A Sondheimian rant

The funniest Sondheim reference I have ever seen is in the movie Camp when the straight jock dude looks at a picture of Sondheim and asks the guy who has a crush on him (who is Puerto Rican), "Is that your father?" After he says, "No, that's Stephen Sondheim," straight guy just shrugs his shoulders. The look of shock and amazement on the gay kid's face is priceless.

Stephen has made some masterpieces in his time. But he's also made some BIG mistakes. Luckily, I was reminded of his masterpieces when I saw a production of Assassins in Hollywood last night, featuring my friend Julie from Into The Woods (wow she must like her Sondheim).

To put it simply, Assassins is just BRILLIANT, and this production was very well done. All of the characters were deliciously insane, and it was so much fun to watch. The rollercoaster of humor and intense drama kept everyone riveted throughout the show, which was 2 hours and performed without an intermission. It was quick and painless (a rareity for Sondheim), which made it all the more enjoyable.

I think it's safe to say that Into The Woods is my favorite Sondheim musical. Now maybe that's because it's the only Sondheim musical I've performed in (twice), and I'm not counting West Side Story, which he wrote the lyrics to. But there's also something brilliant about the show and its story (which isn't necessarily the result of Sondheim, but you get my drift). Assassins is also similar to Woods in the respect that it blends many different characters that are seemingly unrelated to each other. I wish I could have been in NYC during the Sondheim festival so I could see every Sondheim work.

He has many many masterpieces, including A Funny Thing...Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Merrily We Roll Along (I want to play Frank!), Sunday In The Park With George, and Sweeney Todd (I want to play Toby!).

But then there are the poor exceptions to his genius. Mainly, his more recent works, including Frogs, and Bounce. I think my parents saw Frogs in New York, which is something because it played all of 92 performances. Needless to say, they weren't impressed by anything other than the cast, and maybe the lighting. And I recently acquired the soundtrack to Bounce, and I'm not quite sure what to do with it. There are a few choice highlights to the score (which have very typical Sondheim sounds to them), but the story seems really lame, and a lot of the music is quite forgettable.

So what's the deal, Stephen? Are your glory days over? Were you too brilliant too early in your career, and now you're struggling to create another masterpiece? Do you blame it on the times? Are you out of fresh story ideas? I guess in the meantime you can always live off of royalties for Woods, and Assassins, two of your most frequently reproduced works.