Sondheim Has A New Show Lined Up!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 3/4/12 at 6:29am

Composer and lyricist reveals he is collaborating with US playwright on his first musical since 2008's 'Road Show'

Stephen Sondheim has revealed that he's working on a new musical in collaboration with playwright David Ives.

The composer and lyricist, who was awarded a special Olivier award last year for his contribution to London theatre, told the Evening Standard that he had between "20 and 30 minutes" worth of material, but was finding the process difficult.

Sondheim said, "Having spent the better part of four years writing two books, I'm really rusty. I sit at the piano and think, 'Where's middle C?' Any muscles, as you know, atrophy when you don't use them, and I haven't been using my musical muscles."

If it reaches the stage, the new musical would be Sondheim's first since 'Road Show', which played at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008. Its UK premiere was held at the Menier Chocolate Factory last summer, with a cast led by David Bedella. Last year, he contributed a new song, entitled God, to the Broadway review of his work, Sondheim on Sondheim.

Though his work has rarely been produced in this country, David Ives is a major American playwright. His latest play Venus in Fur is currently running on Broadway, with Hugh Dancy and Nina Arianda starring in the two-hander that explores masochism.

Sondheim did not reveal any details about the new musical, though, shortly after the interview's publication, he told Playbill.com, "It's an idea I've had for a long time and it springs indirectly from a moment in a play of David's."

Sondheim, who was in London to check in on the forthcoming West End production of Sweeney Todd, also bemoaned the state of theatre in his native city, claiming Broadway was suffering from an overload of musicals. "In New York," he explained, "you're starved for plays, except off-Broadway."