A Wrinkle in Rhyme
April 9, 2024
Dog-1
Stephen Sondheim was a certified master. The lay consumer might not even readily recognize his name, though they certainly are familiar with his more popularized work, (derived of course from his legendary Broadway catalogue that includes classics like "Gypsy", "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", "A Little Night Music", "Company", "Follies", "Into the Woods", "Sunday in the Park with George", "West Side Story", and too many others to list here). Sondheim was an unqualified genius in our midst. I met him, of course; managing the New York theaters, I met most everybody at some point. I found him to be quirky, intense... and hairy. The night I met him we were still at Perry Street down in the West Village and I guess he found the theater to be excessively warm because he stripped off his sweater down to his bare chest before putting his white T-shirt back on. It's so funny the things that stick in your memory, but I remember worrying for a minute that I was going to have to make a Broadway legend put his clothes back on. LMAO.
THE MASTER OF RHYME
As a wordsmith, I marvel at Sondheim's utter felicity with lyrics, nowhere better showcased than in his 1982 masterwork, "Sweeney Todd". Go to the 1:12:00 minute mark, as a preview, and just listen to the exquisite patter between Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. (Back up to the song just before that to get the fullest context of the narrative but, briefly, Sweeney has killed a man and Mrs. Lovett has a brilliant idea to implement an assembly line of death-to-table resourcefulness by making meat pies of the cadavers. It's grim and glorious good fun — and the word play is as delightful as anything that ever appeared on the New York boards.)
"A Little Priest" — Original Broadway Cast Recording with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou
"A Little Priest" — Tour with Angela Lansburyand George Hearn
"A Little Priest"— 2005 performance with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou
If you've never seen the original production of "Sweeney Todd", it's a cultural must.
"SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET" (1982)
[Filmed Stage Production — Full Show starring Angela Lansbury]
"SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET" (1979)
[Original Cast Recording]
OTHER ITERATIONS OF THE FAMOUS BRITISH STORY
"SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET" (1936)
"THE TALE OF SWEENEY TODD" (1997)
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