Sondheim on Broadway: When?

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 2:56pm

I'm a bit frustrated that there is currently no opportunity to go see a Sondheim show on the Great White Way. I figured it might be worthwhile to open up a discussion about this (although understanding all the while that this conversation will be meaningless, too!).

Are there any particular Sondheim shows that you think deserve a revival in coming seasons?

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 2:58pm

I'm ready for Forum or Pacific Overtures.

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:03pm

"I'm a bit frustrated that there is currently no opportunity to go see a Sondheim show on the Great White Way."

How tragic.

"I figured it might be worthwhile to open up a discussion about this (although understanding all the while that this conversation will be meaningless, too!)."

Doubtless.

"Are there any particular Sondheim shows that you think deserve a revival in coming seasons?"

No.

[Showface]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:05pm

"
"I'm a bit frustrated that there is currently no opportunity to go see a Sondheim show on the Great White Way."
How tragic.
"I figured it might be worthwhile to open up a discussion about this (although understanding all the while that this conversation will be meaningless, too!)."
Doubtless.
"Are there any particular Sondheim shows that you think deserve a revival in coming seasons?"
No."

 

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:05pm

I want a forum revival. His shows don't make money except Sweeney Todd 

[MOUSTACHA]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:16pm

Forum is the only show I know of on the horizon.  It was sidelined when James Corden got late night.  I assume they're still working on bringing it to Broadway, but I don't know of any timelines.

See: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Breaking-News-James-Corden-Led-A-FUNNY-THING-HAPPENED-ON-THE-WAY-TO-THE-FORUM-Revival-Postponed-20140908

 

[tazber]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:32pm

I would really love to see Road Show make it to Bway.

Otherwise, I think we need a Broadway revival of Passion.

Of course the show I'm really hoping we get to see is his new Bunuel inspired show with David Ives on book duty.

Updated On: 8/5/15 at 03:32 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:40pm

Has anyone been to an ANYONE CAN WHISTLE that works?

That's one I've always wanted to see on its feet.

I'd also love see a live EVENING PRIMROSE.

Of course, clearly any of these would tank on Broadway in the present climate, but still.

 

(And kudos to the OP for drawing A8 back out of the woodwork.)

[gleek4114]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 3:43pm

I really wish the London Revival of Merrily We Roll Along had transferred. Even if it's not that production, I think that it deserves another shot at broadway since it was heavily revised. Same with Anyone Can Whistle. If the 2009 Encores production had transferred (or at the very least had gotten a cast album), it would have been wonderful. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 11:28pm

Someone, I saw ANYONE CAN WHISTLE years ago at the York Theatre in NYC. Not at all a bad production and, no, it just doesn't work. The first act is so busy being clever (as Sondheim himself has admitted, only he said "smart ass" rather than "clever") that we don't really know any character except the Mayoress until Act II. And she really isn't a character but a "device".

That's very late in the evening to commit emotionally to the central relationship (Hapgood/Nurse Apple) of the show. Not to mention that the theme that the sane are insane and the insane are sane is a dated romantic notion in this age of psychotropic drugs.

As with MERRILY, however and of course, those of us who love the score will always sign up to sit through a production of WHISTLE. But the general public or even the casual Sondheim fan who only knows NIGHT MUSIC and INTO THE WOODS? He ain't comin'.

(ETA Since EVENING PRIMROSE only has four songs and ran an hour on TV with commercials, maybe somebody would like to pair it with the 90-minute PASSION. No doubt A8 will be along to tell us two wrongs don't make a right, but it strikes me as an interesting evening.)

Updated On: 8/5/15 at 11:28 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:44am

^ There ya go, Gaveston! I knew there was a pairing to be suggested to fill PRIMROSE out into a full evening, but never thought of PASSION because I detested the original show at the Booth. Seeing the CSC revival 2 years ago made the piece only slightly more viable to me, but yes, I could easily see a 2 act evening starting with the light but piquant appetizer of EVENING PRIMROSE and then jumping some 25 years later in his writing to the demanding main course of PASSION. 

And yes, no-one but us would show up for it.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:51am

Pacific Overtures, please!

I adore Evening Primrose, but it does not belong onstage. 

[Kad]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 11:55am

I saw a production of Anyone Can Whistle in London in 2010 at the tiny Jermyn Street Theatre and I loved it. It was staged- and this word is thrown around a lot without much regard to what it means- in a Brechtian style, which really works with the show. Like Brecht plays, the characters aren't people but symbols or anthropomorphized concepts or positions. The songs often pop out of nowhere and disrupt action. The plot is heavy-handed with a social point, but also absurd.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:13pm

I saw the same production as Kad and agree entirely: it worked very well.

I'd seen two previous productions of Whistle, one of which was terrible (directed by a pre-zeitgeist John Doyle) and a passable interpretation at London's Bridewell Theatre. I've certainly seen worse musicals than Anyone can Whistle.

[artscallion]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:37pm

I'd love to see Saturday Night done.  It has some great music and is a lot of fun. I saw a production in Boston maybe ten years ago and loved it.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:46pm

it will need to be one of the non profit groups like roundabout

most investors would not touch a sondheim revival except for Sweeney.

 

great revival of Company at SF playhouse currently. if you are local or coming to sf, go see it, you'll like it....

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:51pm

I can't help but think about what would happen if a "making-classics-modern" director like Diane Paulus and Bartlett Sher took on a Sondheim piece.

[brdway411]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:52pm

you can get tickets to Do I Hear a Waltz at City Center May 11-15

[Kad]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 4:04pm

"I'd love to see Saturday Night done.  It has some great music and is a lot of fun. I saw a production in Boston maybe ten years ago and loved it."

 

I saw the York's recent staging, and have to say I was rather unimpressed by the material. It's interesting as a curio and a relic of a great composer's formative years, and it really does show how far Sondheim has come. But as a show, I don't think it coheres well.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 4:24pm

Now that I'm more familiar with James Corden from his late night show, he would have been excellent in Forum. That's probably the best option as it's been nearly 20 years since the last Bway revival.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 4:26pm

"If the 2009 Encores production had transferred (or at the very least had gotten a cast album), it would have been wonderful. "

If...

 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 5:04pm

Gotta say that the production of SATURDAY NIGHT at Second Stage a few years back was a very meh evening. Even Stephen would agree that most of the score is beneath his standards, as itemized in FINISHING THE HAT. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 5:30pm

Even as a score that is leagues behind Sondheim's best work, I think Saturday Night is still pretty damn good for a composer's first supposed-to-be professional production and there are a few songs that I think are terrific: What More Do I Need?, the chorus of So Many People (I agree with the composer that the verse has some inappropriate rhyming patterns), the choral section of That Kind of a Neighborhood and the main portion of In the Movies are all indications of how wonderful his musicals would be in the future. I've never seen a production or read the script, however, so I can't comment on the book. But the score is decent!

Truth be told, the lack of Sondheim on Broadway may be from audiences getting burned out on revivals of his stuff. Between 1995 and 2012 there was scarcely a season (or maybe two) without Sondheim revival, so most of his stuff has been done since then. That said, I'd love a Broadway revival of Forum or Merrily.

Updated On: 8/6/15 at 05:30 PM

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 9:39pm

as a true SONDHEIMMANIAC...i would love to see any of his shows back on Broadway...but i would love to see ROADSHOW make it to the street...i think it has a great narrative that could be made visually stunning wit h the right budget... and some wonderful songs as well...

and maybe ANYONE CAN WHISTLE...one of my favorite SONDHEIM scores...there must be a director out there who would want to reinvent this show to make it work with that gorgeous score...