STEPHEN SONDHEIM, A PERSONAL TRIBUTE
When news broke of George Gershwin’s early death in 1937, one of his contemporaries said, ‘I don’t have to believe it’. I sort of felt the same on hearing of the demise of Stephen Sondheim last November. He has long been a hero of mine, a genius of music theatre and truly the old saw is accurate: ‘we will never see his like again’.
My love affair with the Jewish boy from New York began at the Merrion Centre Cinema in Leeds sometime in the early 1960s. Instructed by our music teacher at school to ‘stay away from this highly unsuitable film’, West Side Story became the hottest ticket in town for we young lads. I was mesmerized by the power and beauty of Leonard Bernstein’s melodies – but there was something else. The words, the lyrics, were ravishing: witty, wise, clever, inventive, cheeky, profound – I had not heard the like. Immediately I wanted to buy the lyrics of the Broadway musical whose words were crafted by this man Sondheim. From that moment, I followed his progress through the annals of American musical theatre.
It was some years before I saw the movie, ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ with words and music by our man. The songs from the farcical Plautus-inspired show sank into my ear-wormed brain. Even now, 55 years on, I can sing all the words to ‘A Comedy Tonight’ and ‘Everybody Ought to Have a Maid’ with its sinewy and slightly risqué lyric. And on the theme of classical adaptations, My wife and I recently at a concert in Cambridge sang the hilarious opening number from Sondheim’s ‘The Frogs’ (loosely based on the Aristophanes comedy). The ‘Instructions to the Audience’ should be the opening of any show:
‘If you have to use the loo then go / Don’t wait until we’re halfway through the show / Especially if you’re sitting in the middle of a row’ And ‘If you hear flaws please / Don’t drop your jaws please / No loud guffaws please / If actors enter late’
These commandments clearly come from a man steeped in theatre as Stephen Sondheim was. I gave a talk to CJRA recently about his life and work and frankly as for life, outside inhabiting the world of the stage, and constantly dreaming up new shows (even into his 90s), there wasn’t very much to say. He was a songwriter whose life was, well, writing songs for the theatre.
Born to a wealthy Jewish family in 1930, his childhood was less than happy. An absent father (a dressmaker who ran away) and a gorgon of a mother who hated her only child with a vengeance meant the Steve (as his friends called him) cast a lonely figure. That was until meeting Oscar Hammerstein II. The great lyricist, the man behind Oklahoma and the Sound of Music, became a father figure to Sondheim. Besides the love and care he offered to the lad, he also became his mentor when Steve confessed that his only ambition in life was to be like Oscar and his partner Richard Rodgers. He wanted to write musical shows. Oscar was a kind but severe patrician who set very high standards for his young protégé’s work. Many early attempts were dismissed by Hammerstein as being deeply flawed. The musically educated Sondheim took these failures as pointers to future greatness. And so when his mentor introduced him to the team working on West Side Story, the producers took a gamble and hired the unknown young man (he was 25) to write the words to the 1957 musical. Sondheim’s career had begun.
Though Funny Thing was a hit, Sondheim was still sought out as a lyricist rather than composer. An unhappy collaboration between Richard Rodgers and him, ‘Do I Hear a Waltz’ and a flop show, ‘Anyone Can Whistle’ seemed to put the artist’s trajectory on hold. That is until he met the legendary producer Hal Prince. There began a decade long collaboration that produced such masterpiece works as ‘Company’, ‘A Little Night Music’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’. Each of these shows, and others, completely reshaped the form of musical theatre. Gone, the romantic tale with a happy ending, gone the sweet cheer up musical. ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ told its sharply satirical tale of Broadway songwriters who sell out to money backwards. ‘Company’ was a series of bitter vignettes around the empty lives of New Yorkers who craved the eponymous company of friends but had little else to offer. These shows including the later ‘Into the Woods’ were sharply critical of modern society not least the illusion of the American dream and the shallowness of fame. Suddenly music theatre became serious though with a sardonic twist of sour lemon. Now writing both lyrics and music, Sondheim’s scores would fit the lyrics like a kid glove. There were spectacular patter songs as in ‘I’m not getting married today’ which matches anything W.S Gilbert could write. There were sad reflective romances such as ‘Send in the Clowns’ and bittersweet songs of regret such as the utterly gorgeous duet, ‘Everyday a Little Death’.
Each new show was greeted, by me, with intense fascination. Many Sondheim shows were given early try outs at the Wythenshawe Theatre in Manchester, where Sheila and I lived for nearly two decades. I bought the albums, read the books and whistled the songs.
I learnt only recently that at the age of 91, Sondheim was working on a new show. Of course he was. What else would he do? But it is unlikely that we will hear anything of this piece, ‘Square One’ …..
And now as a fan, I am back to that square one, thinking again of the great shows (and some of the flops) written by this creative powerhouse. I think of seeing him give a talk at the National Theatre about 25 years ago and was taken aback by his intense modesty and lack of ego. I think of just missing him on the street in Broadway in 1994 when we encountered a bunch of actors having a cigarette outside the stage door of a theatre. ‘Oh you’ve just missed Mr Sondheim. He was here a few minutes ago looking in on his new show’. I missed the man but will miss his work even more. When will I stop loving Sondheim? When I stop loving Gershwin. Stephen Sondheim is dead. But I don’t have to believe it.
Mike Levy’s book, ‘Get the Children Out – Unsung Heroes of the Kindertransport was published in February by Lemon Soul. www.lemonsoul.com. He is currently planning a book on great Broadway lyricists.
He is also a theatre reviewer for www.thecambridgecritique.com
