Stephen-Sondheim
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Why was the original production of Merrily We Roll Along such an abysmal failure and how did it turn into a hit? Does the new film succeed in capturing the magic of the hit Broadway revival (and is that even possible)?
As satisfying as this incomplete work is — much like Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” — we can still regret not being able to experience the completed work.
A Stephen Sondheim flop returns in triumph, while his final show tantalizes with what could have been.
Even before the lights come up on the remarkable new production by Moonbox Productions, it is clear that this is a “Sweeney Todd” of a different order.
Assassinations may be so-last-generation, but gun violence, and what it reflects about American culture and human depravity, defines our own era as much as any.
Appreciating Stephen Sondheim’s achievement does not mean loving all of his shows. A Little Night Music may just be one of his musicals that should be politely nudged aside.
Stephen Sondheim’s songs told stories about people just trying to be, sung by characters struggling to make sense of a confusing world, yearning to take the next step. But his intricately structured melodies soared and tiptoed and sauntered and sometimes wisely took the long way home.
Musical theater giant Stephen Sondheim turned 90 on March 22, and Stevie Wonder—for my money, the greatest popular music composer of the last 60 years—turned 70 on May 13.
Arts Remembrance: Stephen Sondheim – Musical Theater Mourns the Passing of a Giant
Stephen Sondheim was the most influential musical-theater artist of the modern era. His death leaves a permanent hole in the art form and in the hearts of his fans.
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