Sondheim: a Celebration at Carnegie Hall

Has any musical theater composer been the subject of more special concerts during his life-time than Stephen Sondheim? Doubtful. I wonder why that is?

I believe he appeals to performers, who enjoy the opportunity to sing his songs with orchestra. I don't dislike his music, but I won't be lining up to sing it with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia this summer (even if they ask me to have done, which they should have asked me to have done). I get that his shows are creatively formatted and explore more contemporary human situations in a more modern setting. He probably also appeals to anyone who appreciates clever, urban word-play--which I do.

Still, so many Sondheim revues/evenings/tributes/galas/concerts/acts? Well, I don't have any more lined up for the remainder of my Year, and gratefully Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall from 1992 is a good tribute concert on which to end my Sondheim thinking.

Firstly, while I groaned when Bill Irwin walked onto stage after the overture, he turned out to be really funny. I hate clowns, but this was a hysterical take on the "fake stage manager" routine. Of course, I'm a fake stage manager myself, so I'm biased.

I mourned the late Jerry Hadley and Madeleine Kahn, both of whom do their songs very well. Liza Minnelli was fantastic in her songs, both of which were new to me. I thought Liza Minnelli was very good. Glenn Close was not quite at the level she was at in the Lloyd Webber tribute I listened to last week. Betty Buckley was miscast singing "Children will Listen". I didn't care for the Tonics.

While I have heard most of this music before, just about everything from Merrily We Roll Along and Assassins was new to my ears.

Perhaps I do need to look for a little more Sondheim.

Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Staged in 1992
Released on video in 1993
(Amazon says this is a two-disc set and Netflix sent me only one disc that seems to contain a compilation of what is on the two-disc version. What gives?)

Cast: Bernadette Peters, Billy Stritch, Liza Minnelli, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Patti Lupone, Mark Jacoby, Dorothy Loudon, Patrick Cassidy, Victor Garber, Bill Irwin, Jerry Hadley,

Ragtime The Musical: Mostly Original Broadway Cast recording

This recording is not listed as being the OBC album, but rather as "Songs from" Ragtime The Musical .  I wonder if E.L. Doctorow insisted on this being listed as "The Musical", so as not to confuse it with "The Novel" or "The Film" or "The Hip-Hop Concert."  While most of the cast of this recording is the cast that appeared on the Broadway opening night of this show, there are a couple of significant personnel changes.  If you know why, please tell me.  Oh, wait, I see, this was the out of town try-out cast in Toronto, not the Broadway cast.

I saw Ragtime on tour in Chicago close to a decade ago.  I remember thinking that it was a lovely score hampered by some pedestrian directing.  I put my career at risk with that statement, as the show was directed by Frank Galati, noted Chicago writer/director.  But as Galati also directed the brief, toxic production of Pirate Queen, which played Chicago before dying on Broadway--no one is immune to the creating schlock.

Ragtime is not schlock, even by the most curmudgeonly of standards.  There is powerful music, here, sung in powerful and effective ways.   But somehow it tries to take on too much for my tastes.   While the pastiche numbers for Evelyn Nesbitt, Henry Ford, Emma Goldberg, and Harry Houdini give a good feel for the era, they get in the way of telling the human stories of Mother, Father, Coalhouse, and Sarah. 

What a great cast, though.  Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie are three of my favorite singers each given one fantastic song to sing and several interesting ensemble numbers (although if I hear that Ragtime theme once more, I may take a sledge hammer to the honky-tonk piano--a feeling I remember having after seeing the show live, too).  I think this is Mark Jacoby's first appearance in my year; I must look for other recordings with him.

Ragtime

Music by Stephen Flaherty

Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Book by Terrence McNally

Toronto Cast recorded in 1996 before the show opened on Broadway in 1997

Cast: Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Mark Jacoby, Jim Corti, Camille Saviola,