Growing up, Oscar Hammerstein II, one half of the legendary Rodgers and Hammerstein duo, acted as a surrogate father to Sondheim, so it’s no surprise his early years on Broadway were spent as a lyricist. To mark the 80th birthday of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim in 2010, Playbill.com asked Broadway songwriters to do the impossible—pick their favorite songs … Alright then, one of the best things that's happened to me. Together they created “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Pacific Overtures” and “Merrily We Roll Along." Watch: Lin-Manuel Miranda talks to Aedin Gormley. The rousing and emotional final number in Company, Stephen Sondheim's blistering critique of traditional relationship structures, Being Alive is the moment when bachelor Bobby finally embraces his desire to love and be loved. His first Broadway show where he was billed as both composer and lyricist was “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” starring Zero Mostel. The song becomes a chilling illustration of blind ambition. Nothing brings people together like live performance, or, in the case of Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90 th Birthday Celebration, waiting for … Sondheim and Lapine were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and Sunday is one of only nine musicals to win this award. In the 80s and 90s the music man collaborated with book writer and director James Lapine to create “Sunday in the Park with George”, “Into the Woods” and “Passion." Inspired by the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel, this musical centres on a baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family. Loving Sondheim is not a choice. Sunday in the Park with George is a musical with music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by James Lapine - it's a brilliant artistic achievement. RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's National Public Service Media. MOTs Are Virtually Gathering to Celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 90th Birthday in Song. Sondheim’s protagonist, Bobby (who is to be played by a woman, Katrina Lenk, in the latest Broadway revival, which was due to open on Sondheim’s birthday) bobs along on a surface of cocktail parties and flings without forging any emotional bonds with anyone and cannot understand the source of his disaffection. Everything's Coming Up Roses (Gypsy) – Imelda Staunton. A superstar celebration of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim, "Take Me to the World," will stream live on April 26. Broadway stars celebrate Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday with a performance for the ages An all-star web tribute to Broadway's greatest living composer is worth staying in place for. Meryl Streep, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald and many others will be on hand. We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Meryl Streep, Audra McDonald, and Christine Baranski singing in robes and nursing drinks were among the highlights of Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday celebration on Sunday. You are the best thing that ever has happened to me. Meáin Náisiúnta Seirbhíse Poiblí na hÉireann. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning (“I’ll drink to that!”) to bring you this compendium of 22 of our favorite Stephen Sondheim performances. It was just a brief moment, he was lovely. As he approaches his 90th Birthday, Sondheim is everywhere! 0 videos remaining. I am staying with Company as Madeline Kahn's rendition of this song portraying the reluctant bride is just priceless! In a special virtual concert, titled Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, more than 20 powerhouse performers are uniting to sing songs of inspiration from the Sondheim catalog. Stephen Sondheim just turned 90 years old and what way to celebrate this than with a lineup of stars in “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration”, an online tribute concert live-streamed via Broadway.com. Directed by Paul Wontorek. It remains one of my favourite musicals. Stephen Sondheim’s 90th-Birthday Delayed Due To Technical Difficulties. NEW YORK - Stephen Sondheim, also known as “GOD” to musical fans, turned ninety years old on Sunday. This song was conceived as Sondheim’s psychotic notion of a patter song to simulate the sensation of having a mental breakdown. Our new Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Agony (Into the Woods) - Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen. The legendary Ethel Merman first sang this song, and you need a 'belter' for it. We’re celebrating musical theater icon Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday in an unprecedented fashion. What a joy it was to watch wonderful Broadway actors sing Sondheim's wonderful songs, made even more delightful by seeing Sondheim's reactions to them. © RTÉ 2020. Sondheim’s score is one of his darkest and most complex. If you are a big fan, I trust I have included some of your favourites. Log in for unlimited access. You could hear a pin drop when Marin Mazzie sang Losing My Mind and it remains for me, THE version of this song. Sondheim redefined the Broadway musical form, giving us glorious melodies with lyrics that are so clever that the man himself wrote two books about them. This is a hidden gem, a gorgeous duet from one of Sondheim's lesser-known musicals. This was Adam Driver’s Sondheim number in Marriage Story, a wonderful choice and brilliantly performed by Driver. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Themes of racism set against a tragic love story where we see how things can go so wrong, in an instant. Sondheim songs are not easy songs to learn, to interpret, to understand and so they require hugely talented singers to do them justice. They say never meet your heroes, but when I met Stephen Sondheim in New York at his 80th Birthday concert ten years ago, I was not disappointed. The legend himself will be toasted with an all-star birthday concert, streaming live on Sunday, April 26th, 2020, at 8 p.m. So, a Sondheim playlist... how will I do this? I particularly love Company as it was the first Sondheim musical I saw on Broadway, and this song always stops me in my tracks. Sondheim's big break came when he wrote the lyrics for West Side Story with composer Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein’s melodies are to die for and Sondheim’s lyrics add character, humour and deep emotion. I am staying with Sondheim as lyricist, this time working with Jule Styne for this fantastic song from the 1959 musical Gypsy. Elaine Stritch made The Ladies who lunch her own, there is nobody to touch her singing it but the same goes for her rendition of I’m Still Here on this recording from her one-woman show Elaine Stritch – At Liberty. Sondheim called Sweeney Todd, 'a musical thriller' and due to its sparse non-sung dialogue, virtually an opera. Aedín Gormley celebrates Stephen Sondheim's 90th Birthday on Movies and Musicals – Sat 22nd March from 1-4pm on RTE lyric fm. It's who we are. As he approaches his 90th Birthday, Sondheim is everywhere! National Veterans and Military Families Month, The New York Congressional Delegation Project, California Consumer Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Widely considered the greatest living theater composer and lyricist in the world, the master writer was supposed to celebrate his big day with the Broadway opening of his show "Company," but due to the mandatory coronavirus shutdown the revival is on hiatus with The Great White Way completely dark. “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration,” was a show queen’s dream assembly, a delirium of divas and a marshaling of Tony-winning sorcery. Jake Glyenhaal really impresses in the most recent recording, but Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters were super on the original cast recording. by Paul Wontorek • Mar 21, 2015. His hit song Send In the Clowns was used in Joker, and even Daniel Craig was humming along to Sondheim’s Losing My Mind in Knives Out. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Musical Theater Legend Stephen Sondheim Celebrates 90th Birthday By Frank DiLella New York City PUBLISHED 7:46 AM ET Mar. So many great songs to choose from, so many great musicals including Company, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd and more. A crucial investigation. Over the course of his career he’s been honored with dozens of awards including eight Tonys, eight Grammys, and an Academy Award for the song “Sooner or Later” from the film “Dick Tracy." How the Sondheim 90th-birthday concert came together, as told by Raúl Esparza, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, and Paul Wontorek. Getting Married Today (Company) - Madeline Kahn. Josh Groban, Nathan Lane and Jake Gyllenhaal honored composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim on Sunday with an online 90th-birthday concert that was stuffed with his songs… I have not included all of his musicals and some musicals feature twice. Whether one is playing catch-up or playing favorite tracks for the zillionth time, it can be a rewarding binge. We use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Check Out Our List of Your 85 Best Songs! View All. Sutton Foster was the first to sing, picking “There Won’t Be Trumpets” and her young daughter, Emily, wished Sondheim a happy birthday at the end. I was completely and utterly blown away by Imelda Staunton’s performance in the 2015 London production. With Iain Armitage, Jaqueline Arnold, Annaleigh Ashford, Kate Baldwin. We use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Happy Birthday, Stephen Sondheim! Follies will also be adapted for the screen, directed by Dominic Cooke, and Jake Gyllenhaal is about to star in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George in London this summer, having starred in this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical on Broadway. If Elaine Stritch owns The Ladies Who Lunch, then Bernadette owns Not a Day Goes By, her devastating performance of this song is heartbreaking. I'm Still Here (Follies) – Elaine Stritch. In 1970 he teamed up with director Harold Prince and book writer George Furth to debut "Company," a musical centered around a bachelor named Bobby stuck at the crossroads of being single or being in a relationship. It premiered on Broadway in March of 1979 in a production that starred Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou. Listen to the epic Movies & Musicals Sondheim Special below: We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Watch Now. This is a super celebration, indeed. James Lapine had a taste for the avant-garde and Sondheim again showed his amazing versatility. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences. Features . 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