Characters from Sondheim shows gather to wish him a happy birthday. Illustration by Tug Rice.
Class Handouts
One pdf would have been a really big file, so I have split the slides into two handouts:
Links to Online Videos Shown or Referenced in Class
- Take Me To the World, the April 26, 2020, streaming celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday is available on YouTube (all two hours+ of it!)
- Larry Kert sings "Something's Coming" from the Original Cast Recording of West Side Story.
- Isaac Powell, who plays Tony in the 2019 revival of West Side Story, sings “Something’s Coming”
- Ethel Merman singing "Some People" from the Gypsy Original Cast Recording (audio only, but it will lead you to all of the other songs from the OCR)
- Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti, and Boyd Gaines performing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" on the 2008 Tony Awards broadcast. (All three won Tony Awards for their performance in this revival of Gypsy.)
- In 1970 D. A. Pennebaker made Company: Original Cast Album, a documentary about the recording of the album. It appears to be on YouTube in a bunch of different cuts. One to start with is here. It will lead you to the others.
- Daisy Eagen sings "Broadway Baby" in a 1992 Concert at Carnegie Hall.
- A preview of the 2011 Broadway revival of Follies.
- A preview of the 2018 National Theatre (London) revival of Follies.
- Judi Dench singing "Send in the Clowns" in concert.
- Jake Gyllenhall sings "Finishing the Hat" from the 2017 Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George.
- Donna Murphy sings "Loving You" from the 1994 production of Passion.
Additional Resources
- If you're not familiar with the scores of these musicals, then 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 hundreds of other sites. Don't get lost!
- Useful DVDs and CDs related to this class
- Six By Sondheim (James Lapine, HBO, 2014). Available here for purchase on Amazon.com.
- Sondheim! The Birthday Concert (Lonny Price, 2010). Available here for purchase on Amazon.com.
- Face to Face with Stephen Sondheim (BBC, 1994): Not currently available, but once upon a time it was available on Amazon Prime
- Links to additional videos not shown in class:
- "America" from the 1962 film of West Side Story
- Bernadette Peters sings "Rose's Turn" on the 2003 Tony Awards broadcast.
- Marin Mazzie and Jason Daniely sing "We're Gonna Be All Right" from Do I Hear a Waltz?
- "Tonight" (Quintet/Act I Finale) from the 1962 film of West Side Story
- Rare footage of the original production of West Side Story