Favorite Sondheim Scores

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 2:45pm

1. Sunday in the Park with George
2. Sweeney Todd/Into the woods- can't decide
3. Follies
4. Company
5. Assassins

Updated On: 11/28/14 at 02:45 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 2:47pm

The only Sondheim score that I like all the way through is Merrily We Roll Along, though the show is a bit of a disaster.

There are good things in Follies and Anyone Can Whistle.

The score to Forum is boring, but harmless. The song Everybody Ought to Have a Maid is fun pastiche.

I also like one song a piece from Company and Sunday in the Park With George.

The rest aren't worth mentioning.





Updated On: 11/28/14 at 02:47 PM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 2:59pm

Hm, probably A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC for number one.

COMPANY, FOLLIES, PACIFIC OVERTURES and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE are all tied just below.

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:02pm

So I'm relistening to Company to see if there are songs from it that I am forgetting, and has anybody noticed how close You Could Drive a Person Crazy sounds to Jeepers Creepers?

Updated On: 11/28/14 at 03:02 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:10pm

They're all so brilliant and rich that I can never settle on one.

It depends on the week you ask me.

This week I'd probably say Sweeney Todd.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:14pm

I also adore the songs he wrote for Evening Primrose if that counts as a "score." That might be tied for number one actually.

[Curious3]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:28pm

SWEENY on any level of measurement is his undisputed masterpiece. Compositional mastery on the level of virtually any 20th century operatic masterpiece. Difficult, absolutely. Worth the effort, without a doubt. This "show" reaches very deep, far beyond the confines of a B'way show. Think "Candide" or "Three Penny". My only real criticism is that unlike opera scores Sondheim does not provide the orchestration, which is a critical aspect of musical composition. However, in the case of Sweeny, his work with Jonathan Tunick was hand in glove. The individual songs "arias" if you will, easily stand on their own" "Linnet Bird", "Johanna", "Pretty Women", "Kiss Me", "The Ballad of Sweeny Todd" and the Rossini pastiche "The Contest with Pirelli".
This work will not soon be equaled on a Broadway stage.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:32pm

These are the scores I really like, in the order in which I like them:

1. Sunday in the Park With George
2. Sweeney Todd
3. Into the Woods
4. Company
5. Merrily We Roll Along
6. Follies
7. Assassins
8. Pacific Overtures
9. A Little Night Music
10. Passion

These are scores that are decent, and have some good songs, but are not my favorite:

11. Anyone Can Whistle
12. A Funny Thing Happened
13. Saturday Night
14. The Frogs
15. Road Show

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:33pm

"undisputed"? That's a bit of a strong word, as I would dispute that Sweeney is his "masterpiece" and though I may not be relevant to you, I am somebody, so that by definition does not make it undisputed.

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 3:43pm

company or a funny thing happened on the way to the forum!!!!

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:04pm

My favorite is no contest, SWENNEY TODD!

[Queen of the Night]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:08pm

Assassins, Into to the Woods, Company and A little night music.

[Taryn]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:17pm

This is a cruel, cruel question.

[little_sally]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:23pm

Sunday in the Park With George is my favorite score of all time and my favorite musical. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

I also love the scores to Follies, Company, and much of Into the Woods.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:24pm

Ha!

It's like Sophie's Choice.

I also have a huge love for Assassins. I think it's tremendously underrated within Sondheim's canon.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:30pm

Follies
Forum
Company

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 4:43pm

For me PACIFIC OVERTURES is a score of unmitigated brilliance (though wedded to a flaccid play). SUNDAY has whole passages that I adore and can tear up over, though there are whole passages I want to fast-forward through as well. (Turns out NOT everyone loves Louie). I used to love SWEENEY and still find it one of the most thrilling shows to see onstage but it's a cd I seldom play.

One score has always been my favorite, favorite Sondheim show and favorite musical ever, despite the sad little bowdlerized affair they pretended was its recent revival-- I'm speaking of the sublime A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Those exquisite Ravel-esque harmonies, sparkling wordplay tethered to characters you really care about, and the 1-2 punch of "Send in the Clowns" followed by "The Miller's Son"-- even the outtakes (Two Fairytales) and film add-ons (the reworked "The Glamorous Life") are among the very best things he's ever written. The fact that the OBC of ALNM was my 2nd show on Broadway back on New Year's Eve of 1973 should in no way diminish the impartiality of my choice here.

[Buddy's blues]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 5:05pm

Sunday
Company
Follies
Sweeney
Night Music

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 6:31pm

This is a really tough pick, his run from Company to Assassins is unparalleled, and I like them all for such different reasons that it's hard to put one above the other, so here's three shows for three reasons:

Most cohesive show: Sweeney Todd. Far and away this is his best show in terms of engaging the audience from start to finish. The musical throughlines are so superb and he deftly carries the listener along with the music - it's one of the very few sung-through (well, almost) musicals that doesn't totally wear me out after an hour.

Most listened-to: Merrily We Roll Along. It's insane how often I've listened to this in various forms - OBC, off-broadway, broadway preview recording. I just can't get enough of it, it seems, even if I do find a couple numbers a little grating (Frank couldn't write something less annoying than "Bobby and Jackie and Jack"?). Just a fabulous score.

Most interesting: Sunday in the Park with George. It took me a few tries to really get this show, but once I did I really GOT it. There's something so satisfying about it, it's like, brain-stimulating theater. I spend the whole show thinking intensely, interacting and engaging with it like a really good book or film.

Curious3 - As far as I know, he's always been very close to the orchestrations on almost all of his shows, but it helps that Jonathan Tunick is really good at what he does.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 6:46pm

...has anybody noticed how close You Could Drive a Person Mad sounds to Jeepers Creepers[?]

It's "Crazy" not "Mad". Maybe if you put your hearing aids in, you would discover Sondheim is better than you think.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 6:55pm

FOLLIES
SWEENEY TODD
ASSASSINS
COMPANY
PASSION
INTO THE WOODS
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
PACIFIC OVERTURES
FORUM
ROAD SHOW
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
THE FROGS
ROAD SHOW

Obviously, I am omitting those shows for which Sondheim wrote only lyrics.

And I must confess that while I have confidence in my top 4 choices and my bottom 4 choices, the shows in the middle could easily be reordered.

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 6:59pm

GavestonPS, sorry if I offended you by misspelling the title, and as I have already proven, I am 16 years old and in no need of hearing aids. My opinions do not make me wrong. I don't even hate Sondheim. In fact, I just mentioned some songs that I liked by him. Updated On: 11/28/14 at 06:59 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 7:03pm

No offense taken, Fantod. But "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" is one of Sondheim's most famous songs (among show music aficionados). That you don't even know the title makes me question your familiarity with his work.
Updated On: 11/28/14 at 07:03 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 7:09pm

I have Spotify, and I cannot see the whole title of a song when I am just casually listening to it, so I transcribed what I could see of the title and filled in the rest. I have listened to every single Sondheim score except Road Show (I'll get around to it one day) and have seen Into the Woods, Passion, Sunday in the Park, Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music, and Follies live or a video taping of a live performance. Sure, I may like Sondheim more if I saw the original production of Follies or Company, but I am nowhere near old enough for that, so I have to go on what I have. And for the record, You Could Drive a Person Crazy is the song from Company that I like, and I still think it sounds like Jeepers Creppers.

Updated On: 11/28/14 at 07:09 PM

[somechrysanthemumtea]

Posted: 11/28/14 at 7:11pm

I really just love Pacific Overtures, with Follies coming in a close second!