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FLASH SPECIAL: Sondheim By The Decade, Part 2 - 1970s & 1980s

By: Dec. 25, 2014
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The feature film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved fairy tale musical INTO THE WOODS is coming to movie theaters nationwide on Christmas Day and BroadwayWorld celebrates the man behind the music and lyrics with a new series highlighting the work of the iconic composer and lyricist, continuing today with a look at his work in the 1970s and 1980s.

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- Follies (1971)
- A Little Night Music (1973)
- The Frogs (1974)
- Pacific Overtures (1976)
- Side by Side by Sondheim (1977)
- Sweeney Todd (1979)
- Merrily We Roll Along (1981)
- Sunday in the Park with George (1984)
- Into the Woods (1987)

Side By Side By Side

Let's take a look at some of the highpoints from Stephen Sondheim's musicals of the 1970s and 1980s.

First up, INTO THE WOODS hits movie theaters this Christmas.

Revisit COMPANY via must-see documentary ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY.

Next, Sondheim and company promote FOLLIES with David Frost.

Now, Glynis Johns recreates "Send In The Clowns" from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

Check out the movie trailer for THE LAST OF SHEILA.

Experience the complete original Broadway PACIFIC OVERTURES.

SWEENEY TODD marked the high point in the Sondheim/Prince partnership.

Lastly, INTO THE WOODS evidenced Sondheim's multi-generational appeal.

As a special bonus, preview the feature film version of INTO THE WOODS in this stunning clip.

What is your favorite work from Sondheim's most productive period? Furthermore, what song stands out above all the rest for you, personally? With a spate of shows this wide-ranging, Sondheim definitely proved his versatility during this vital and exciting time in his career.

For more information on the Christmas Day release of INTO THE WOODS in movie theaters nationwide, visit the official site here. Be sure to stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for all things INTO THE WOODS until then!

Also, check back soon for the final entry in this series, focusing on Stephen Sondheim's musicals in the 1990s and 2000s.

Photo Credits: Dreamworks, etc.


The Glamorous Life

While the 1950s found Stephen Sondheim establishing himself as a lyricist of prominence and racking up considerable accomplishments early on in his career, the 1960s saw him expanding his horizons as a songwriter of both music and lyrics for one gigantic hit and one unfortunate flop. By the dawn of the 1970s, Sondheim was poised to present his most innovative and daring work to date, in the form of revolutionary concept musical COMPANY, imaginatively depicting the various married couples and girlfriends populating the life of a bachelor celebrating his 35th birthday and featuring a book by George Furth - a sure thematic pre-cursor to the iconic Baker and his Wife in INTO THE WOODS. Showcasing direction by Harold Prince and musical staging by wunkerkind Michael Bennett, COMPANY would mark the first of several collaborations with Prince throughout the decade and contribute to establishing the pair as the foremost team in musical theatre at the time to continually create sophisticated, adult musicals on a number of uniquely arresting themes. COMPANY certainly began the era in a remarkable way, taking home a slew of Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Direction Of A Musical, Best Music, Best Lyrics and more. It is also instructive to note that Sondheim first teamed with orchestrator Jonathan Tunick on COMPANY, a fruitful, multi-decade partnership that would continue all the way to INTO THE WOODS onscreen, with Tunick providing rich new orchestrations to complement the assured musical direction of fellow frequent Sondheim interpreter Paul Gemignani, both of whom worked extensively with Sondheim throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and, now re-team on bringing INTO THE WOODS to the screen.

Although COMPANY was a game-changer that dissected the contemporary wants, woes and general zeitgeist of the time, the next project embarked upon on Sondheim and Prince was even more risky and adventurous in its nature - FOLLIES, boasting a book by James Goldman. Regarded by many theatre fans as a high-point in Sondheim's oeuvre, FOLLIES examined the past and the present through the prism of a showgirl reunion set on the eve of a landmark theater's demolition, with the ghosts of the past and the present cropping up throughout the evening and ultimately leading to a wildly inventive phantasmagoria erupting as a result, thereby giving way to an actual idealized recreation of the Ziegfeld-esque productions presented by many of the participants decades before, when they were younger, happier, and, perhaps, more harmonious. Marriage proved to be more than merely solid thematic fodder for both COMPANY and FOLLIES, but both musicals are about much more than that - as a matter of fact, FOLLIES is an examination of an entire era of show business. And, a brilliant one. Furthermore, if INTO THE WOODS proves to be the success onscreen that many pundits are predicting, could a cinematic realization of FOLLIES be far behind? INTO THE WOODS director Rob Marshall himself has recently confirmed that he is intrigued by the prospect, to say the least. After all, as INTO THE WOODS itself posits, "Wishes come true / Not free."

Following the concept musical COMPANY and the elegiac and elusive FOLLIES, Sondheim and Prince next set out to musicalize a charming Ingmar Bergman cinematic comedy, SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, titled A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Sondheim, Prince and bookwriter Hugh Wheeler refashioned the story to center even more on Desiree, an elegant actress who contemplates rekindling a distant romance with a well-meaning lawyer who has found himself with a teenage bride and unable to consummate the relationship. Of course, this central dramatic conceit gave way to one of Sondheim's most treasured and popular tunes - perhaps the most ubiquitous of them all - in the tear-jerking, melancholy "Send In The Clowns". The score is also notable for its use of waltzes - each and every song having been derived from the waltz time signature. Notably, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Sondheim once again received Best Original Score, while trophies were also taken home by Hugh Wheeler, Glynis Johns, Patricia Elliott and Florence Klotz. As an illuminating sidenote, a special Sondheim easter egg exists in the new INTO THE WOODS film in the form of a winking musical homage to the enchanting "Night Waltz" theme from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC during the sequence depicting Cinderella's arrival at the ball.

Hot on the heels of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Sondheim branched out into even more unusual territory with a musical based on the Aristophanes classical comedy THE FROGS, written with Burt Shevelove and originally presented in the Yale swimming pool - boasting a cast that included a young Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver, among others, no less. Additionally, Sondheim also collaborated with Anthony Perkins on an original screenplay for the stylish murder mystery film THE LAST OF SHEILA during this time, which was directed by Herbert Ross. After all, as INTO THE WOODS proves, Sondheim is as affectionate in his attentive love for film as he is for theatre - and he has shown it time and time again with his myriad of onscreen efforts. Then, the next major stage musical of the 1970s that Sondheim presented on Broadway was once again directed by Prince and once again broached a topic and theme never before seen on the Great White Way - the Westernization of Japan by Commodore Perry, named PACIFIC OVERTURES. Premiering in the same season as both A CHORUS LINE and CHICAGO, one of Sondheim's most intellectual and poetic pieces failed to garner the popular and critical acclaim of his previous works in this decade, yet it contains Sondheim's own self-professed favorite composition to date, the multi-layered "Someone In A Tree". Nevertheless, PACIFIC OVERTURES signaled the first teaming with Paul Gemignani as conductor - a friendship and partnership that would continue all the way to the movie musical edition of INTO THE WOODS decades later.

Ending the era on a major high note, Sondheim and Prince reached the height of their collaboration with their final musical of the 1970s - the scary, searing and flawless SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. Having gone on to become one of Sondheim's most popular and oft-produced musicals, the tale of a vengeful barber in Victorian England provided ample drama for Sondheim to translate into his most operatic score to date. Subsequently, SWEENEY TODD took home a boatload of Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. As history would have it, this would mark the arguable artistic high-point of the Sondheim/Prince artistic partnership, and, though they began the next decade together as partners, Sondheim would end it having found a new creative artist with whom to expand the form of musical theatre even further - visual artist and playwright James Lapine.

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was the unfortunate flop and the final Sondheim/Prince musical on Broadway, which gave way to Sondheim seeking out a new collaborator in James Lapine, who, along with Sondheim, created the pointillism-themed musical SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE a few years later. A pointillist musical about a painter in Paris, Georges Seurat, SUNDAY was the exact opposite of the reverse-chronology show business saga inherent in MERRILY in its mood, intent and overall style. Also, the musical went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the only Sondheim piece to receive such a prestigious honor to date. Going from the height of sophistication with such an erudite artistic examination all the way to the cherished, familiar fairy tales beloved by children and adults alike around the world, INTO THE WOODS would allow Sondheim to create yet another score of melodic richness and incredible psychological depth after that, while also showing clear evidence that he could craft a family-friendly entertainment that could be enjoyed by all generations, too. The Disney-produced INTO THE WOODS feature film coming to theaters this Christmas is undoubtedly the most mainstream and mainstage entertainment event in the Sondheim canon since Tim Burton's SWEENEY TODD film adaptation in 2007, and, given the winsome, relatable material, it has the potential to introduce the words and music of one of America's greatest artists to the entire world - and an entirely new generation.




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