White. A-blank-page-or-canvas. So-many-possibilities. Sunday in the Park with George I have long been fascinated with Sondheim’s lyrics, writings, and musicals. They help bring alive an inspiring sense of a deeply human relational, moving, and contingent world stuffed full of everyday precariousness and ambiguity. Here we can sense negotiated social structures formed through fragile human beings…
Category: Musicals
Art and Photos, Books, Articles & Research, Insipirations, Living Humanity, Musicals, Poems and Poetics
MOURNING SONDHEIM: PART 2 – CHANGING THE MUSICAL
It has become a cliché that Sondheim was a powerhouse of change for the contemporary musical in the last half of the twentieth century. He remade it anew, brought fresh possibilities, gave it a new prominence – and, not least, he gave it a wider credibility as an art form. There were many earlier people…
Art and Photos, Insipirations, Living Humanity, Musicals, Poems and Poetics, Sociological Imaginations
MOURNING SONDHEIM: 1 Sondheim Dies
Stephen Sondheim died on Friday November 26th, aged 91. A musical Giant for our times. The shaper of the modern musical. My guru. He has been with me as inspiration and muse these last fifty years and it is a sad day. I hope to write some reflections on him before too long. (For the…
Working: Marvellous Old Musical Reworked
This is a great summer for the musical revivals in London: An American in Paris, 42nd Street, Carousel, On the Town. They have all been wonderful productions. And Oklahoma still to come in August in the Proms. But off centre a bit, a marvellous new production of Working has opened at the Southwark Playhouse (…
On Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide – A review
On Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide By Ethan Mordden Oxford University Press, New York; xiii, 186 (pp216) ISBN 978-0199394814 Published January 21st 2016 Stephen Sondheim has been the mover and shaker of the modern musical for the past half-century. Widely honoured and celebrated, his work flags how the musical has evolved and become celebrated as…
Hey Old Friend! An 85th Birthday Tribute to Stephen Sondheim
I have long been a fan of Stephen Sondheim. I first encountered him back in the 1960’s, but my love affair was sealed with Merrily We Roll Along in the early 80’s. And so we roll on….. And last Sunday I found myself at a rally of Sondheimites at the Drury Lane Theatre Royal to celebrate…
Two New British Musicals: Union, Southwark and Mercury, Colchester.
And now: for my 160th blog, something completely different……. The White Feather and The Smallest Show on Earth Last week I had the joy of seeing not one but two brand new British musicals. One was at the tiny Union Theatre in Southwark – a dramatic tale of the First World…
Gypsy: A Must Musical
I first saw Gypsy the night I got my PhD back in 1973! It starred Angela Lansbury and I was bowled over. The music by Jules Styne and the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim made me life long fans of both. I have seen it quite a few times since, and most notably with…
Dogfight: New Summer Musical
This has been a good summer for the great classic musicals: Kiss Me Kate at the Proms; Guys and Doll at Chichester; Porgy and Bess at Regent’s Park- all wonderful experiences. But the little surprise of the summer has been Dogfight. The story line – of marines off for a weekend in San Francisco…
Candide: From Voltaire to Bernstein and Sondheim
I first encountered Voltaire’s witty and scatty satire Candide when I was at school ( it was a set text for A level); and it has stayed with me. Not least because of the glorious musical by Lenny Bernstein ( with lyrics by Sondheim) that he wrote in the 1950’s. Initially a flop, it has…