On October 25th, PS Classics will release Sondheim Sings II, the second volume of newly-remastered demos from the private collection of the man who is arguably Broadway's greatest-living composer/lyricist.Whereas the first CD, which encompassed the years 1962-1972, highlighted Sondheim's private renditions of songs that were mostly known to fans, the second will focus on rarities from the Sondheim trunk, "material Sondheim wrote in college, or for early and often unproduced
professional productions, or for the amusement
of friends and colleagues in the 1950s," stated Philip Chaffin, a board member and A&R Director of PS Classics. "I consider myself as much a
Sondheim fan as the next person, but most of this material was totally
unfamiliar to me." Sondheim Sings II will most likely feature 20 tracks, and a part of the CD's proceeds will benefit Young Playwrights, Inc., which Sondheim founded for young creative talents in the theatre world.Peter E. Jones, Sondheim's archivist, will produce the CD for PS Classics. He also serves on the board of the label, which has released the revival cast albums of Assassins and Pacific Overtures as well as the Broadway cast recording of The Frogs.
The
career of Stephen Sondheim has spanned almost 50
years since his Broadway debut in 1957 as the lyricist of West Side Story. After also penning the lyrics to Gypsy (with a return to mere lyric-writing for 1965's Do I Hear a Waltz?), Sondheim
went on to write the scores for a litany of shows that challenged
musical theatre conventions in theme, content and structure. Among his
shows are A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle,
Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney
Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the
Woods, Assassins and Passion. His latest musical, Bounce, closed out of town in DC before making it to Broadway but an expanded, limited-run production of 1974's The Frogs bowed last year at Lincoln Center.
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