SIX BY SONDHEIM (2013)

Well-handled HBO documentary of B’way composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim (mainly directed by James Lapine) looks back at his life (a bit) and his career (mostly) thru the prism of six of his songs.  Actually, five & a half as ‘Something’s Coming’ from WEST SIDE STORY has music by Leonard Bernstein.*  The others are ‘Opening Doors’ from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG*; ‘Send in the Clowns’* from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC; ‘Being Alive’ from COMPANY; ‘I’m Still Here’ from FOLLIES; and ‘SUNDAY’ from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.  And you can’t help noticing that while Sondheim was still active when this was made (he died in 2021), the most recent song of the bunch was written in 1984, which says more in less words than anything else in here.  Still, an interesting watch, with Sondheim, the main interviewee in new & archival clips*, less prickly than usual under questioning, downright agreeable, a natural storyteller, funny and touchingly tearing up with emotion.   You, on the other hand, will likely leave dry eyed.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  The best archive material is from ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY/’70.  And the reason so many clips are from, of all places, the old Mike Douglas Show is because he taped in Philadelphia where Sondheim would have been trying out shows headed to B’way.   https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/05/orinal-cast-album-company-1970.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  *Sondheim always pointed to ‘I Feel Pretty’ as a slightly embarrassing moment for him after fellow lyricist Sheldon Harnick gently pointed out that his words for a Puerto Rican teen immigrant girl were a little Nöel Coward-ish.  But surely that show’s nadir is reached in ‘Tonight,’ when Tony sings: ‘Today, the world is just an address; a place for me to live in; No better than alright.’   *On a different front, all the confusion as to what the hell Send In The Clowns means?   It’s entirely literal.  What the circus does when something bad happens, like a fall without a net.   While the crew covers and cleans up, the entire troop send in the clowns to circle the performing ring and distract the audience from whatever horror they just witnessed.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *MERRILY, Sondheim’s infamous B’way flop (opened & closed in 16 perfs), now probably his most successful/beloved show.   A smash B’way revival three years back nearly sold out its run before it opened, and an unconnected Richard Linklater film is due in about 15 years.  He’s filming in real time before flipping it backwards.  But he’s still stuck with the absurd plot that has the ‘bad’ friend selling out by choosing to make Indie B-pics in Hollywood during the resurgent ‘70s rather than the calcified B’way musicals of the time.  How is that a wrong creative choice?)  The original stage production (seen here near the end of its short run with the house about one-third full) was already loaded with good things.  Just check out the Original Cast Recording.  The main problem was that the show was self-sabotaged between its Hal Prince DOA production and from Sondheim himself, stepping on his own songs so they wouldn’t ‘land’ in a splashy manner he must have found too show-bizzy.  And for true cringe, try Frank Sinatra’s ultra-sincere ‘cover’ of one of the standout songs: ‘We Had a Good Thing Going.’  Yikes!