West End Stars Celebrate Sondheim in Oct. 23 Benefit

By: Jul. 19, 2005
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A plethora of West End stars (and a few from Broadway) will celebrate the 75th birthday of Stephen Sondheim in the benefit concert Children Will Listen: the words and music of Stephen Sondheim on October 23rd at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Proceeds from the concert will go to ChildLine, the UK's free, 24-hour helpline for children in distress or danger. Lined up to perform Sondheim's songs are Rosemary Ashe, John Barrowman, Stephen Carlile, Clive Carter, Gemma Craven, James Dreyfuss, Daniel Evans, Tim Flavin, Rosemary Ford, Roy Hudd, Laura Michelle Kelly, Eartha Kitt, Beverley Klein, Bonnie Langford, Julian Ovenden, Steven Page, Nicholas Parsons, Wendi Peters, Sian Phillips, Joan Savage, Imelda Staunton, Claire Sweeney and Sally Anne Triplett. Staged by Richard Morris and Doug Pinchin, the evening will feature musical direction by Gareth Valentine as well as choreography by Bill Deamer. Children Will Listen will be presented by Richard Douglas Productions and the Stephen Sondheim Society.

The career of Stephen Sondheim, who is considered by many to be the greatest living composer-lyricist of musicals, 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 (some of which are only recently attaining the popularity that eluded them in their original productions) 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.

Children Will Listen is the latest in a line of high-profile celebrations and retrospectives toasting the 75th birthday of Sondheim. The latest was held at the Hollywood Bowl on July 8th; it followed a star-packed, 24-hour Wall to Wall performance at Symphony Space and Children and Art at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

Tickets, which range from £60 to £120, can be purchased by calling 44 (0)20 7494 5060.

For more information, click here to visit the Stephen Sondheim Society - www.sondheim.org.

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