Stephen Sondheim Collaborating With David Ives on New Musical

[Almira]

"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."

I think the critical words in the quote are "indirectly" and "moment."

An entirely original idea can be gleaned from a single moment in a play. A perfect example is Billy Wilder developing the idea for THE APARTMENT from the last minute of a scene from BRIEF ENCOUNTER.

Edit:

Perhaps I missing some inside "jab" at AfterEight.

[EricMontreal22]

Almira I think that was a jibe--in the Original Musical Theatre comment.

It's pretty assuredly not Groundhog Day I would gather--while I thought that had some potential it seemed an odd fit for Sondheim (he has said the reason he stopped work on shows like Muscle is he realized they needed a contemporary sounding score which he felt someone younger and who knew pop music post Beatles--remember Sondheim admits he barely even knows the Beatles though that recent interview where he's asked to listen to some of their classics and comment was fascinating. I can't really picture Groundhog Day with a sound that didn't at least work partly as sounding like, well pop.

(Besides in his CBC radio interview for Finishing the Hat last year he said the Groundhog project was completely dead and burried--something I think he said in other interviews).

At any rate, I'm THRILLED. I haven't liked everything by Ives I know (and I don't even know his work for Dance of the Vampired), but I really think this could be a great collaboration. Does he mean he's composed 30-40 minutes of *music*? Isn't that at least 1/4 of what the score would be, at least in workshops? (OK< I'm just jumping the gun because I'm not going to be patient enough to wait another year to hear any more details...)

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

being the SONDHEIMMANIAC that i am, i am over the moon with this news...Eric...i can't wait that long either...:)

[blaxx]

being the SONDHEIMMANIAC that i am, i am over the moon with this news

What a witty term! You should submit it to the Urban Dictionary.

[Amalia Balash]

I'm thrilled at this news. Just please reassure me that David Ives never wrote a word about anyone named Mizner.

[gvendo2005]

Well, he did write a word or two about Krolock...

[PalJoey]

I don't care what it is, I'm just glad he's doing it.

[GlindatheGood22]

I'll drink to that.

[ljay889]

The musical is called ALL TOGETHER NOW.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about it following a similar structure to MERRILY.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Stephen-Sondheim-Reveals-New-Details-on-David-Ives-Collaboration-ALL-TOGETHER-NOW-20120305

[Jordan Catalano]

a musical following the relationship of two people that that goes backwards. Let me think if anything like that has been done in the last five years....


Anyways, this is Sondheim. What he starts with and ends up with are always two completely different things. In two years this musical will be called "All 'dem whores!" and center around a 19th century London Madame trying to raise money with her "girls" to keep the whore house open after Jack the Ripper scares away most of the clientele and they face having to close their doors.

[dreaming]

Jordan-I thought the same exact thing when I read the description of the concept. It sounds like a reworking of The Last Five Years.

[jv92]

He started this with Terence McNally years ago. I guess he's finishing it with Ives.

[ljay889]

From Wikipedia

Sondheim, in 1991, was working with Terrence McNally on a musical entitled All Together Now. McNally said, "Steve was interested in telling the story of a relationship from the present back to the moment when the couple first met. We worked together a while, but we were both involved with so many other projects that this one fell through". The script, with concept notes by McNally and Sondheim, is archived in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The story follows Arden Scott, a 30-something female sculptor, and Daniel Nevin, a slightly younger, sexually charismatic restaurateur.

I wonder if it's really inspired (indirectly) from a moment in Ives' work?

[ljay889]

From Wikipedia

Sondheim, in 1991, was working with Terrence McNally on a musical entitled All Together Now. McNally said, "Steve was interested in telling the story of a relationship from the present back to the moment when the couple first met. We worked together a while, but we were both involved with so many other projects that this one fell through". The script, with concept notes by McNally and Sondheim, is archived in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The story follows Arden Scott, a 30-something female sculptor, and Daniel Nevin, a slightly younger, sexually charismatic restaurateur.

I wonder if it's really inspired (indirectly) from a moment in Ives' work?

[gvendo2005]

Someone call Jason Robert Brown, we've got a live one!