BWW Exclusive: Sondheim's 80th Birthday at Carnegie Hall - Aaron Lazar

2010 has been a landmark year for Stephen Sondheim. He celebrated his 80th Birthday on March 22nd, and has been honoured in many very special ways (including having a theatre named after him on Broadway). To close out the year, the last Sondheim celebration is happening on November 19th at Carnegie Hall, where Steven Reineke and the New York POPS have put together a special evening in his honour, featuring many of the great songs and music he has written through his career. Joining Mr. Reineke and the New York POPS are Kate Baldwin, Christiane Noll, Aaron Lazar and Alex Gemignani.

In a year that has seen two Broadway productions of Sondheim's work (Sondheim on Sondheim and the revival of A Little Night Music) what better way to end the birthday celebrations than by hearing Mr. Sondheim's amazing music with the backing of a full symphonic orchestra and a choir, and as sung by some of the leading talents to grace the Broadway stage in the last few years? BWW is thrilled to bring you exclusive interviews with each of the five main people involved in this special celebration, as they share with us stories of Stephen Sondheim and how his music has shaped their lives and careers.

Over the next week we will do our part to celebrate Stephen Sondheim by bringing you interviews with everyone involved. Today we are speaking with Aaron Lazar:

Congratulations on playing Carnegie Hall! How have rehearsals been going so far and how does it feel to be involved in something like this?

It's been great and so much fun. I think anytime you get to get together with the best of the best you can't ask for a better experience. It's something that you really look forward to - I mean, the New York POPS, Sondheim, Carnegie Hall - it's a dream come true.

You are the performer who has been seen most recently in a Sondheim piece on Broadway (A Little Night Music). Was it hard for you adjusting to performing his work on a much larger scale?

I did trip up on the Night Music stuff a little just because the show is still in my head from doing it 8 days a week. You get used to the dialogue and other bits that are taken away when we perform with the POPS. So I found I was coming in early or missing rhythms and things like that. It is very cool that I have the experience of doing A Little Night Music on Broadway as my first Sondheim show, and then to follow it up with this show that has a choir, orchestra and everything is quite amazing. That is the great thing about Sondheim, his music works on so many levels. From something completely minimal to the way Trevor Nunn has staged his shows with 8 piece musical accompaniment to huge symphonic Carnegie Hall performances - it's all wonderful.

What are you most excited to perform?

Right now I would have to say "Being Alive." A lot of the time when that song is performed in concert people only do the second half of the song. This is going to be a much bigger number and we are going to do the whole number. It is glorious and challenging with the New York POPS playing behind you. I remember singing it once before when I was auditioning before Sondheim on Sondheim came out and Stephen was literally about two feet away from me. I had never met him before and there I was singing this iconic piece for him! It doesn't get much scarier than that.

Everything I get to sing is great though. I get to do "Move On" with Christiane and I can't wait. There is some new stuff from Merrily I'm excited about and I'm doing "Agony" with Alex from Into the Woods. The more I rehearse and the more we perform these songs the more I'm learning. The score of Merrily for example is just amazing, that show really deserves a revival.

If you had to pick a favourite Sondheim show, what would it be?

That's so difficult, but I would say my favourite would have to be Sweeney Todd. I got into the business because of that show. As soon as I heard it I thought to myself "that's what I want to do." I remember seeing the original with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn and thinking it was fantastic.

This birthday concert is just such a huge honour to be part of a celebration of Sondheim's life. He has impacted so many people with his body of work and I don't feel like there are enough chances to truly say "thank you" and this is one of them. He was a big part of my making the decision to go into show business in the first place and a huge inspiration so it's nice to give something back.

Sondheim also changed my idea of what a musical can achieve and really raised the bar for me and gave me something to shoot for. So in a way, his music and his work set everything up for my future.

If you could play any part from any of his shows, which part would you want to play?

I would say Frank from Merrily We Roll Along is very high on the list, as is George from Passions.

Anything else that you are particularly excited about when it comes to this concert?

Actually, my brother is going to be singing with the choir who are joining us at Carnegie Hall. It's pretty amazing, both Lazar brothers on the same stage together and it's the stage at Carnegie Hall. He was actually the one who originally wanted to go into show business and I was going to go into medicine - we did a bit of a switch so it will be really special to perform on the same stage with him.

I think that whenever you get great people together and add in the New York POPS and Sondheim's music the potential for magic is extraordinary. I really can't wait.

When and Where?
Stephen Sondheim's 80th Birthday Celebration

Carnegie Hall
W 57th & Seventh Ave.; New York NY

November 19th, 2010 at 8PM

Select tickets still available and can be purchased by phone at 212-247-7800 or online at www.carnegiehall.org