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FLASH SPECIAL: Sondheim By The Decade, Part 3 - 1990s & 2000s

By: Dec. 26, 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, finishing today with a look at his work in the 1990s and 2000s.

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- Assassins (1990)
- Putting it Together (1993)
- Passion (1994)
- Bounce (2003)
- The Frogs (2004)
- Road Show (2008)
- Sondheim on Sondheim (2010)
- A Bed and A Chair (2013)

Water Under The Bridge

Let's take a look at some of the highlights of Stephen Sondheim's work in the 1990s and 2000s.

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

See ASSASSINS hit its target on the Tony Awards.

Next, PASSION is overflowing with painterly love and care.

ROAD SHOW is the most recent Sondheim original musical.

DICK TRACY boasted several showstoppers, but this takes the cake.

Now, one of several remarkable new songs for THE FROGS 2004.

Get a glimpse at the first of three Sondheim revues, PUTTING IT TOGETHER.

Also, the sophisticated SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM.

Plus, last year's jazzy A BED AND A CHAIR.

What is your absolute favorite Sondheim musical of his latter era? Furthermore, what musical of his would you like to see make its way to the silver screen next? With INTO THE WOODS poised to introduce the words and music of one of America's greatest artists to a whole new generation later this month, the time is absolutely right to, in quoting SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, "Give us more to see."

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!

Photo Credits: Disney, Roundabout Theatre Company, City Center


Sooner Or Later

Stephen Sondheim had already given voice to street thugs, domineering mothers, strippers, Roman clowns, insane asylum inmates, contemporary 1970s New York City urbanites, 1940s showgirls, Swedish aristocrats, historical Japanese figures, a murderous Victorian London barber, disillusioned creative artists, the denizens of a Parisian park in 1886 and a plethora of famous fairy tale characters prior to embarking on ASSASSINS with John Weidman as 1990 dawned. Nevertheless, ASSASSINS proved to be Sondheim's most daring, controversial and idiosyncratic musical to date - and justifiably so. About as far from INTO THE WOODS as was possible. While the musical began Off-Broadway and took more than a decade before it reached the Great White Way, when it did it was fully realized in Joe Mantello's absorbing, multi-Tony Award-winning staging. Incidentally, musicalizing America's most notorious murderous misfits chronologically then led to one of Sondheim's most commercial projects to date - supplying songs for Warren Beatty's DICK TRACY feature film. Though Sondheim had previously provided musical material for films such as STAVISKY, THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION and Beatty's own REDS prior to that time, DICK TRACY provided the chance for him to pen a handful of character numbers to add color and texture to the comic book world crafted by the actor and filmmaker. The result? Sondheim took home an Academy Award for Best Song thanks to Madonna's scintillating turn as Breathless Mahoney singing the sexy torch number "Sooner Or Later".

PASSION came next in 1994, depicting the unusual romance between a dashing 19th century soldier and an ill, housebound paramour - starring Donna Murphy, who would go on to be featured in Disney's own Rapunzel-themed animated musical TANGLED. The show went on to win Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book and Best Actress In A Musical, among others. Intriguingly, Sondheim was developing the feature film of INTO THE WOODS during this period, as well, with all-star casts headlining readings under director Penny Marshall - including such illustrious participants as Cher, Robin Williams, Goldie Hawn, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Roseanne and many more. Unfortunately, both attempts at realizing a big screen adaptation of INTO THE WOODS during the 1990s failed to reach fruition, making the release of the Rob Marshall film this Christmas a true cause celebre for fans who have been waiting more than 20 years. For his next stage musical, Sondheim turned his primary attention to adapting the tumultuous tale of real-life brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner into the historical panorama of a musical comedy first titled WISE GUYS under director Sam Mendes, then GOLD and also BOUNCE with Hal Prince in the director's chair, and, finally, ROAD SHOW in its final iteration as presented by John Doyle Off-Broadway earlier this century. Although Sondheim himself admits that perhaps he spent too much time on the show when all is said and done, the various drafts and astute observations on the multiple rewrites of the material and for what purpose are a fascinating and revealing component of Sondheim's second volume of his two-book autobiographical series of lyric collections, titled LOOK, I MADE A HAT, coming after the first volume in the series, FINISHING THE HAT. Certainly, Sondheim's attentive work on those extensive literary resources should prove invaluable to future generations, to boot. Of course, FINISHING THE HAT is a treasure trove of a tome for INTO THE WOODS fans, overflowing with cut songs, alternate lyrics and a plethora of insight into the creation of the show by Sondheim himself, making it a must-own for INTO THE WOODS enthusiasts new and old. Instructive to note, as well, is that in the same book Sondheim also presents a song originally specifically written for the 1990s film adaptation of INTO THE WOODS, "Rainbows" - a duet for the Baker and his Wife - which was later presented as part of the musical revue A BED AND A CHAIR, performed by original INTO THE WOODS Witch herself, Bernadette Peters, along with Norm Lewis.

Sondheim also had a hand in three notable Broadway revues of his work beginning at the turn of the new century, first with the Carol Burnett-led five-hander PUTTING IT TOGETHER in 1999 and then with the autobiographical career overview SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM in 2010. Last year, Sondheim and jazz legend Wynton Marsalis presented an alluring new look at much of his material, a significant portion of it lesser-known, in the guise of the City Center revue A BED AND A CHAIR starring Bernadette Peters. Historically, the first Sondheim revue to appear on Broadway was SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM in 1977. Of course, Broadway has also hosted a wide array of revivals of Sondheim's work since the millennium, as well, ranging from the aforementioned ASSASSINS to actors-as-musicians John Doyle takes on SWEENEY TODD and COMPANY, a Noh re-examination of PACIFIC OVERTURES, multiple NY Philharmonic stagings of SWEENEY TODD as well as an electric COMPANY - the latter which was also shown in movie theaters, as was an innovative West End production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG directed by Maria Friedman - and a starry revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC led by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. Plus, who could forget the rousing revivals of GYPSY starring Bernadette Peters, and, later, Patti LuPone, as well as the Spanish-flecked WEST SIDE STORY revival? Additionally, fan favorite INTO THE WOODS was revived first in 2002 starring Vanessa Williams, winning Best Revival, then as part of the Public Theater's Shakespeare-In-The-Park with Amy Adams and Donna Murphy. A new production of INTO THE WOODS is scheduled to come to New York later this season, too, just in time for potential new fans of the Disney movie musical edition of the property arriving later this month to have a chance to see it live onstage.

So, what's next? Besides working closely with his collaborators in bringing both SWEENEY TODD and INTO THE WOODS to the screen in new cinematic versions of the respective classic source material, Sondheim has recently revealed preliminary details on a brand new project: a musicalization of the lauded French films THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL and THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, both by Luis Bunuel, along with bookwriter David Ives. Of course, a fully-realized movie musical screenplay written with William Goldman for the Hollywood and pop music-centric SINGING OUT LOUD still unfortunately remains unproduced, as well. Given his extensive additions to THE FROGS for the new Susan Stroman production of the Grecian farce in 2004, perhaps another small-scale project will find its way to the stage with a more fully-fleshed out score some season soon, as well - EVENING PRIMROSE or DICK TRACY, perhaps? Both seem destined to be attempted onstage given their rich source material and outwardly theatrical original iterations, so to have the master personally involved in the potential adaptations would be music to all of our ears. Plus, a new Sondheim nugget lies in wait ready for the DVD edition of INTO THE WOODS - the brand new Meryl Streep showcase, "She'll Be Back". There are many secrets hidden in the woods, clearly - more right now than ever before.




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