Listening to music, drifting off into your own mindless thoughts…How about combining drama and music at the same time?
The Broadway musical’s greatest songwriting titan, Stephen Sondheim, set up a novel artistic standard in musical plays. On November 26, 2021, he passed away at age 91, resting in his home in Connecticut, a discovery that struck society with grief.
During the most climatic stage of his lifetime - 1970-80s - Sondheim produced an abundance of musical works, including ‘Company’ (1970), ‘Follies’ (1971), ‘A Little Night Music’ (1973), and ‘Into the Woods’(1987), etc.
‘Send in the Clowns’ of Little Night Music held popularity in the top musical charts, conveying a smooth tone with this classical line: ‘Isn’t it rich, send in
the clown’. Sondheim’s devotedness and passion towards musical composition and in theatrical plays meant solitary late working hours and large time investments. His interest was mainly in constructing music, rather than musical lyrics; Arthur Laurent’s proposal for Sondheim to write lyrics instead of song compositions for Romeo and Juliet received a frown in response. However, Laurent’s other proposal, ‘Would you like to play for Lenny?’, made Sondheim hesitant about his choice, and he eventually agreed to the arrangement after calling his adviser, Oscar. Using a witty style, he attempted to construct the lyrics of the play with simplicity, since he thought that there were dangers of pretension with Lenny’s demand of poetic construction. Indeed, Sondheim valued poetic language not for its sophistication, but for its use of imagery and rhyme, as exemplified by his lyrics: ‘It’s alarming and charming l feel’ (girl from the street, play) and ‘When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet, all the way from your first cigarette’ (Jet song).
During the ’70s, Sondheim collaborated with Prince, leading to the breakthroughs of Follies’, ‘A Little Night Music’ and ‘A Little Night Overture’—a burst of artistic production in such a short time span, all constructed from his original plays. Interestingly, Sondheim perceived plays that contained lots of blood as beautiful or melodramatic. Sondheim’s shows were so admired by the public that they ran for 604 performances. He is still considered one of the greatest musical artists today and shall be remembered.
Author: Elaine Li
Biography: Elaine is a 10th grade student attending York House School. She aspires to specialize in mathematics and is interested in watching musicals and plays as well as listening to a variety of different music. She is a kind and sociable person, someone who is willing to help others and contribute to society.
Contact:
Ins.@elainel24681
Email: elee4239@gmail.com / elainel24@yorkhouse.ca
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