Sondheim's Early Works as Composer/Lyricist: Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, & Evening Primrose

Class Preparation

  • If you're not familiar with the scores of these musicals (and, except for Forum, no one is!) then you might want to snoop around on the Internet, scour iTunes, sample Amazon.com, search the public library, look on Netflix, or check out YouTube. 
  • The Wikipedia pages for each show usually contain a list of characters, a synopsis of the plot, a list of songs, how the production was created, and, of course, links to other sites. 
  • Here are links to the shows' pages on Sondheim.com (a website I found out about AFTER this class started!)  This site is maintained by dedicated Sondheim completists, so try these links specifically for production information..
  • As you listen to the work of Stephen Sondheim, continue to curate your Ultimate Playlist.

Handouts

     Class Slides 
     Lyrics to "Comedy Tonight" and "Anyone Can Whistle"

Links to videos shown in class

  • "There Won't Be Trumpets"  Audra McDonald as Nurse Fay Apple in Anyone Can Whistle at the Ravinia Festival. This is the extended scene with the song preceded by Fay's impassioned speech. You will remember that the reason the song was cut was that it was deemed redundant following the speech. Judge for yourself. It is such a great song, that I might have cut the speech and kept the song. 
  • "Saturday Night" from the off-Broadway production in 2000. All 21 songs from this Nonesuch recording are uploaded on YouTube (audio only).
  • "So Many People" from Saturday Night,  sung by Laura Benanti at the New York Philharmonic's Concert celebrating Sondheim's 80th birthday.
  • "Comedy Tonight" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, performed on Late Night With David Letterman, featuring Nathan Lane and the full cast of the 1996 Broadway revival.
  • "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" from the film of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
  • "Anyone Can Whistle" (audio only) Lee Remick sings the title song from Anyone Can Whistle (original cast recording). 
  • "Everybody Says Don't" from Anyone Can Whistle, sung by Barbara Cook at Carnegie Hall (audio only).
  • Preview of Evening Primrose broadcast on the Internet Movie Database. This page has links to other songs.

Class Feedback/Evaluation of Today's Class

What worked?
  • Instructor's enthusiasm and knowledge
  • Humor
  • Introductions to songs and clips
  • The audiovisuals worked
  • Comments from other classmates
  • Hearing about the difficulties some shows faced
  • Context of what's happening on Broadway at the time
What would make it even better?
  • More dancing!
  • Training in humming
  • A list of milestones of the Broadway musical
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