No better way to celebrate the musical genius’s latest birthday than listening to himself playing the piano last year accompanying Jason Robert Brown and Katrina Lenk.   Ms Lenk sings the haunting ballad “Not While I’m Around‘ from Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

 

The video is from Jason Robert Brown’s  SubCulture concert which featured Sondheim, from June 2019.  Ms Lenk incidentally is about to take on the starring role in a gender-bender version of Sondheim’s “Company”. It’s the recent award-winning  London production also starring Patti Lupone that will open on Broadway when it re-opens.

 

 

On the other hand maybe you like to celebrate the Maestro’s birthday with a brand new concept album that has just been released.

Losing  My Mind: A Sondheim Disco Fever Dream features songs from Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Follies and Into the Woods, set to groovy new arrangements. “Losing My Mind” . It features vocals from Alison Luff, Blaine Krauss, Aneesa Folds, Charity Angél Dawson, Vishal Vaidya, Brittnie Price, Juwan Crawley, Deonté L. Warren, Joshua Hinck, Aili Venho, Onyie Nwachukwu and a cameo from original Into the Woods cast member Chip Zien.  Hear a clip below.

 

 

P.S. This is not the first time that ‘Losing My Mind’ has been recorded up tempo.  Here’s the Pet Shop Boys take from 1989 with poor Liza Minelli who looks like she could be losing more than just her mind.