All tagged Pacific Overtures
Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, particularly when he was paired with director Harold Prince, moved and shaped musical through bold experiments that challenged audiences while unearthing new possibilities. The musicals that this duo together brought to the stage included Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Each was innovative in its own way, redefining the Broadway musical as we knew it. There was one other show that they created during this decade (and change) which may have been the most challenging (for audiences), clever (by even Sondheim and Prince standards) and groundbreaking (for posterity) in terms of the possibilities it demonstrated. That musical was the short-lived 1976 Pacific Overtures, which would also employ book writer John Weidman as part of the collaboration.
Stephen Sondheim is perhaps the most revered and worshipped composer-lyricist in the American Musical Theatre, and though he has earned that status with an extraordinary canon of work, certain musicals he has written are obviously better than others. Opinion and personal preferences, of course, play into one’s feelings about his shows. As an experiment to sort out my enthusiasm and criticism of his work, I have ranked Sondheim’s musicals from his worst to his best.
Let the judgment begin…
For my last entry I featured the first twenty-five of my favorite showtunes celebrating my 100th blog entry which is just around the corner. Here is the continuation of that piece, featuring my NEXT 25 entries.
Stephen Sondheim is perhaps the greatest teacher of all, hiding pearls of wisdom throughout his lyrics that offer uniquely sage perspectives on the world. Now, I am not suggesting that you should adopt all of the philosophies within his musicals, as Sweeney Todd and Assassins might serve as a ticket to prison, but there are some songs that just so perfectly capture the lessons of life that they deserve to be committed to memory for the wisdom they impart. So, today’s “Top-Ten List” will feature my favorite “Stephen Sondheim Songs to Live By.”
