There is enough Sondheim online these days to keep most fans happy : here’s what we will be watching this coming weekend to take our minds off the Lockdown
The Inspiration for Sondheim’s SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE Georges Seurat‘s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The plot revolves around George, a fictionalized version of Seurat, who immerses himself deeply in painting his masterpiece, and his great-grandson (also named George), a conflicted and cynical contemporary artist.
This recording is of the original Broadway production that opened in 1984 starring .Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters and won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for design (and a nomination for Best Musical), numerous Drama Desk Awards,
When Sondheim’s INTO THE WOODS premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987,it won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), It has had several re-incarnations since then included being adapted into a movie with a starry cast headed by Meryl Streep, whixh received three nominations each for Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.
The video below is London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s wonderful revival production now released and streaming on Digital Theatre .
And if that still isn’t enough streaming Sondheim then you should check out Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.
With a star studded cast it streamed live in April this year , and although it is FREE to watch, Broadway..com suggest/ask you to donate to ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty): http://www.broadway.com/sondheim90,. Settle down for the long haul as this is almost 2.5 hours long of pure Sondheim
0:18 – Stephen Schwartz – “Prologue” (Follies)3:28 – Broadway Musicians – “Overture” (Merrily We Roll Along) 8:47 – Sutton Foster – “There Won’t Be Trumpets” (Anyone Can Whistle) 12:47 – Neil Patrick Harris – “The Witch’s Rap” (Into the Woods) 16:26 – Kelli O’Hara – “What More Do I Need?” (Saturday Night) 19:56 – Judy Kuhn – “What Can You Lose?” (Dick Tracy) 23:53 – Katrina Lenk – “Johanna” (Sweeney Todd) 27:11 – Aaron Tveit – “Marry Me a Little” (Company) 32:58 – Beanie Feldstein & Ben Platt – “It Takes Two” (Into the Woods) 36:25 – Brandon Uranowitz – “With So Little to Be Sure Of” (Anyone Can Whistle) 41:04 – Melissa Errico – “Children and Art” (Sunday in the Park with George) 46:20 – Randy Rainbow – “By the Sea” (Sweeney Todd) 49:21 – Elizabeth Stanley – “The Miller’s Son” (A Little Night Music) 54:21 – Mandy Patinkin – “Lesson #8” (Sunday in the Park with George) 59:05 – Maria Friedman – “Broadway Baby” (Follies) 1:02:36 – Lin-Manuel Miranda – “Giants in the Sky” (Into the Woods) 1:05:46 – Lea Salonga – “Loving You” (Passion) 1:08:28 – Laura Benanti – “I Remember” (Evening Primrose) 1:14:06 – Chip Zien – “No More” (Into the Woods) 1:19:27 – Josh Groban – “Children Will Listen/Not While I’m Around” (Into the Woods/Sweeney Todd) 1:25:13 – Brian Stokes Mitchell – “The Flag Song” (Assassins) 1:28:04 – Michael Cerveris – “Finishing the Hat” (Sunday in the Park with George) 1:33:28 – Linda Lavin – “The Boy From…” (The Mad Show) 1:37:10 – Alexander Gemignani – “Buddy’s Blues” (Follies) 1:41:08 – Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh & Thom Sesma – “Someone in a Tree” (Pacific Overtures) 1:50:59 – Raúl Esparza – “Take Me to the World” (Evening Primrose) 1:53:55 – Donna Murphy – “Send in the Clowns” (A Little Night Music) 1:58:47 – Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep & Audra McDonald – “The Ladies Who Lunch” (Company) 2:03:31 – Annaleigh Ashford & Jake Gyllenhaal – “Move On” (Sunday in the Park with George) 2:08:14 – Patti LuPone – “Anyone Can Whistle” (Anyone Can Whistle) 2:11:46 – Bernadette Peters – “No One Is Alone” (Into the Woods) 2:17:49 – Ensemble – “I’m Still Here” (Follies)
