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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

April 6, 2007

Sondheim, Sondheim, Sondheim

Queer composer's works highlight the hits and artists

by Anthony Glassman

"Every road has its turning, that's the way you keep learning."

-Stephen Sondheim Merrily We Roll Along

One of the great composers and lyricists of the 20th century, Stephen Sondheim is also living, breathing proof that no matter

how heterosexuals manage to sneak into

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musical theater, the queens are the undisputed kings of the boards.

Sondheim has worked with others of the greats, including Hal Prince and Leonard Bernstein; won just about every award imaginable including a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, a Grammy, many Tonys and the Kennedy Center honors for lifetime achievement-which came long before he stopped working, since he's still going strong.

Now, some of Sondheim's past works can be heard again in their original glory. Sony's

Stephen Sondheim

Masterworks Broadway imprint has released remastered original cast recordings of four of his shows.

There's Merrily We Roll Along, based on the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart play. With multiple versions of some of the songs, it provides a fascinating glimpse into the creative process and how a musical can evolve over the years.

Of course, that's far from his best-known work. Of the four releases, it would be difficult to say which garnered Sondheim the most attention, although it's certainly not Merrily.

Is it Into the Woods, his paean/parody of fairy tales? It was certainly a notable production, and provided a great showcase for the talents of Bernadette Peters, an actress whose name is practically synonymous with the composer. Her turn as the Witch was a scenery-chewing, manic-depressive extravaganza of comedic acting, cementing her as one of the most underrated talents extant.

Peters, along with Mandy Patinkin, are also famous for their starring roles in Sunday in the Park With George, James Lapine and Sondheim's confection inspired by the paintings of the French Impressionist Georges Seurat.

In Act 1, Georges, the fictionalized Seurat, paints his girl in the park, as people in the painting come to life and characters become part of the painting.

Act 2 sees George, Seurat's sculptor descendant, come to terms with his family and his life in a poignant song cycle,

Both of those are good choices, but Sondhaim and Hugh Wheeler's adaptation of Christopher Bond's Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street wins, and not just because Tim Burton's film version starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter is due out at the end of this year. The original cast recording is two CDs long, with both Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou, plus a symphonic rendition of this Grand Guignol about a barber who seeks revenge against the hypocrites who sent

him to prison, and his lover who grinds his victims into meat for her pies. It is a grisly delight that must be purchased.

In fact, the DVD of the 1982 PBS broadcast of Sweeney Todd is still readily available, so buy both the remastered soundtrack and the show. That way, you can watch it at home and listen to it in the car.

While he's not the most commercially successful (although he did work on West Side Story) or the most prolific composer or lyricist, Sondheim's oeuvre proves him a master of his craft. These releases are a welcome reminder of that, as well as a great distillation of a career that has so far spanned over half a century.

Dykes To Watch Out For ARCHIVE episode.

HEY MO! C'MON! IT'S LATE! TIME TO GET UP!

Civic DUTY

WHY SHOULD BE A PRODUCTIVE MEMBER OF A SOCIETY THAT THRIVES BY OPPRESSING EVERY. ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD?

Y'KNOW, YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! I THINK YOU'VE HIT ON A VERY SYMBOLIC FORM OF PROTEST HERE!

GET UP? WHAT FOR? I'M

NOT GETTING UP UNTIL THEvery ELECTORAL COLLEGE IS ABOLISHED AND GEORGE BUSH IS IMPEACHED!

BUT SWEETIE, YOU'LL GET BEDSORES.

YES! AS A CITIZEN OF A PRIVILEGED COUNTRY, RENOUNCE THE POWER YOU HAVE TO ACTIVELY DISSENT AND EDUCATE! JUST STAY IN BED! THAT'LL SHOW THOSE REPUBLICANS A THING OR TWO.

A nostalgic look back to a simpler era: 1988

I'M NOT GETTING UP TIL ISRAEL AND PALESTINE FIND A TWOSTATE SOLUTION, AND APARTHEID IS COMPLETELY OVERTHROWN.

YOU'RE JUST GONNA LIE THERE? MAYBE A HUNGER STRIKE WOULD ATTRACT MORE MEDIA ATTENTION!

WHAT A MEANINGFUL WAY TO EXPRESS YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SLEEPING FIVE TO A MATTRESS IN REFUGEE CAMPS AND SHANTYTOWNS AND PRISONS! CAN I GET YOU ANOTHER BLANKET BEFORE I LEAVE?

ווווודוור

ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT! I'M UP ALREADY!

I'M SERIOUS, HARRIET! I JUST CAN'T DO IT ANY MORE. I CAN'T GET UP ONE MORE DAY AND GO OUT INTO A WORLD WHERE ATROCITIES ARE BEING COMMITTED EVERY MINUTE WITH THE TAXES I'M WORKING TO PAY!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BRIBING YOUR LOVER OUT OF BED WITH HOT BLUEBERRY MUFFINS?

www.DykesToWatch Out For.com

SMAK!