BWW Exclusive: Stephen Sondheim Drops Hint About New Musical with David Ives!

As Broadwayworld reported earlier, the London Evening Standard broke the news that Stephen Sondheim and David Ives have teamed up on a new musical, which is currently in the earliest phases of composition. According to the Standard: "Sondheim speaks of pushing forward and says he has "20 or 30 minutes" written of a new musical that he is collaborating on with American playwright David Ives, a New York regular little known in London." 

Sondheim did not supply any additional specifics on the subject matter of the musical or production timeline aspirations. 

BroadwayWorld tracked down the music man, who exclusively revealed to us that: "it's an idea I've had for a long time and that it springs indirectly from a moment in a play of David's."

Which play of Ives do you think inspired Sondheim?

David Ives is currently represented on Broadway with Venus in Fur, starring Hugh Dancy and Nina Arianda. Ives is additionally the book writer of Irving Berlin's White Christmas and Dance of the Vampires, and has adapted Is He Dead and Wonderful Town for Broadway. He is a regular book adapter for the Encores! Broadway series. He is also the author of All in the Timing, which originated as an evening of one-act comedies that premiered at Primary Stages in 1993 and later moved to the John Houseman Theatre for 606 performances. The production won him the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Playwriting. 

Living legend Stephen Sondheim is the winner of one Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. His most famous scores include A Little Night Music, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins. He additionally wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. Film contributions include contributing the song "Goodbye For Now" to the 1981 Warren Beatty film Reds, and five songs for the 1990 movie Dick Tracy, including Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man), which won the Academy Award for Best Song.