Sondheim! the Birthday Concert
2011; Routledge; Volume: 68; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoSondheim! Birthday Concert. Laura Benanti, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Cerveris, Victoria Clark, Jenn Collella, Jason Danieley, Alexander Gemignani, Joanna Gleason, Nathan Gunn, George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, John McMartin, Donna Murphy, Karen Olivo, Laura Osnes, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, David Hyde Pierce, Bobby Steggert, Elaine Stritch, Jim Walton, Chip Zien, vocalists; New York Philharmonic, Paul Gemignani, conductor. (Image Entertainment ID 6638EKDVDLIT; 116:00). Something's Coming, America (West Story); We're gonna be All Right (Do I hear Waltz?); Johanna, A Little Priest (Sweeney Todd); Too Many Mornings, The Road You Didn't Take, I'm Still here, Could I Leave You? Beautiful Girls You're Gonna Tomorrow/ Love Will See Us Through (Follies); Don't Laugh (Hot Spot); Takes Two (Into the Woods); Finishing the Hat, Move On, Sunday (Sunday in the Park with George); Day Goes By, Growing Up (Merrily We Roll Along); The Glamorous Life (A Little Night Music); So Many People (Saturday Night). How can composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim be properly and sufficiently lauded? Writers and critics have gone so far as to call him Americas Verdi, a Star Spangled Hugo Wolf, and a One Man Gilbert and Sullivan. There is glimmer of truth in all of those comparisons, but in the end we must acknowledge Sondheim as singular genius unlike any other. No one did more to propel American music theater into the modern age, and no one has been more powerful influence and inspiration to his peers and to those who came after him. Sondheim reshaped our notion of what Broadway musical could be even while penning some of the most important masterworks of his day. Not everything he has done has been success, but even his flops-and there have been few-were the work of restless genius always reaching for more possibilities. There have been plenty of Sondheim tributes and celebrations over the years, but the occasion of his eightieth birthday called for something truly splendid. In the hands of someone more commercially inclined, subscribing to the mantra of bigger is always better, such celebration could have easily been bloated, heavyhanded, and entirely predictable affair. Fortunately, the artistic responsibility for the New York Philharmonic's tribute was handed over to actor and director Lonny Price, whose long resume includes place in the cast of one of Sondheim's biggest disasters, Merrily We Roll Along from 1981, which closed after only sixteen performances. Fortunately, Price's career as performer would eventually include plenty of gratifying successes on both stage and screen. His most important and lasting successes, however, seem to be as director of concert performances of musicals. His most notable credits include New York Philharmonic presentations of Camelot, Sweeney Todd, and Company (the last of which was simulcast to movie theaters across the country), and Sweeney Todd, Annie Get Your Gun, and Gypsy for the Ravinia Festival. It made all the difference in the world that this particular birthday concert honoring one of our most important theatrical geniuses was entrusted to man of the theater. DVD captures every thrilling moment of this celebration and gives the viewer real sense of being there, including every word of David Hyde Pierce's witty work as emcee, and every note played by the New York Philharmonic under the masterful baton of Paul Gemignani, who has been frequent and significant collaborator with Sondheim over the years. One of the first signs that this is concert conceived with the greatest care and imagination is the sprightly overture arranged especially for the occasion. Based on the song by Side from Company, it eventually becomes the vehicle by which the night's singers stride on to the stage as though arriving for party, dressed to the nines yet somehow looking like regular folks. …
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