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Sondheim scores a hit at Oberlin College
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BY: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
Finney Chapel at Oberlin College was filled to overflowing recently as legendary composer Stephen Sondheim and notable New York Times columnist Frank Rich held court and held audience members captivated for two hours in conversation with each other.
Their dialogue was the opening program of the Convocation Series at Oberlin, now in its 176th academic year.
It was also the Midwest debut of an informal program Rich and Sondheim first presented on the West Coast titled “A Little Night Conversation with Stephen Sondheim.”
The evening began with a musical presentation of Sondheim songs and lyrics performed by Oberlin students. Oberlin president Marvin Krislov introduced the speakers.
The spotlight was on Sondheim, with Rich, chief theater critic for The New York Times from 1980-1993, posing the questions and making a few pointed observations as well. Sondheim’s breakthrough job was with “West Side Story” when he was 24.
At a party, Sondheim first met established librettist Arthur Laurents, who told the fledgling composer that he was about to start work on a musical of “Romeo and Juliet” set in New York. Leonard Bernstein was writing the music, and Jerome Robbins was director.
“Who’s writing the lyrics?” Sondheim recalled asking. He then described how Laurents, who knew of Sondheim’s work, smacked his forehead with his palm and admitted that he never thought of Sondheim for the job.
“I never liked your music, but I still like your lyrics,” Laurents bluntly replied.
For Sondheim, timing was everything. The lyrics were supposed to be written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (“Bells Are Ringing,” “On the Town”), who were close friends of Bernstein’s, but they couldn’t get out of their movie contract. Laurents conditionally offered Sondheim the job, to which he replied, “Maybe.”
“I really didn’t want to write lyrics; I wanted to write music,” said Sondheim, who turned to Oscar Hammerstein, his mentor and surrogate father, for advice. Hammerstein encouraged him to take the job for the opportunity to work with really talented men.
Sondheim spent the next two years working on the show.
It’s been said, noted Rich, that Sondheim learned more working on “West Side Story” than any other show. The affable composer readily agreed.
From Bernstein, Sondheim learned that if you’re going to fall off the rung of a ladder, fall from the highest one. “Lenny had lots of successes and some lulus, but they were always big ideas,” noted Sondheim. Bernstein also made the young composer “less square” in his approach to writing music.
A bilingual 50th anniversary revival of the show is being slated for Broadway next year. Arthur Laurents, 90, will direct.
Next stop on Sondheim’s musical journey was “Gypsy,” for which he also wrote the lyrics. Noting that the show was written primarily for Ethel Merman, Rich cited the many actresses who have since tackled the role, including Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters and Patti Lupone in a currently running Broadway production for which she won a Tony.
Rich asked Sondheim how, before he turned 30, he could create a character of such great complexity as Mama Rose.
“I don’t create characters; I empathize with them,” he answered. “It’s easy to empathize and expand upon them when you’re writing from your imagination.”
Sondheim also was quick to acknowledge that life experiences played a part. His relationship with his own overbearing mother was very difficult. Like Mama Rose, his mother loved celebrity, money, and being in the limelight.
Sondheim’s characters in such landmark musicals as “Company,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods” are rich and multi-dimensional. He credits Hammerstein as the only librettist of that generation (“Showboat,” “Oklahoma”) interested in character. “He did what opera does, which is to tell a story.
Sondheim also teamed up with Richard Rodgers at the end of Rodgers’s career; it was a sad and difficult collaboration, noted Rich. Whereas Jule Styne (“Gypsy”) had so much musical fertility, observed Sondheim, Rodgers was convinced he had drunk all the water from the well.
Having written music for movies, Sondheim clearly prefers writing for the stage. “Movies are photographs; the stage is larger than life.”
What musicals does Sondheim admire the most? “Porgy and Bess” tops a list which includes “Carousel,” “She Loves Me,” and “The Wiz,” which he saw six times.
Sondheim’s newest musical, “Road Show” will open this fall at Public Theatre in New York. It is based on a true story about a pair of brothers who were con artists. The musical traces the complex love-hate relationship between the brothers, one, a ladies’ man, the other, gay.
One of the things Sondheim loves about writing for the theater is that it is always alive, active and malleable. Rewriting is part of the fun, he insisted. “Road Show” has been in the cauldron for 15 years and undergone numerous changes, including its title and director. “We think we finally got it right,” he quipped.
In the Q and A that followed, Sondheim took a dim view of today’s musicals. What works now, he said, are musicals that are easy to take; audiences don’t want to be challenged.
Only the nonprofit theaters are willing to take the risk, he added, referring to a recently acclaimed musical adaptation (off-off Broadway) of “The Adding Machine,” an operetta-like tragedy by Elmer Rice.
Another factor, added Rich, is the harsh reality of economics, and what sells is popular culture. He also noted that today’s shows are being produced by corporations, not by individual producers like Hal Prince, David Merrick or Joe Papp.
Many in the audience were aspiring actors in musical theater. One such hopeful asked Sondheim for some advice on how to make it on the musical stage. Today’s musical actor, said Sondheim, has to be able to sing, dance and act.
Know your craft as well as you can, he cautioned, adding that “it’s a hard-knock life” in which there is so little activity that you can’t sustain a living. “Consider the practicalities and be prepared.”
Their dialogue was the opening program of the Convocation Series at Oberlin, now in its 176th academic year.
It was also the Midwest debut of an informal program Rich and Sondheim first presented on the West Coast titled “A Little Night Conversation with Stephen Sondheim.”
The evening began with a musical presentation of Sondheim songs and lyrics performed by Oberlin students. Oberlin president Marvin Krislov introduced the speakers.
The spotlight was on Sondheim, with Rich, chief theater critic for The New York Times from 1980-1993, posing the questions and making a few pointed observations as well. Sondheim’s breakthrough job was with “West Side Story” when he was 24.
At a party, Sondheim first met established librettist Arthur Laurents, who told the fledgling composer that he was about to start work on a musical of “Romeo and Juliet” set in New York. Leonard Bernstein was writing the music, and Jerome Robbins was director.
“Who’s writing the lyrics?” Sondheim recalled asking. He then described how Laurents, who knew of Sondheim’s work, smacked his forehead with his palm and admitted that he never thought of Sondheim for the job.
“I never liked your music, but I still like your lyrics,” Laurents bluntly replied.
For Sondheim, timing was everything. The lyrics were supposed to be written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (“Bells Are Ringing,” “On the Town”), who were close friends of Bernstein’s, but they couldn’t get out of their movie contract. Laurents conditionally offered Sondheim the job, to which he replied, “Maybe.”
“I really didn’t want to write lyrics; I wanted to write music,” said Sondheim, who turned to Oscar Hammerstein, his mentor and surrogate father, for advice. Hammerstein encouraged him to take the job for the opportunity to work with really talented men.
Sondheim spent the next two years working on the show.
It’s been said, noted Rich, that Sondheim learned more working on “West Side Story” than any other show. The affable composer readily agreed.
From Bernstein, Sondheim learned that if you’re going to fall off the rung of a ladder, fall from the highest one. “Lenny had lots of successes and some lulus, but they were always big ideas,” noted Sondheim. Bernstein also made the young composer “less square” in his approach to writing music.
A bilingual 50th anniversary revival of the show is being slated for Broadway next year. Arthur Laurents, 90, will direct.
Next stop on Sondheim’s musical journey was “Gypsy,” for which he also wrote the lyrics. Noting that the show was written primarily for Ethel Merman, Rich cited the many actresses who have since tackled the role, including Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters and Patti Lupone in a currently running Broadway production for which she won a Tony.
Rich asked Sondheim how, before he turned 30, he could create a character of such great complexity as Mama Rose.
“I don’t create characters; I empathize with them,” he answered. “It’s easy to empathize and expand upon them when you’re writing from your imagination.”
Sondheim also was quick to acknowledge that life experiences played a part. His relationship with his own overbearing mother was very difficult. Like Mama Rose, his mother loved celebrity, money, and being in the limelight.
Sondheim’s characters in such landmark musicals as “Company,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods” are rich and multi-dimensional. He credits Hammerstein as the only librettist of that generation (“Showboat,” “Oklahoma”) interested in character. “He did what opera does, which is to tell a story.
Sondheim also teamed up with Richard Rodgers at the end of Rodgers’s career; it was a sad and difficult collaboration, noted Rich. Whereas Jule Styne (“Gypsy”) had so much musical fertility, observed Sondheim, Rodgers was convinced he had drunk all the water from the well.
Having written music for movies, Sondheim clearly prefers writing for the stage. “Movies are photographs; the stage is larger than life.”
What musicals does Sondheim admire the most? “Porgy and Bess” tops a list which includes “Carousel,” “She Loves Me,” and “The Wiz,” which he saw six times.
Sondheim’s newest musical, “Road Show” will open this fall at Public Theatre in New York. It is based on a true story about a pair of brothers who were con artists. The musical traces the complex love-hate relationship between the brothers, one, a ladies’ man, the other, gay.
One of the things Sondheim loves about writing for the theater is that it is always alive, active and malleable. Rewriting is part of the fun, he insisted. “Road Show” has been in the cauldron for 15 years and undergone numerous changes, including its title and director. “We think we finally got it right,” he quipped.
In the Q and A that followed, Sondheim took a dim view of today’s musicals. What works now, he said, are musicals that are easy to take; audiences don’t want to be challenged.
Only the nonprofit theaters are willing to take the risk, he added, referring to a recently acclaimed musical adaptation (off-off Broadway) of “The Adding Machine,” an operetta-like tragedy by Elmer Rice.
Another factor, added Rich, is the harsh reality of economics, and what sells is popular culture. He also noted that today’s shows are being produced by corporations, not by individual producers like Hal Prince, David Merrick or Joe Papp.
Many in the audience were aspiring actors in musical theater. One such hopeful asked Sondheim for some advice on how to make it on the musical stage. Today’s musical actor, said Sondheim, has to be able to sing, dance and act.
Know your craft as well as you can, he cautioned, adding that “it’s a hard-knock life” in which there is so little activity that you can’t sustain a living. “Consider the practicalities and be prepared.”
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