Sondheim is Alive ( with links to Sondheim tributes )

Sondheim lives. At the time of his death last week, his shows Company and Assassins were on stage in New York, the new film adaptation of West Side Story was ready to hit theatres December 10, and he himself was a character in a film of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick, Boom that started streaming around the time. Sondheim shows play around the world 12 months of every year.

That may be surprising, as the "smash hit" always eluded Sondheim, and many of his shows lost money (a lot!) in their original productions.

But Sondheim will live because actors love him. That's the strong message that comes through in tributes since his death.

[PHOTO: Actors and fans gathered in Times Square after his death to sing "Sunday," Sondheim's anthem about art that transforms ordinary life into something that lives "Forever"]

On screen and in print, actors have testified how Sondheim's words and music are so particularly expressive, giving them so much to do. Bernadette Peters said that a quarter note rest in a Sondheim song is there because of something the character is feeling. Patti Lupone suggested to Sondheim that his acting in student productions carried over into his songwriting, and he agreed. When she asked about characters he'd created, he reminded her that his collaborators created them, but he explored them the way good actors do. (He admitted to her that Mama Rose from GYPSY was his favorite - such a monster, and "so full of life.")

In my teens, guided by critics, I loved Sondheim for all the wrong reasons. He revolutionized the art form, he dared to write dissonances in his music, he used the word "Goddam" in a musical, he chose dark subjects.  By touting the difficulty of Sondheim's music and the cleverness of his rhymes, I claimed my own sophistication. 

In the same way, professors and critics teach how Shakespeare advanced the art form, examined dark themes, and wrote dense poetry.  But Shakespeare has lived in spite of being reduced to quiz points and essay topics.   Since Shakespeare's grateful actor friends published his work in 1623, actors and directors have delighted in the challenges of his work. They've related to the characters; they've owned the insights; they've enjoyed opportunities that Shakespeare gives them to show off their range.

Likewise, Sondheim.

I've already seen well-regarded novelists, favorites of mine, fade into irrelevance within a couple of years of their deaths. I expect Sondheim to live on. 

[See my grown-up reflection on Sondheim's virtuosity in music and lyrics. See my Sondheim page for many more articles about him, his craft, shows, collaborators, friends, and competitors.]

Links to Sondheim Tributes

• Central Synagogue in New York did a solemn, beautiful tribute with thoughtful words and a medley of Sondheim songs that fit the context of a religious service. Synagogue Tribute.
• A British actor/musician has put together a wonderful video using clips from shows with animated snippets of piano score and lyrics to explain why Sondheim's work is so compelling. He ends with a heartfelt thank-you to Sondheim for the "humanity" (understanding, honesty, acceptance) that helped the author through difficult teen years. See Why Sondheim's Music is so Addictive
• NPR's tribute by Jeff Lunden
• NPR critic Bob Mondelo's tribute is both comprehensive and personal. The conclusion got to me: Sondheim always did "Move On," and "now we must, too."(My friend Susan and I chatted with Mondelo about Sondheim's Road Show during our visit to NPR HQ the day we saw that musical.)
• A New York Times article celebrates Sondheim's lifelong mission to encourage theatre writers and performers, often with typewritten notes.  (I have four examples framed on my wall.)
  
• Scott Simon on Sondheim's Essential Lyrics: A Soundtrack for Life is the most personal assessment, and strong. I especially appreciate how Simon draws from the song "Someone in a Tree" for Sondheim's celebration of the particulars in life that we hold in our hearts.
• Broadway actors sing SUNDAY
• Patti Lupone's tribute incorporates her interview with Sondheim at his home when COMPANY was about to open, just before the pandemic closed everything down. She focuses on his early experiences as actor, and there are surprises and laughs. She tries to tell him directly "thank you" for all of us and tears up, but he gets the message.
• Max Freedman, journalist and former actor from a musical theatre family, creates a "playlist" of Sondheim songs by way of showing what the bard of ambivalence taught him in life. It's great!
• Not a posthumous tribute, this compilation of teenagers telling what Sondheim has meant for them is very affecting. It's posted by the guy who does the wonderful YouTube series Musical Theatre Mash.
• NPR's list of 10 Sondheim songs we'll never stop listening to
• Video from PBS News Hour features Sondheim on rhymes, then an interview with critic Ben Brantley and theatre director Eric Schaeffer
• New York Post obituary
• Classical music figures including Jake Heggie and Renee Fleming share their tributes to Sondheim
• An appreciation in LGBTQ Nation focuses on Sondheim's growth from closeted gay man to gay icon.
• Michael Granoff wrote Sondheim and Me, personal memories of the composer, who was a family friend.