SOUND OFF: Sondheim Palooza Part 4

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE & INTO THE WOODS

Interesting Questions

Today we are taking a listen to Stephen Sondheim's musicals of the 1980s, each a striking artistic achievement attempting to do something never done before in Broadway history and improving the very genre of musical theatre itself with his work on these three very different shows. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and INTO THE WOODS...

Work Is What You Do For Others, Art Is What You Do For Yourself

From one of his biggest flops with a minuscule run of sixteen performances, to a paradigm of perfect theatre that managed to win a Pulitzer Prize, as well as a fairy tale musical that asks what happens after "happily ever after," Sondheim's musicals of the 1980s are both a continuation of the breathtaking work he created with Hal Prince in the 70s as well as the composer/lyricist/dramatist branching out and flexing his musical, lyrical and dramatic muscles in new ways - and with new collaborators. While MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was not successful in its misguided, tacky original production, it has gone on to find a lot of fans over the years in no small part due to its magnificent score, perhaps Sondheim's most "hummable" since COMPANY. SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a work of staggering genius and one of only a handful of musicals to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which it received in 1985. INTO THE WOODS has one of the most perfect first acts of any musical, and the second act is so provocative in its themes and melody-rich in its music that the audience actually begins to care for cartoonish characters from fairy tale land who are little more than caricatures - or are they? Looking at these shows collectively we can perhaps steal a glimpse into the mind behind the masterpieces and begin to contemplate what a rare and praiseworthy achievement it was for Sondheim to continue to stretch the form in such radical ways when he very well could have rested on his considerable laurels following his string of successes in the 1970s that we discussed here in this column yesterday. As a character in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE says to the titular artist, last name: Seurat, "Give us more to see." And, boy oh boy, has Sondheim delivered us so much more to see. And hear...

Opening Doors

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

Based on Kaufmann & Hart's play of the same title and also using that show's backwards structure, MERRILY WE ROLL along is one of those problematic shows that cast album fans hate to love as much as they undoubtedly do. Truly, the show does not really work in performance because of the near-impossible casting conceit dictated by the structure of the show. Cast too young - as the original production did - and the first half of the show seems too bitter and hardened as played by young actors that are appropriate for the characters at the end of the show. Cast too old - as the York Theatre production did and off-Broadway revival, and also the otherwise quite excellent Kennedy Center production - and the naïveté and inexperience of the young characters as played by older actors comes across as quaint and cloying given their sweet, sentimental material (particularly in the since-excised "The Hills of Tomorrow" and the cutesy "Bobby and Jacky and Jack"). Speaking of rewrites, this show has gone through more than possibly any other show in Sondheim's repertoire, and, much like FOLLIES, each production reveals new highs and lows - oftentimes more of the former than the latter, I am happy to report. It is interesting to note that the director of the most successful of each of these productions was James Lapine, who, in the case of the second two shows also served as book-writer and director and in the case of MERRILY took the reigns as book-writer and director for the revised version of the show. Whatever the case - and whatever the cast - MERRILY deserves a couple spins on every serious cast album collector's turntable if only for Sondheim's magnetic, marvelous score and the exciting performance opportunities afforded by showstoppers like "Not A Day Goes By", "Franklin Shepard, Inc.", "Now You Know" and "Old Friends".

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - Original Broadway Cast Recording

SCORE: 10/10

The first Broadway show for Jason Alexander, Jim Walton, Lonny Price and Liz Callaway, the original cast of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was filled with up-and-coming talent and their youthful exuberance and vivacity informs nearly every single sung section of the wonderful Original Broadway Cast Recording by Sony Masterworks. The glorious digital remaster has fixed many of the original release's technical deficiencies and the wittily orchestrated score by Jonathan Tunick has never sounded more sparkling and sonically pleasing than it does here. In particular, I had never noticed the subtlety contemporary instrumentation of many sections of the orchestrations before this digital remaster, particularly the electric guitars and sound effects. This album was recorded the day after the show closed and it seems as though the performers are investing each and every moment with all they have got to give and the result is one of the most sizzling and in-the-moment cast recordings you are ever likely to hear. Alive and electric, without question. While the cast is not always the best-sung cast of any recording this show has gotten - certainly, that prize goes to the next recording on the roster - this may very well be the most compelling argument available for the power of a youthful cast versus a more mature one in performing this show. The new release of the recording also includes a fascinating demo recording of an earlier, much longer version "It's A Hit" performed by Stephen Sondheim himself. An essential, elementary entry in the collection of any serious Sondheim fan. It's a hit!

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - 1993 Leicester Cast Recording

SCORE: 3.5/10

This recording is an acquired taste, if you can call that bitter, bile-inducing bloom on this recording something resembling taste. What should have been a revelation, or at least an interesting curiosity considering it was the first recording of the score since the revised version of the show premiered in 1984 (and subsequently went unrecorded), is a confusing, poorly recorded missed opportunity. I am a big fan of Maria Friedman and, as we will see tomorrow in our discussion of the Original London Cast Recording of PASSION, I adore her earnest, committed and raw performances. While she is perhaps likeable here, she is capable of so much more. Evan Pappas is the only cast member to survive this near-atrocity relatively unscathed, giving a well-measured take on "Franklin Shepard, Inc." is far and away the highlight of this recording. As is the case with many Jay recordings, the whole affair is marred by a muddy, aural atmosphere that sucks the very life out of this lively, lilting, lovely score. A waste of two-discs, as well, considering the next recording we are discussing contains more material and manages to fit it all on one disc. This is a good example of how not to do a cast recording and it is not recommended even to the most die-hard fans, I am sorry to say.

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - 1994 Off-Broadway Revival Cast Recording

SCORE: 8.5/10

Vastly revised, and with a few strong new additions to the score, the 1994 Off-Broadway Revival Recording of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is perhaps the best representation of the show on disc, and also the most complete. Malcolm Gets makes the character of Frank work, and that alone is a huge feat worthy of praise for this always attractively sung performer. True, Adam Heller may not be the best-sung Charley (that would be Raul Esparza and it's a downright pity that production was not recorded), but his rapport with Gets and their Mary, Anne Bobby, is palpably warm and affectionate. If the trio of Frank, Charley and Mary do not gel properly, the whole show is thrown off-kilter and a large part of what makes this recording better than the others is due to the strong acting choices made by these stalwart performers. Michelle Pawk also gives a fun and funny take on her character, and "Growing Up" (which was added for this production) is ravishing and overflowing with pathos. So, too, is "Like It Was" particularly affecting on this recording as sung by Cass Morgan, and it is perhaps one of Sondheim's most underrated bittersweet gems with so much to say about relationships and love as it withers away. It is a credit to James Lapine, as well as this album's producer Bruce Kimmel, that the show flows so remarkably well here, striking just the right balance between sounding like a performance happening live in the theatre this very moment and a polished, practiced and well-rehearsed cast album. The miniscule type of the enclosed booklet is a minor gripe, but considering the other recordings eschew including them altogether I shall not harp on that too much. This is the best recording of the show for newcomers to the score, and a wonderful companion piece to the OBC for Sondheim collectors and theatre fans alike.

When They See On Their Sony Someone Handing A Phony A Tony

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is a curiosity in the Sondheim canon, and belongs in the company with FOLLIES as one of those brilliant scores that work better on a cast album than they perhaps ever have in actual performance in a theater. With a score containing so many sterling standout numbers and performance pieces containing everything from the aching yearning of "Not A Day Goes By" and "Good Thing Going" to the mature disillusionment of "Like It Was" to the snazzy snap-your-fingers sass of the title song and "Now You Know" to the youthful innocence and aura of enchantment evident in "Our Time" and "Old Friends", this is an impossibly dazzling score. Indeed, this is also one of Sondheim's most ear-catching and ingratiating scores, grabbing the listener and not letting go: from the first rapturous raps of the drums at the start of the Overture to the expertly realized twinkling sounds of Sputnik as it flies overhead at the show's conclusion. While few may cite MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG as their favorite Sondheim score, and certainly fewer still have found it to be their favorite of his shows in performance, it is more than worthy of a few listens for the non-acclimated among us. Is it a hit? No. Is it a winner? Yes, oh yes. Just as "nice is different than good," as we will soon learn with INTO THE WOODS, "good" is oftentimes much different than "hit" - as many long-running behemoths currently running on Broadway can attest. This show isn't merely good, it's great - and, anyway, what difference does hit or flop status make once the album is playing our CD players or Ipods? None.

Lesson #1

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE

The time(s): 1886 and 1986. The setting(s): A Sunday afternoon in Paris and a contemporary art exhibit one-hundred-years later. The connecting thread(s): Dot and dots. Just as dots when taken through the eye and rearranged in the synapses of the brain create the pictorial effect of pointillism when looking at a painting such as Seurat‘s masterpiece, so, too, does the presence of our heroine Dot and her great-granddaughter with the same name force us to come to terms with the plight of the artists at the center of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE: George himself and his great-grandson, also with the same name. The challenge? "Bring order to the whole", and Sondheim along with James Lapine, acting as book writer as well as director, did just that. It is a huge credit to the authors' incredible abilities that this show works as well as it does, because on paper - or, in this case, sketchpad - it seems impossible that it would. With some of Sondheim's richest compositions - many about the artistic process itself which one can safely assume is a topic very close to Sondheim's heart - the score for SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is totally unlike any score you have probably ever heard before, or are likely to hear again. A musical of many meta-narratives, even the music itself was based on the concept of pointillism, and the opening chords act as the basis for most, perhaps all, of the material in the show. And what glorious material it is!

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE - Original Broadway Cast Recording

SCORE: 10/10

One of the most technically polished and pristine cast recordings on the market, Sony Masterworks has another homerun on (tape)deck with SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. This score is an absolute pleasure to experience time and time again, each time allowing the listener to unearth nuances and subtleties not-yet unearthed thanks to Thomas Z. Shepard‘s perfect album production. Bernadette Peters is sublime in every way in perhaps her greatest role to date and holds our hearts in the palm of her hand with every note sung and sibilance spoken. Mandy Patinkin, as both Georges, not only gets into the head of the artist but actually makes us feel the plight of the creator and inventor - the frustration, euphoria, depression, madness and transcendence. More than anything else, the score for this show is otherworldly, and for theatre fans quite transcendental in its power. Has there ever been a more illusory explanation of the artistic process than "Finishing The Hat"? Has there even been a more moving eleventh-hour reunion than that of twentieth-century George and nineteenth -century Dot as on "Move On"? Has there ever been more sumptuous, spine-tingling choral work in a Sondheim piece than the putting-the-pieces-together musical paint-by-numbers Act One Finale, "Sunday"? The answer to all these is a resounding "No!", yet everything else about this recording is a definite "Yes!" A perfect recording of a perfect show.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE - 2006 London Revival Cast Recording

SCORE: 8.5/10

Given the ultra-unique nature of the show, it should not come as a surprise that investors and producers consider SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE to be a risky commercial venture, particularly in the era of jukebox musicals and movie musicalizations which have recently run rampant on Broadway and in the West End, so it to the Menier Chocolate Factory's credit that they produced this revival at their tiny theatre a few years ago at all. Using digital productions and directed by the lead actor himself, the small-scale production was a surprise hit and treated British audiences to an altogether new spin on the show for the digital age - and even came to Broadway for a stint. While it is an absolute travesty that the magnificently sung 1990 Royal National Theatre production starring Phillip Quast and Maria Friedman was not recorded, we should thank the theatre gods that this one was. Daniel Evans is a thoughtful and soft-spoken but slightly nebbish-y George and Jenna Russell is a sprightly, sassy Dot. While neither performer possesses the vocal timbre of Patinkin or Peters, they act the material so well and create such fully-dimensional performances on the lovingly produced cast album from PS Classics that it is hard to fault them. This 2-disc recording is more complete than the OBCR and even contains a fun, if unnecessary cut song at the end as well as a hearty helping of dialogue. Perhaps this recording is just as good as the original for those new to the material because it paints such a vivid picture of the show, but for the Sondheimaniacs among us there will always be one, and only one, recording of this score worth its weight in gold.

Art Isn't Easy

Like PACIFIC OVERTURES before it, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a difficult musical to get into for those completely unfamiliar with the show and Sondheim‘s 80s style, but once you have given yourself over to its dramatic power and intellectual ingenuity the process of getting to know it better becomes much easier, indeed - and, eventually, the search for deeper meanings reveals itself to be a true joy. As we will see with the next Sondheim/Lapine musical, sometimes it is the journey that is more valuable than the destination. SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is not the best show to break in a Sondheim neophyte with if only because it is so anomalous, but to know it is to love it and love it I do. A masterpiece of the highest order and perhaps, along with FOLLIES and ASSASINS, the very best musical of Sondheim's starry career.

Hello, Little World

INTO THE WOODS

Sondheim's biggest hit to date, INTO THE WOODS has something for everyone. While ostensibly a deconstruction and reconstruction of various characters from the stories of The Brothers Grimm, INTO THE WOODS is the most performed of any Sondheim show in regional and community theatres and, as these cast recordings prove, the show offers performance opportunities like few other shows. With many of Sondheim's most accessible and contemporary sounding songs ever composed for the theatre, this is a score to win over children and adults alike, and with the passage of time and each play of any of these recordings the resonances and realities of these characters and their drama is deeper still and even more evocative, and the show's themes more timeless and true. Every bit as different from the last show as any of the others in the Sondheim canon, so, too is INTO THE WOODS a show which writes its own rules and deals the deck in a decidedly different manner than any other show.

INTO THE WOODS - Original Broadway Cast Recording

SCORE: 9/10

One of the most perfect original Broadway casts ever assembled, it seems unfair to single out one or two performers over the rest considering the ensemble nature of this show. Given the fact that they are all exceedingly excellent, I'll list the major players and perhaps you'll understand why if only based on their names alone: Tom Aldredge, Kim Crosby, Ben Wright, Chip Zien, Joanna Gleason, Joy Franz, Barbara Bryne, Danielle Ferland, Bernadette Peters, RoBert Westenberg, Chuck Wagner and Merle Louise. The opening sequence alone is something of legend and if you have not seen it please check out not only the DVD of the original production, but the 1988 Tony Award performance with Phylicia Rashad standing in for Bernadette Peters as The Witch. Sondheim has written few songs more strikingly beautiful and haunting than the trio that ends the show, and they surely stand among the best musical theatre songs of all time: "No More", "No One Is Alone" and "Children Will Listen". Listen to this recording if you have not been lucky enough to do so up until this point. You will thank me later.

Note: This recording of INTO THE WOODS, in addition to the two previously discussed Sony Masterworks Original Broadway Cast Recordings of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, sounds stupendous thanks to the digital remaster and each contains new (circa 2005) liner notes by Richard Jay-Alexander which are simultaneously touching, informative and insightful and paint a perfect picture of the time-frame and tone of the times when these shows originally premiered.

INTO THE WOODS - 1991 Original London Cast Recording

SCORE: 5/10

Much like the British cast recordings of COMPANY, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE the emphasis in on the acting with this recording and the results are all over the map. Sondheim interpreter Julia Mackenzie is a wicked, wild Witch more like Ellen Foley was in the pre-Broadway version of the show than Bernadette Peters and she is a camp delight in the Opening and "Our Little World". Speaking of that song, it was written for this West End production of the show - just like "Beggar Woman's Lullaby" was for SWEENEY TODD and "Something Just Broke" was for ASSASINS - and while it shows us the domestic life of Rapunzel and the Witch it feels a bit unnecessary and certainly does not add anything too rhapsodic to the score as it is. This recording is technically superb, using a digital 3D sound process that was in vogue at the time but since the voices are - to be very kind - colorful more than correct, it is a bit of a waste of technology.

INTO THE WOODS - 2002 Broadway Revival Recording

SCORE: 9/10

As is the case with many Sondheim cast recordings, the original cast is almost always definitive. More than any other show, perhaps, this is the case with INTO THE WOODS for many, even most. I happen to enjoy different takes on the material and for that, in addition to a number of other fine attributes, this revival cast recording is highly recommended. No, memories of Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason will not be erased, but DeRosa surely does well with a near-nervous-breakdown reading of "No More". Vanessa Williams is given some new material in the form of the aforementioned "Our Little World", as well as a completely rewritten "Last Midnight" that does not quite work, though it is an interesting experiment (it's a lullaby). John McMartin is a good Narrator/Mysterious Man who manages to mine his material for more comedy than his predecessors have done. The star of this recording, and the sole reason this is a absolutely must-have recording, is Laura Benanti's powerhouse performance as Cinderella. "On the Steps of the Palace" has never sounded better, nor has Cinderella's Mother's material (here sung by Benanti). The packaging and booklet could very well be my personal favorite of all the Sondheim cast albums and the technically production of the album by Nonesuch is top-notch. While this entry is sure to split the vocal and vociferous fans of the show, I happen to like it every bit as much as the OBCR and hope you will, too.

Is It Always "Or", Is It Never "And"?

Though sometimes the titular woods of INTO THE WOODS are occasionally dark and from time to time a bit depressing, that "glimmer" referred to in the Finale always remains on the brink of shining through and shedding some sentimental sunshine on the proceedings. INTO THE WOODS has a fair amount of sarcasm and bite, but it is not an inherently ironic show in any way (as some of Sondheim‘s other shows arguably are or can be, depending on the particular production). We are meant to take these characters - caricatures, really - at face value and go along with them on their contrived rides, always with full-knowledge there is a moralistic or metaphorical reason we take each step of the journey. As the title song argues, sometimes it is in the journey that we get our prize or: the rainbow sometimes is its own pot of gold. Knowledge - and experience - is power. While the score may seem cunningly simplistic and occasionally sing-song-y in style when compared to Sondheim's other scores, that was surely the intent all along: to create pleasant, hummable melodies with more sinister, provocative undercurrents hinting at the idea of the malevolence of man being every bit as elemental as the goodness inherent in the human spirit. So, too, go Grimms' fairy tales and their myriad morals, meanings and metaphors. The score for INTO THE WOODS is very much those mythic morals turned musical and lyrical, sometimes with a wink and sometimes with a sneer. Happily ever after does not exist, but "happy" surely does. And Sondheim has never written a score more magical - much more so than even the beans.

Charley, Children & Art

All three musicals discussed here concern themselves with the plight of an artist - whether a songwriter, a painter or a bread artisan - and all explore what happens when that artist chooses to live his own life and shed the shackles and inherent enslavement to the muse the artist so often feels. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is about achieving your dreams and realizing that they alone cannot make you happen. SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is about losing yourself in your art. INTO THE WOODS is about creating as a means to provide for the people you love and care about, what it is to build and be a family. Perhaps all these shows, too, are about family. After all, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE shares quite a bit in common with the other James Lapine collaboration on our Sondheim round-up - even more than mere bloodlines - INTO THE WOODS: both shows have distinctively different first and second acts - in style, structure, tone, even characters - with the second act acting as a re-evaluation and thematic rumination on what has happened to the characters in the first act as a result of their actions. While this didactic dramaturgy may initially dissuade some from warming to these more cerebral, academic musicals, it is through that very structure that these shows find their true idiosyncratic verve, vitality and exact their emotional impact. With the Lapine/Sondheim collaborations it seems as though the creators of these shows were experimenting with theme and variation with exceptional results. Since the story MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is told backwards, the same holds true for that show, as well, particularly the revised version that Sondheim created with Lapine after the original book writer, George Furth, passed away. Theme and variation is a concept Sondheim has spoken of having a particular fondness for in the intervening years since these shows and, at one point, it was his stated impetus in the contemplation of a future musicalization of the Bill Murray film GROUNDHOG DAY. Perhaps GROUNDHOG DAY is one of the two new musicals Sondheim referred to being in the process of writing in his Today show appearance earlier this week. Only time will tell. Until then, we have these recordings to cherish and celebrate as well as the masterful musicals he went on to create in the 1990s, all the way to today. All these recordings we have the privilege to revisit time and time again and perhaps you will add to your collection a few of these recordings and enact some variation of your own on your favorite Sondheim themes.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final part of the Sondheim Palooza this week in which we will take a look at ASSASSINS, PASSION, THE FROGS and BOUNCE/ROAD SHOW!