six by sondheim
directed by tony award - winner and frequent stephen sondheim collaborator james lapine, six by sondheim is a highly personal profile of a great american artist as revealed through the creation and performance of six of his iconic songs. read more
singer audra mcdonald performs in the documentary
six by sondheim
on hbo. (autumn de wilde / hbo )
the life and work of composer and lyricist stephen sondheim is examined in six by sondheim, a documentary from james lapine, who also directed several of sondheim' s shows .
parts of six by sondheim echo, and are indebted to, the 2010 roundabout theatre production sondheim on sondheim. that was a multimedia presentation that had a company of singers performing while sondheim, on giant screens, commented in recorded interview segments about his life and work. that production was written by lapine as well, and six by sondheim relies on the same strong spine. in six by sondheim, the composer and lyricist tells his own story and explains his own songs. he' s a tour guide through his own past, with specific emphasis on a half - dozen songs — which explains the title six by sondheim .
the life and work of composer and lyricist stephen sondheim is examined in six by sondheim, a documentary from james lapine, who also directed several of sondheim' s shows. jerry jackson / hbo hide caption
delightful' six by sondheim' leaves you wanting six more hbo' s new tv special is part biography, part music - appreciation lesson and part performance piece. critic david bianculli says it' s a superbly compiled work, overseen by two of the people most intimately familiar with the composer himself .
a quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the manhattan institute, edited by brian c. anderson .
affixed with an unnecessary gimmick, “six by sondheim” is a loving ode to the composer by director james lapine — part biography, part detailed examination of the roots of sondheim’s talent and work. fascinating as that latter part is, it’s slightly burdened by the decision to stage three songs specifically for the film, which features [ … ]
six by sondheim is a tv movie starring barbara barrie, jack bashkow, and charles braswell. an intimate and candid look at the life and art of the legendary composer - lyricist .
weaving sondheim history and personal refection in and around these numbers ,
six by sondheim
proceeds as though piecing together a jigsaw puzzle portrait of the man who redefined the american musical in the second half of the 20th century .
now there' s
six by sondheim ,
an hbo documentary airing monday that' s directed by sondheim' s frequent collaborator james lapine, the librettist and director without whom there' d be no
sunday in the park with george ,
into the woods
or
passion .
six artists and one duo, all from baltimore, have been named as finalists for this year' s $ 25, 000 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize .
at its core, “six by sondheim” is really a one - man show about a writer and his craft. and while lapine is to be forgiven the impulse, seeing how his star holds the stage, he needn’t have dressed it up with props .
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artists: win a $ 25, 000 fellowship for your work. apply for the 2018 sondheim artscape prize by friday, january 12 here: urltoken
introduction by david armstrong, 5th avenue theatre executive producer and artistic director, a performance by jeanette d' armand, and a q & a with producer liz stanton and editor miky wolf .
at one point in six by sondheim, the composer describes teaching as
a sacred profession .
in the rest of the tv special, he proves he means it. a clip showing him explaining lyric writing to master - class students is a privilege to eavesdrop on — and the many tv interview clips through the decades trace sondheim' s dedication at both expanding the dimensions of musical theater and explaining it so that others can follow .
he kept a shop in london town, of fancy clients and good renown. and what if none of their souls were saved? they went to their maker impeccably shaved by sweeney, by sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street .
the first song given this treatment in monday' s hbo special is
something' s coming
from west side story, with lyrics by sondheim and music by leonard bernstein. sondheim explains why the song was added during out - of - town tryouts in washington, as we hear larry kert, the show' s young star, singing it in a vintage tv appearance from 1957 .
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i like to be in america, ok by me in america. everything free in america, for a small fee in america .
on monday, hbo presents the premiere of six by sondheim, a new tv special that' s part biography, part music - appreciation lesson and part performance piece. it' s all about the life and music and lyrics of stephen sondheim, in which he explains, among many other things, how and why he became a musical theater composer and lyricist, and the inspirations for some of his most familiar songs. if you' re new to the works of stephen sondheim, this tv special should entice you. if you' re already a fan, it should delight you .
for more on the 2015 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize, visit urltoken .
follies, ingeniously telling the story of music - hall veterans by turning their lives into vaudeville numbers, was similarly admirable without being likable .
an intimate look at the life and art of legendary composer - lyricist stephen sondheim .
sondheim talks about his divorced parents, being embraced by legendary composer oscar hammerstein ii as a surrogate father, and his experience as a lyricist on “west side story, ” before embarking on a solo career writing both the words and music .
mayor stephanie rawlings - blake and the baltimore office of promotion & the arts (bopa) are proud to announce that force: upsetting rape culture is the winner of the 2016 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize. the coveted $ 25, 000 prize was presented at this evening’s awards ceremony at the baltimore museum of art. the six other finalists—theo anthony, stephanie barber, darcie book, larry cook, eric kruszewski, christos palios—will receive a $ 2, 500 honorarium established this year by m & t bank in partnership with bopa. works of art by the winner and finalists are on view at the bma through sunday, july 31 .
by splicing interviews of the eager twentysomething lyricist - composer with the restless (and somewhat prickly) mid - career explorer and the grizzled elder statesman, the film provides a guided tour of sondheim' s artistic consciousness along with his changing hairstyles and beards .
mayor catherine e. pugh and the baltimore office of promotion & the arts (bopa) are proud to announce that cindy cheng is the winner of the 2017 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize. the coveted $ 25, 000 prize was presented at an award ceremony at the walters art museum on july 15, 2017. the six remaining finalists— mequitta ahuja, mary anne arntzen, sara dittrich, benjamin kelley, kyle tata, and amy yee —each received a $ 2, 500 honorarium provided by m & t bank charitable foundation for a total donation of $ 15, 000. works of art by the winner and finalists are on view at the walters through sunday, august 13, 2017 .
ow that it was clear that sondheim was no fluke, he began to generate his own productions. this was no downhill slalom. the second time out on his own, sondheim came up with
for more information on the janet & walter sondheim artscape prize, call 410 - 752 - 8632 .
although their styles are markedly different, sondheim credits hammerstein with instilling in him the value of writing for oneself and not for commercial gain. but it' s the personal relationship that causes sondheim to well up .
sloane brown reports from the sondheim artscape prize announcement reception, held july 12 at the walters art museum .
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that song makes an interesting contrast to a similar number ,
you' ll never walk alone ,
written more than half a century earlier by richard rodgers and oscar hammerstein ii .
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sondheim considers hammerstein an
experimental playwright
and vigorously defends him against those who refuse to see just how far he extended the boundaries of the broadway musical. his entire generation, he asserts, was instructed by hammerstein' s mastery of resonant simplicity, the art of conveying complex feelings in honest and direct language and imagery .
with: stephen sondheim, america ferrera, darren criss, jeremy jordan, audra mcdonald, will swenton, jarvis cocker .
sondheim intended to make his next broadway work a solo job, but it wasn' t to be. an opportunity came up to work with jule styne on the ur - show business musical, gypsy, and sondheim grabbed it. styne' s brash melodies established the theme, and sondheim amplified it with the bright cascading rhymes and assonances that would become his signature :
the mica community is poised to be recognized again by the larger arts community as a collaborator with the baltimore office of promotion & the arts (bopa) and the baltimore museum of art (bma), and possibly as an honoree. artscape, organized and administratively operated by bopa, is a perennial public attraction that garners national attendance and participation. it teems with artistic diversity, creating a changing canvas during the venue. it is fitting the annual janet & walter sondheim artscape prize pays homage to that type of creativity that abounds at the festival .
the winner of the $ 25, 000 fellowship — established to
assist in furthering the career of a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the greater baltimore region
— will be announced during an awards ceremony and reception scheduled for july 11 at the bma. the other six finalists will each receive $ 2, 500 honorariums .
with so much golden musical material, an organizing structure is needed, and lapine, who conceived and directed the 2010 broadway salute
sondheim on sondheim ,
finds one in six classic songs :
something' s coming
(
west side story
) ,
opening doors
(
merrily we roll along
) ,
send in the clowns
(
a little night music
) ,
i' m still here
(
follies
) ,
being alive
(
company
) and
sunday
(
sunday in the park with george
) .
the executive producers share what they believe makes sondheim' s work so distinctive, and what they hope viewers take away from the documentary .
janet sondheim danced with the pioneering denishawn dancers, a legendary dance troupe founded by ruth st. denis and ted shawn. later, she turned to teaching where she spent 15 years at the children’s guild working with severely emotionally disturbed children. after retirement, she was a volunteer tutor at highlandtown elementary school. she married walter in 1934, and they were together until her death in 1992 .
the 2017 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize is made possible through the generous support of the abell foundation, alex brown & sons charitable foundation, charlesmead foundation, ellen sondheim dankert, france - merrick foundation, hecht - levi foundation, legg mason, m & t charitable foundation, amy & chuck newhall, henry & ruth blaustein rosenberg foundation, m. sigmund & barbara shapiro philanthropic fund, john sondheim and the whiting - turner contracting company .
the 2017 sondheim finalists are mequitta ahuja, mary anne arntzen, cindy cheng, sara dittrich, benjamin kelley, kyle tata, and amy yee .
thus began a strange, sorry - grateful relationship that would play out over a conflicted adolescence and young manhood. on the one hand, stephen found himself severely discomfited by his mother' s possessive and celebrity - collecting life - style. references to foxy appeared in many a sondheim song over the years, none more acrimonious than
the ladies who lunch ,
describing wealthy women of a certain age :
the finalists, announced wednesday by the baltimore office of promotion and the arts, are mequitta ahuja, zoë charlton, benjamin kelley, magnolia laurie, jim leach, ryan syrell and the duo of malcolm lomax and daniel wickerham, known as wickerham & lomax .
janet & walter sondheim the artscape prize is named in honor of janet and walter sondheim, who were instrumental in creating the baltimore city that exists today. walter sondheim, jr. was one of baltimore’s most important civic leaders for over 50 years. his accomplishments included oversight of the desegregation of the baltimore city public schools in 1954, and championing the development of charles center and the inner harbor. he was active in civic and educational activities in the city and state, and served as senior advisor to the greater baltimore committee until his death in february 2007. janet sondheim danced with the pioneering denishawn dancers, a legendary dance troupe founded by ruth st. denis and ted shawn. later, she turned to teaching and she spent 15 years at the children’s guild. after retirement, she was a volunteer tutor at highlandtown elementary school. she married walter in 1934, and they were together until her death in 1992 .
a little night music marked the return of the mainstream sondheim. laurents' s book was a slyly commercial adaptation of smiles of a summer night, ingmar bergman' s peek at drawing - room and bedroom shenanigans in nineteenth - century sweden. as a tribute to the epoch and the subject matter, sondheim began thinking in terms of
fughettos, canons, contrapuntal duets, trios
and eventually composed every number in three - four time. the best of the waltzes ,
send in the clowns ,
is the only sondheim song to have reached the status of a platinum megahit, recorded by the likes of sarah vaughan, frank sinatra, and judy collins. over 30 years later, the bittersweet words still resound in the cabarets of europe and america :
free admission to the walters art museum is made possible by the combined generosity of individual members, friends and benefactors, foundations, corporations, and grants from the city of baltimore, maryland state arts council, citizens of baltimore county, and howard county government and howard county arts council .
it' s not an on - again - off - again talent that explains sondheim' s strange duality. instead, the evidence suggests that there are two sondheims, a mainstream artist and a contrarian, with a willfully perverse wish not to appeal to the general public. that second sondheim has been in the ascendant for many years .
when sondheim was on his game—particularly in act 1—he was both hilarious and charming. confronting little red riding hood, for example, the wolf licks his lips and sings :
kelley, a 2010 masters of fine art graduate of the rinehart school of sculpture at the maryland institute college of art ,
re - contextualizes found objects with altered and fabricated structures ,
driven by
the smell of oak, high heels on glass, and the elegance of precision .
the exhibition showcases the seven finalists in the running for the ultimate sondheim artscape prize of a $ 25, 000 fellowship, which is awarded to one baltimore artist each year .
in mitigation, no one was harder on sondheim than sondheim. weighing some of his work in west side story, for example, he disparaged the internal rhymes for
i feel pretty
(
it' s alarming how charming i feel
) as too mannered for the uneducated maria. and he was especially critical of
america
:
the film, which has a limited engagement at pasadena' s laemmle playhouse 7 starting friday, doesn' t fill in any major gaps in our knowledge of the relationship between sondheim' s life and art. but it does stylishly retread this fascinating ground with a rising emotional thrum that renders absurd the notion that sondheim is all neurotic cleverness and no heart .
his sort of ambiguous tribute would follow sondheim for most of his career. working with prince again, but with various book writers, the composer / lyricist turned out five shows :
the baltimore office of promotion & the arts announces the finalists for the 13th annual janet & walter sondheim artscape prize. the finalists are erick antonio benitez, nakeya brown, sutton demlong, nate larson, eunice park and stephen towns. the competition awards a $ 25, 000 fellowship to assist in furthering the career of a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the greater baltimore region. the prize also gives artists an opportunity to exhibit their work at the baltimore museum of art. the janet & walter sondheim artscape prize is held in conjunction with the 37th annual artscape, america’s largest free arts festival, taking place july 20 - 22, 2018. the sondheim artscape prize is produced by the baltimore office of promotion & the arts in partnership with the baltimore museum of art and the maryland institute college of art (mica) .
few artists are as articulate about their own creative process. but what' s most striking in this retelling is the emotional debt sondheim acknowledges to oscar hammerstein ii, his surrogate father .
neil feather, a self - described' sound mechanic,' creates elaborate musical sculptures. he is the recipient of the 2014 sondheim prize. (algerina perna / baltimore sun video )
there are other contemporary cracks at classics — a
send in the clowns
with audra mcdonald and will swenson and an outré version of
i' m still here
with jarvis cocker of the rock band pulp that' s directed by todd haynes. but it' s the vintage performances that steal the film .
after the closing, sondheim unwisely decided to collaborate once more—this time with broadway giant richard rodgers, whose partner, oscar hammerstein ii, had recently died. sondheim was wary, but he remembered saying to himself ,
okay, i' m doing my little obligation to oscar, i' m going to make a lot of money, and it' s an easy job .
as for the “six” in question, lapine somewhat arbitrary uses a half - dozen of the composer’s most famous songs — “something’s coming, ” “opening doors, ” “send in the clowns, ” “i’m still here, ” “being alive, ” “sunday” — as an entry point into his work, interspersed with footage of everything from early performances to rehearsals to, in the case of “send in the clowns, ” a litany of different performers providing their interpretations. (frankly, that might make for a pretty hilarious special all its own. )
approximately six finalists are selected for the final review for the prize. their work is showcased in the special exhibition galleries at the walters art museum from saturday, june 17 through sunday, august 13, 2017. additionally, an exhibition of the semifinalists’ work is shown in the decker and meyerhoff galleries of mica on friday, july 21 through sunday, august 6, 2017. an opening reception for the semifinalist exhibition takes place thursday, july 20, 2017 from 6pm to 9pm at mica, located at 1301 w. mount royal avenue .
the 2018 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize is made possible through the generous support of the abell foundation, baltimore community foundation, brightside foundation, brown advisory charitable foundation, caplan family foundation, charlesmead foundation, ellen sondheim dankert, france - merrick foundation, greater baltimore committee, hecht - levi foundation, m & t bank, legg mason, amy & chuck newhall, rollins - luetkemeyer foundation, henry & ruth blaustein rosenberg foundation, rosemore, inc. , rouse company foundation, m. sigmund & barbara shapiro philanthropic fund, john sondheim and william g. baker, jr. memorial fund .
that' s not bogus self - deprecation. sondheim' s latest musical, assassins, opened this spring to admiring reviews—and slammed shut after two months. a string of other sondheim shows have had early closures and unprofitable runs, among them anyone can whistle (1964), follies (1971), pacific overtures (1976), merrily we roll along (1981), and passion (1994) .
again the profits failed to arrive; the show only earned back 59 percent of its investment. but by now, there was no shortage of producers willing to get involved with anything that the composer chose to write. sondheim had become synonymous with glamour; prestige belonged to anything with his name on it. revivals began to open in regional theaters across the u. s. and britain, and if the royalties from these productions were small, they eventually mounted up to over $ 1 million a year for their creator, and more for those who had expressed financial faith in his efforts .
force: upsetting rape culture describes itself as a “creative activist effort to upset the culture of rape and promote a culture of consent. ” the organization was founded in 2010 by hannah brancato and rebecca nagle, community organizers and artists living in baltimore. the group deploys its messages against sexual violence through public art projects and events, as well as through the internet and media campaigns .
the top finalist will receive a $ 25, 000 fellowship that will go to towards his or her professional development and is accompanied by the added benefit of visibility. the award recipient will be announced during an award ceremony and reception on saturday, july 11 at the museum. the remaining finalists will receive $ 2, 500 honorable mention awards from the m & t charitable foundation .
nonetheless, on the strength of the sparkling score, bernadette peters' s star turn as a witch and joanna gleason' s as the baker' s wife, and the popular (and correct) belief that into the woods was the only kind of
family show
sondheim would ever write, the production thrived at the box office. it ran for 764 performances, received ten tony nominations, and in a season overwhelmed by andrew lloyd webber' s spectacular the phantom of the opera, won in the best score category. lapine won another award for best book, and gleason took honors for best actress .
kruszewski presents his footage as a video altarpiece, surrounded by reclaimed pews. the stories of the individuals involved in lead are further detailed in videos presented on digital tablets within the church - like installation. the filmmaker has observed that “lead offers a safe place for the diverse lgbt community to congregate, share, and find comfort amidst a larger church environment that does not fully accept them. ”
went its own singular and intellectually demanding way. it centered on bobby, a 35 - year - old male coquette still wondering about commitment, and several married couples of his acquaintance. the show featured some brilliant patter songs, some melodies that suggested ravel at his most inventive, and a couple of ballads about wedded life written by an outsider looking in—among them
sorry - grateful
:
on view is a small portion of force’s the monument quilt, a growing compilation of the stories of survivors of sexual violence presented on 8 - foot by 8 - foot squares of red fabric. in 2017, force seeks to bring 6, 000 of these quilt squares (produced in workshops across the country) to the national mall in washington, d. c. , where they will spell out the equally cautionary and consoling phrase “not alone. ” accompanying the quilt squares at the bma is video footage documenting earlier presentations of the quilt. force will also conduct a public awareness program as part of its sondheim exhibition contribution .
the museum exhibition of sondheim finalists will be hosted at the walters from june 17 – august 13, 2017 with free admission for all visitors. besides the saturday, july 15, award ceremony and reception, the museum is planning to host a series of artist talks with the finalists that will be open to the public. additionally, bmoreart and area 405 will curate an artscape gallery network exhibition to recognize the past 70 sondheim finalists with a reception on june 30th .
he only child of affluent dress manufacturer herbert sondheim, stephen grew up in manhattan until the age of ten. then, in 1940, his parents divorced and his world went into reverse. he had to transfer from a comfortable new york school to a military academy. home also changed, from a city apartment to a large country house in bucks county, pennsylvania, where the boy lived with his mother, janet fox sondheim, known as
foxy .
this film from acclaimed theater director lonny price charts the journey of the original cast of stephen sondheim' s
merrily we roll along
in the 30 - plus years since the musical debuted on broadway at the alvin theatre in 1981 .
stephen sondheim' s musical
company
opened on broadway in the spring of 1970, and tradition dictates that the cast recording is done on the first sunday after opening night. d. a... . see full summary »
gypsy starred ethel merman as the adrenal mother of stripper gypsy rose lee and her sister, june havoc. she was precisely the kind of woman sondheim knew in his bones. he caught her psyche in the classic
some people
:
wrong on all counts. hammerstein would probably have disdained to adapt laurents' s arch drama, the time of the cuckoo, about a loveless spinster in rome. the show, never compelling to audiences, didn' t have a hit in it and barely broke even. and working with rodgers was a horror. the composer drank heavily and at one time bawled out his young collaborator in front of the whole company. sondheim furiously exited, but was talked into making peace with his collaborator. sondheim said little at the time, though later he claimed that the show
deserved to fail .
rodgers would describe sondheim as someone whom he watched
grow from an attractive little boy to a monster .
. preceding it was a minor heart attack that did little to slow sondheim down. he quickly went to work on what seemed a standard broadway adaptation of the moss hart–george s. kaufman play. in this tragicomedy, lives and careers take place backward, starting with the corruption of success and winding up at an innocent high school graduation. the 1981 musical lasted just 16 performances, triggering a breakup with prince, who had produced and / or directed five consecutive sondheim works .
and when the woman that you wanted goes, you can say to yourself ,
well, i give what i give !
but the woman who won' t wait for you knows that however you live there' s a part of you always standing by, mapping out the sky, finishing the hat. starting on a hat. look, i made a hat— where there never was a hat !
“a fake liza minnelli tells them how to rap. a pretend carol channing begs for tickets to ‘hamilton. ’ there’s fake patti lupone and bernadette peters. make - believe stephen sondheim gives lin - manuel advice on how to write a show .
nly a handful of major broadway composers have written lyrics to accompany their own melodies: irving berlin, noel coward, jerry herman, cole porter, and stephen sondheim. of that extraordinary group, sondheim enjoys the highest critical status. he has earned clutches of tonys, a grammy, an oscar, the kennedy center and british olivier awards, and a pulitzer prize. doctoral students study his compositions; he is a favorite of newspaper theater sections here and abroad; a quarterly magazine ,
but
liaisons
is only one aspect of sondheim' s work. he can also write simple gags with the rhythm of a metronome, as in the tyrant' s braggadocio for a funny thing happened on the way to the forum :
and then there was the abbot who worshipped at my feet, who dressed me in a wimple and in veils. he made a proposition that i found rather sweet, and handed me a hammer and some nails in time we lay contented and he began again by fingering the beads around our waists. i whispered to him then ,
we' ll have to say amen ,
for i had developed more catholic tastes .
filmmaker and photographer theo anthony has explored poignant themes and, at times, political subjects in locations that range from his baltimore home to africa. the video peace in the absence of war (baltimore, md) considers responses by citizens, law enforcement, and national media to the death of freddie gray and the subsequent baltimore uprising of april 2015. anthony addresses this topic further in a series of photographic portraits of helmeted police officers .
the lyricist was just 27 when west side story opened to acclaim in the fall of 1957. critics hailed sondheim as a broadway wunderkind. in the journal - american, john mcclain spoke for most of his colleagues :
young mr. sondheim has gone all the way with the mood in his lyrics. his ballads are the lament of the sincere, and he can come up with the most hilarious travesty of our times—' gee, officer krupke' —a plaint which should settle the problem of juvenile delinquency forever .
ever since stephen sondheim reached the four - score mark three years ago, the spotlight has shifted from his work to the legend himself. there have been birthday galas, musical tributes, interviews galore and books in which the master reveals the secrets of his songwriting sorcery .
, prints nothing but examinations of, and interviews with, the master; and every year or so there is either a new sondheim show or a revival of one of his past works. and still the writer ruefully observes ,
i' ve never been popular .
( furth). no one could accuse sondheim of a lack of originality—or of a yen for consistency. his work acquired a new polish, and his rhymes dug deep into character and history—as in the aging soubrette' s song
i' m still here ,
from
hen meryle secrest' s sondheim biography appeared, it came as no surprise to learn that the composer was 61 before he let anyone move in with him. (he lived with the composer peter jones for several years, but they broke up .) after all, sondheim characterized himself as
the boy in the bubble ,
and he has remained that enclosed child for 70 - plus years. more than once, he has stated that he
never grew up ,
and that self - appraisal seems to contain more candor than caricature .
have theatergoers stayed away because sondheim' s melodies can be as elusive as anything leonard bernstein ever wrote? yet he can also compose tunes that a stone could hum :
send in the clowns ,
for example, a melody heard in elevators and restaurants around the world .
lapine draws on a treasure trove of sondheim interviews so deftly woven together (credit miky wolf’s editing) that the composer of such shows as “company, ” “sweeney todd” and “sunday in the park with george” is occasionally found beginning a story in one broadway venue and finishing it in another .
sondheim licked his wounds and pressed on. the recent assassins sought to send up the american
can - do
spirit. staged like a carnival, it put such presidential killers as john wilkes booth and lee harvey oswald up against wannabes like lynette
squeaky
fromme and sarah jane moore, the two women who tried to slay gerald ford. the nineteenth - century assassins exchanged thoughts with their twentieth - century counterparts, with everyone egging everyone else on between songs. the numbers represented sondheim at his most perverse: vinegary music and a series of cynical internal rhymes :
the baltimore office of promotion & the arts is excited to announce the 12th annual janet & walter sondheim artscape prize. applications are now being accepted for the prestigious competition which awards a $ 25, 000 fellowship to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the baltimore region .
the song, letting the audience know that they were about to see a knockdown farce set to music, turned fortunes around. forum opened at the alvin theater in may 1968 and ran for 964 performances—a longer broadway run than west side story, than gypsy, than any subsequent sondheim show .
reviewers and feature writers tended to be respectful rather than ecstatic, but their enthusiasm picked up considerably when sunday won the pulitzer prize—only the sixth musical to win the award. the pulitzer committee may well have had in mind frank rich' s shrewd comment in the times :
this protagonist is possibly a double for mr. sondheim at his most self - doubting... . in keeping with his setting, mr. sondheim has written a lovely, wildly inventive score that sometimes remakes the modern french composers whose revolution in music paralleled the post - impressionists' in art .
gypsy was another smash, annihilating any fears of a sophomore jinx and propelling sondheim to his primary goal: writing words and music for a major musical comedy. a funny thing happened on the way to the forum was the writer' s true proving ground. for even with the explosively comic zero mostel, the roman farce bombed out of town; no one in the audience seemed to know what the show was about. over a weekend in washington, d. c. , sondheim crafted a new opener, the chorale
comedy tonight .
it provided a billboard for all that was to follow :
this morning, tuesday june 21st, the baltimore museum of art, in partnership with the baltimore office of promotion & the arts, closed the museum for a press preview of the janet & walter sondheim artscape prize finalists exhibition, before it opens to the public on wednesday, june 22 – sunday july 31st .
sondheim' s rendition
seemed so autobiographical ,
walton observed .
it made me think of noel coward on his seventieth birthday, singing,' all i' ve had is a talent to amuse.'
arthur laurents agreed :
i always thought that song would be steve' s epitaph .
over the last ten years, almost all of sondheim' s musicals have enjoyed revivals, either on broadway or the west end (even a 40 - minute sketch, the frogs, wound up as a lively two - hour off - broadway farce .) yet the composer refused to satisfy himself with sights in his rearview mirror. for the 1994 musical passion, an adaptation of an obscure italian film, he again tried something completely new. weary of operatic, showstopping moments that brought the action to a halt, he crafted his songs to begin and end in dialogue, with no opportunities for applause. to his dismay, it turned out that audiences wanted the show to stop after big arias by the lead, donna murphy. denied the opportunity, they grew restive. word of mouth was extremely negative, and the show closed before the season was out .
the artscape prize is named in honor of janet and walter sondheim who have been instrumental in creating the baltimore city that exists today. walter sondheim, jr. had been one of baltimore’s most important civic leaders for over 50 years. his accomplishments included oversight of the desegregation of the baltimore city public schools in 1954 when he was president of the board of school commissioners of baltimore city. later, he was deeply involved in the development of charles center and the inner harbor. he continued to be active in civic and educational activities in the city and state and served as the senior advisor to the greater baltimore committee until his death in february 2007 .
still hard at work at a craft that he says requires only more courage with age, sondheim hasn' t always received the appreciation he deserves. those who radically advance their art forms rarely do. so it' s gratifying to see him recognized as one of the immortals while he' s still around to enjoy it .
eric kruszewski, a photographer and filmmaker based in washington, d. c. , has undertaken an in - depth exploration of the pioneering lead ministry initiated by saint matthew catholic church in baltimore. lead (lgbt educating and affirming diversity) supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender members of its parish and the broader community. in addition to documenting the work of lead’s director, father joseph muth jr. , kruszewski conducted interviews with a variety of members of the saint matthew community to reveal the varied backgrounds that have led to their participation in lead .
shooting down canards is one of sondheim' s great hobbies, and a great number of clips are devoted to him dismantling false assumptions about his work. of course his music doesn' t need to be defended against charges that it lacks a heart or isn' t sufficiently hummable. all it needs is to be listened to .
tantalizing archival footage of ethel merman in
gypsy
and bernadette peters in
sunday in the park with george
reminds us of just how many superstar careers have fatefully intersected with sondheim' s. he refers to himself as a broadway baby and his theatrical legacy is inseparable from all those performers whose legends were sealed in his shows .
over the next few years, hammerstein encouraged and instructed as sondheim worked on various experiments, from a musical adaptation of the old george s. kaufman - marc connelly comedy beggar on horseback to an adaptation of a serious play, maxwell anderson' s high tor. none reached the public, but all were stepping - stones to broadway .
in 1973, a group of singers offered a one - night tribute to the composer, featuring songs going back to saturday night. that event, coupled with the release of the original - cast album of follies, prompted new york times critic john s. wilson to assess sondheim' s achievement .
he is, in effect, a summation and an elevation of all the lyric writing that has gone before him. to have this made clear in an evening' s program of 40 songs covering 20 years is impressive. but to find this point being made with equal clarity in a single score is an indication of the creative level at which sondheim has arrived .
artscape america’s largest free arts festival, attracting more than 350, 000 attendees, offers concerts on multiple outdoor stages, art exhibitions, an artists’ market, a full schedule of dance, theater and opera, jazz, classical, folk and experimental music, children’s activities, exhibitors, and an extensive variety of local food and beverage vendors on mount royal avenue and north charles street. artscape runs from july 21 through july 23. the festival’s total economic impact on baltimore city is $ 25. 97 million, according to a 2012 study by the baltimore office of promotion & the arts .
the baltimore office of promotion & the arts announces the semifinalists for the 11 th annual janet & walter sondheim artscape prize. the competition awards a $ 25, 000 fellowship to assist in furthering the career of a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the greater baltimore region. for 2016, 39 individual artists have been selected as semifinalists .
a sprightly new filmed version of
opening doors
with darren criss, america ferrera and jeremy jordan entrusts to the next generation this singing portrait of young artists in their salad days. sondheim refers to this as his most explicitly autobiographical number, explaining that his usual songwriting practice is to inhabit the situation of his characters the way an actor inhabits a role .
rrived” was the operative word. sondheim had now achieved the status of cult figure, and from here on, whatever he wrote enjoyed a respectful, if not down - right awed, reception from a growing group of enthusiasts that included reviewers, cabaret singers, and non - showbiz
civilians
who made bestsellers of the original - cast recordings of his productions .
yet though sondheim has won greater academic honors than rodgers, berlin, hart, the gershwins, and other front - rank showmen, he has paid a price for his critical renown. save for a handful of numbers, it is unlikely that 50 years from now popular entertainers will sing his songs and that the general public—those uncelebrated people who finally determine which broadway and tin pan alley figures enter the pantheon—will cherish them. such eminence was well within sondheim' s reach, but he didn' t take that road. he had better things to do. for better or worse, he still does. at 74, the boy in the bubble can' t be bothered with popularity. he' s too busy making a hat .
the baltimore office of promotions & the arts (bopa) has announced seven finalists for the 2014 janet & walter sondheim artscape prize, including two mica connections. sixteen members of the mica community are among the semi - finalists. the prize awards a $ 25, 000 fellowship to assist the career of a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living in the greater baltimore region .
as a young man caught in the crossfire of his parents' nasty divorce, sondheim found sanctuary in the hammerstein household. looking back as an older man, he speculates that he might not be alive were it not for hammerstein' s benevolent interest in him. no one taught him more about the life - changing impact of teaching, which he calls
the sacred profession .
this number, deriding the fakery of the street - smart wise guys and exposing the emerging social - work and psychiatric no - fault orthodoxy, was remarkably prescient. bernstein, who later personified radical chic in his support of the black panthers, would never return to the attitude of
krupke .
and sondheim edged away from it, too, until he seemed to embrace what he once ridiculed .
et he owed a great deal to one member of his mother' s bunch—oscar hammerstein ii. her bucks county neighbor provided the most important creative influence in stephen' s career. in early adolescence, sondheim befriended oscar' s son, jimmy, and began hanging around the hammerstein house. when the broadway pro learned that his young visitor wanted to write musicals, he offered avuncular encouragement and advice .
elements of the show clung to the memories of everyone who worked on it. sondheim, then in the middle of intensive psychoanalysis, was coming to grips not only with his long - suppressed homosexuality but also with his hatred of emotional intimacy. tony walton, who designed the sets and costumes, recalled the composer singing the title number, the lament of a woman yearning to express her deepest emotions :
, his broadway debut as a wordsmith (bernstein wrote the music), sondheim displayed a gift for seizing an idea and giving it wings. take the number
gee, officer krupke .
before anyone had coined the term
political correctness ,
at a time when the idea of
root causes
only applied to diseased agriculture, a group of young malefactors mocked the juvenile courts that they blatantly abused :
recalled sondheim ,
as quickly as my hand could cross the paper i wrote her a three - page reply. everything i' d felt, that i' d never expressed up to this point. it wasn' t hard. i just said,' i don' t want to see you any more. i' ll continue to support you, and just call my business manager'; that was all .
that label wasn' t to last much longer. sondheim' s work drew bernstein' s attention. the great musician wanted the young man to co - write west side story' s lyrics. working with a big name enticed sondheim, but he held back. he considered himself primarily a musician, and he hated to share credit with anyone—even lenny. what' s more, he thought that the material was beyond his experience .
i can' t do this show ,
he told his agent .
i' ve never been that poor, and i' ve never even known a puerto rican !
advised that this was a story of star - crossed lovers, not a sociological treatise, he sighed like a prisoner and wrote like an angel. the rewards were a little fame, a lot of money, and his first movie sale .
showstoppers are traced back to the singers who inspired them .
i' m still here
borrowed from the roller - coaster life of joan crawford to give yvonne de carlo a number worthy of her celebrity. the short line phrases of
send in the clowns
was designed to accommodate glynis johns' breathy vocal style, though a delightful youtube montage of this unexpected sondheim hit demonstrates just how flexible this lyrically baffling number can be .
yet it was the new york times' s influential sunday critic, walter kerr, who kept his cool and made the most discerning comments. after praising the cast, the direction, and sondheim' s
sophisticated and pertinacious
work, he concluded ,
now ask me if i liked the show. i didn' t like it. i admired it... . personally, i' m sorry - grateful .
an exhibition of the finalists’ work will be featured at the baltimore museum of art located at 10 art museum drive. an award ceremony and reception to announce the winner takes place saturday, july 14, 2018 at 7pm at the baltimore museum of art. the prize is held in conjunction with the 37th annual artscape, america’s largest free arts festival taking place friday, july 20 through sunday, july 22, 2018 along mount royal avenue and north charles street. the winner is selected from the exhibition after review of the installed art and an interview with each finalist by the jurors. jurors for 2018 are lauren cornell, margot norton and kameelah janan rasheed. their work is showcased at the baltimore museum of art from wednesday, june 20 through sunday, august 5, 2018 .
in 1957, bernstein was one of america' s foremost conductors and composers; director jerome robbins had established himself as one of the nation' s most imaginative choreographers; and the book writer, arthur laurents, was a much produced playwright and scenarist. but who was this kid, this total unknown? sondheim' s astonishing arrival seemed a melodramatic deus ex machina. in fact, like most overnight discoveries, he had served a long and rigorous apprenticeship.
six by sondheim is an hbo television documentary which pays tribute to broadway composer and lyricist stephen sondheim . the film was directed and co-produced by james lapine , based on an idea by frank rich and " centers on the backstory of six great sondheim songs . " 
six by sondheim is an hbo television documentary which pays tribute to broadway composer and lyricist stephen sondheim. the film was directed and co-produced by james lapine, based on an idea by frank rich and " centers on the backstory of six great sondheim songs. "
six by sondheim is an hbo television documentary which pays tribute to broadway composer and lyricist stephen sondheim. the film was directed and co-produced by james lapine, based on an idea by frank rich and " centers on the backstory of six great sondheim songs. "