This month's composer study: Stephen Sondheim.
Oldest Daughter spent part of January growing in her familiarity with Andrew Lloyd Webber, the composer behind musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Phantom of the Opera." As we've brought more of his musicals into the house via our Netflix subscription, Oldest Daughter has lamented Eva Parone's untimely death with refrains of "Oh What a Circus," while Middle Daughter has given voice to Eva's naked ambition, a la "Eva, Beware of the City."
Even the 2-year-old has got into the spirit of the thing, singing "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina." This is all the result of a little calculated musical enrichment.
The older girls already are familiar with Sondheim, because of "Into the Woods," which DVD we've had the past five years. "Into the Woods" combines the fairy tales of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and an original tale about a baker and his wife; and takes the fairy tales from childhood into adulthood in the second act, when the giant's wife comes looking for Jack, who repaid her kindness by stealing from her husband and then killing him.
We're likely to watch "Into the Woods" again, and discuss some of its humanistic themes; but I expect our first trip down Sondheim Lane this month will be the Bette Midler production of "Gypsy," about the cuthroat world of show biz. (I love streaming video.)
The first Sondheim movie in our queue was the Tim Burton "Sweeney Todd." I can safely say, without fear of contradiction, that Beloved Wife and I found the movie to be absolutely hilarious. There is also no way in hell we are going to let the girls watch it for several years.
So, in its place, I've scheduled a viewing of "A Celebration at Carnegie Hall," which provides an overview of Sondheim's work, performed by a number of different singers. I especially like Glenn Close's "Send in the Clowns," and Victor Garber's "Ballad of Booth." A showcase like this provides a good overview of Sondheim's work overall, and may give us some ideas for other shows to explore.
At the moment, the other Sondheim musicals on our queue include "West Side Story" and "Sunday in the Park with George." We may also watch "A Little Night Music," though I'm still debating its merits, contentwise. There is no movie version of "Assassins" that I'm aware of, but we have soundtracks to both the original Broadway cast and the revival. She'll be listening to some of those tracks, at least.
So why treat Oldest Daughter to the music of Stephen Sondheim? I guess one answer would be that the fellow is just that good. He's won a Tony for lifetime achievement, and a Pulitzer and a number of Grammy awards for specific projects. The New York Times has called him the greatest person working in theater today.
His book for "Assassins" is a good example of his intelligence; it treats a complex and emotional subject -- people who want to kill the president of the United States -- and deals with it in a nuanced way. Sondheim gets us to laugh at buffoons like Charles J. Guiteau and Sara Jane Moore, and makes us see Andrew Zangara and Leon Czolgosz as the pathetic and angry men they were, but also lets us see John Wilkes Boothe the way he saw himself, so that by the end of the musical, audience members can't help but feel disturbed as they find themselves sympathizing with the asssassins and rooting for Lee Harvey Oswald.
The journey helps us to discover that the line between moral decency and reprehensible criminality is finer and easier to cross than we would like to think. The show makes us laugh, but it also makes us cringe at the monster in ourselves, which is the hallmark of good art.
Sondheim has written some great musicals, sometimes just the lyrics, sometimes just the music, but often both. By the end of the month, the goal is to hear a lot of his music around the house as well.
Oldest Daughter spent part of January growing in her familiarity with Andrew Lloyd Webber, the composer behind musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Phantom of the Opera." As we've brought more of his musicals into the house via our Netflix subscription, Oldest Daughter has lamented Eva Parone's untimely death with refrains of "Oh What a Circus," while Middle Daughter has given voice to Eva's naked ambition, a la "Eva, Beware of the City."
Even the 2-year-old has got into the spirit of the thing, singing "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina." This is all the result of a little calculated musical enrichment.
The older girls already are familiar with Sondheim, because of "Into the Woods," which DVD we've had the past five years. "Into the Woods" combines the fairy tales of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and an original tale about a baker and his wife; and takes the fairy tales from childhood into adulthood in the second act, when the giant's wife comes looking for Jack, who repaid her kindness by stealing from her husband and then killing him.
We're likely to watch "Into the Woods" again, and discuss some of its humanistic themes; but I expect our first trip down Sondheim Lane this month will be the Bette Midler production of "Gypsy," about the cuthroat world of show biz. (I love streaming video.)
The first Sondheim movie in our queue was the Tim Burton "Sweeney Todd." I can safely say, without fear of contradiction, that Beloved Wife and I found the movie to be absolutely hilarious. There is also no way in hell we are going to let the girls watch it for several years.
So, in its place, I've scheduled a viewing of "A Celebration at Carnegie Hall," which provides an overview of Sondheim's work, performed by a number of different singers. I especially like Glenn Close's "Send in the Clowns," and Victor Garber's "Ballad of Booth." A showcase like this provides a good overview of Sondheim's work overall, and may give us some ideas for other shows to explore.
At the moment, the other Sondheim musicals on our queue include "West Side Story" and "Sunday in the Park with George." We may also watch "A Little Night Music," though I'm still debating its merits, contentwise. There is no movie version of "Assassins" that I'm aware of, but we have soundtracks to both the original Broadway cast and the revival. She'll be listening to some of those tracks, at least.
So why treat Oldest Daughter to the music of Stephen Sondheim? I guess one answer would be that the fellow is just that good. He's won a Tony for lifetime achievement, and a Pulitzer and a number of Grammy awards for specific projects. The New York Times has called him the greatest person working in theater today.
His book for "Assassins" is a good example of his intelligence; it treats a complex and emotional subject -- people who want to kill the president of the United States -- and deals with it in a nuanced way. Sondheim gets us to laugh at buffoons like Charles J. Guiteau and Sara Jane Moore, and makes us see Andrew Zangara and Leon Czolgosz as the pathetic and angry men they were, but also lets us see John Wilkes Boothe the way he saw himself, so that by the end of the musical, audience members can't help but feel disturbed as they find themselves sympathizing with the asssassins and rooting for Lee Harvey Oswald.
The journey helps us to discover that the line between moral decency and reprehensible criminality is finer and easier to cross than we would like to think. The show makes us laugh, but it also makes us cringe at the monster in ourselves, which is the hallmark of good art.
Sondheim has written some great musicals, sometimes just the lyrics, sometimes just the music, but often both. By the end of the month, the goal is to hear a lot of his music around the house as well.
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