version with “Comedy Tonight” and Zero from the original Broadway cast album singing “Free”. Here’s Zero with A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum.

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• You just heard “Comedy Tonight” and “Free” from Sondheim’s biggest hit, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum”. Two years later, Sondheim had his biggest failure with “Anyone Can Whistle” a political and social satire which ran for only 9 performances but was noted for being Angela Lansbury’s first Broadway musical. Here are  Bernadette Peters with the title song from the 1995 Carnegie Hall concert cast recording and Harry Guardino singing “Everybody Says Don’t” from the original cast recording of Anyone Can Whistle.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID]. WE are remembering composer Stephen Sondheim one year after his passing. This next set is what I lovingly call quirks for lack of a better title. Sondheim’s first attempt at a musical was 1954s Saturday Night which never opened due to the death of its lead producer. It was finally performed in 1997 and made it’s off-Broadway debut in 2000. Although Sondheim could have revised it, he left it alone feeling that it really wasn’t that bad for a 23 year old. We are going to hear “What More Do I Need” from Saturday Night. In 1965, Sondheim reluctantly agreed to write the lyrics for Oscar Hamerstein’s former partner, Richard Rodgers, for the musical, Do I Hear a Waltz. It was not a pleasant experience for him. We will hear the title song. Next we will hear Linda Lavin sing the song “The Boy From”..., a parody of “The Girl From Ipanema, that Sondheim wrote anonymously for the the 1966 review The Mad Show. Premiering on November 16, 1966 was the Sondheim scored TV musical Evening Primrose and we will hear the beautiful song “I Remember”. And to close out this set. Sondheim wrote the songs for the farce, The Frogs, based on the Ancient Greek Comedy by Aristophanes, which premiered in 1974 in the Yale University swimming pool. Sondheim said of the acoustics,  it was like putting on a show in a men's urinal. Among the actors in the company were Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver. Nathan Lane helped revise the book for a 2004 production with an expanded score by Sondheim. We are going to conclude the set with “Invocation and Instructions to the Audience” which was cut from from Forum and replaced by “Comedy Tonight”. It was updated for 2004 and sung by Nathan Lane and Roger Bart. Here’s “What More Do I Need” from Saturday Night.

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• You just heard “What More Do I Need” from Saturday Night, the title song to “Do I Hear a Waltz”, “The Boy From…” from The Mad Show, “I Remember” from Evening Primrose, and “Invocation and Instructions to the Audience” from The Frogs as we remember Stephen Sondheim today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”.

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• We are going to conclude today’s Part 1 with songs from some of the movies that he wrote for. The playful and sexy song, “I Never Do Anything Twice” is from the 1976 Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Seven Percent Solution here sung by Sarah Chalfy and Jocelyn Dueck. Next we are going to hear Liz Calloway sing “Goodbye for Now” originally from the 1981 movie Reds. And we are going to conclude with Madonna singing the Oscar winning song “Sooner Or Later” from 1990’s Dick Tracy.  Here’s “I Never Do Anything Twice”.

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• You just heard “I Never Do Anything Twice” from The Seven Percent Solution, “Goodbye For Now” from Reds, and “Sooner Or Later” from Dick Tracy as we conclude Part 1 of our Stephen Sondheim Remembered.  Next week we will have Part 2 where we will look at the main body of Sondheim’s work. If you enjoyed today’s show, please contact the station at WRUU.org and send them an email.  See you next week for Part 2 of Stephen Sondheim Remembered.