Angela Lansbury Says Sondheim Put Her on the Musical Theatre Map

Angela Lansbury will receive the Stephen Sondheim Award in Washington this Monday. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Lansbury said she had never even considered performing in musicals until being approached by Arthur Laurents and Sondheim for Anyone Can Whistle.

"I thought, 'God! I'd never entertained the idea of doing a musical.' But they came out, and I sang for them...On the basis of that, I went to Broadway."

Lansbury has performed in a number of Sondheim musicals throughout her career, including Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Anyone Can Whistle, and the current revival of A Little Night Music. Regarding the role of Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Lansbury said she received a telegram from Sondheim asking if she would be interested in the role. "I sent a telegram back, saying, 'Was it the story of Sweeney Todd, or the story of Nellie Lovett?' " After hearing Lovett's song, The Worst Pies in London, she thought, "This is something I'd have a lot of fun doing."

To read the full article from the Washington Post, click here.

Academy Award-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones, five-time Tony Award®-winner Angela Lansbury and Olivier Award-nominee Alexander Hanson star in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony Award-winning masterpiece A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, directed by Tony Award®-winner Trevor Nunn. The production opened on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street).

The performing cast on the 2010 A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC cast album includes Catherine Zeta-Jones as Desirée Armfeldt, Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt, Alexander Hanson as Fredrik Egerman, Aaron Lazar as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, Erin Davie as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Leigh Ann Larkin as Petra, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka as Henrik Egerman and Ramona Mallory as Anne Egerman. The cast also includes Stephen R. Buntrock, Bradley Dean, Katherine Leigh Doherty, Marissa McGowan, Betsy Morgan, Jayne Paterson, Kevin David Thomas, Keaton Whittaker.

Based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night, A Little Night Music is set in a weekend country house in late 19th century Sweden, bringing together surprising liaisons, long simmering passions, and a taste of love's endless possibilities. The story centers on the elegant actress Desirée Armfeldt (Zeta-Jones) and the spider's web of sensuality, intrigue, and desire that surrounds her. The Sondheim score features one of the composer's best-known songs, "Send in the Clowns," as well as "Every Day a Little Death," "The Miller's Son," and "A Weekend in the Country."

Trevor Nunn's production of A Little Night Music debuted to critical acclaim at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2008 and subsequently transferred to the West End, where it played a successful limited engagement through July 25, 2009.

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's previous Nonesuch recordings include Into the Woods (2002), The Frogs / Evening Primrose (2001), Saturday Night (2000), Bounce (2004), Sweeney Todd (Broadway production, 2006; motion picture soundtrack, 2007). His previous PS Classics recordings include the Broadway premieres of Assassins (2004) and The Frogs (2005), the London revival of Sunday in the Park With George (2006), and two discs devoted to his private demo recordings, Sondheim Sings. PS Classics and Nonesuch have previously collaborated on cast recordings of Company (2007) and Road Show (2009).

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Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski