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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?

Phantom of London

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Broadway Legend
joined:3/26/08

Broadway Legend
joined:
3/26/08

Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#1
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:13pm

As the title suggests.

MarkBearSF

Broadway Star
joined:1/25/11

Broadway Star
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1/25/11

Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#2
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:15pm

Rising to the bait.

No.

Call_me_jorge

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Broadway Legend
joined:1/9/15

Broadway Legend
joined:
1/9/15

Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#3
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:19pm

No, not at all. He's underrated for the amount of people who says he's overrated.

And I remember this musical I remember their brilliance And I might never sleep again...

adamgreer

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joined:3/18/05

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#4
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:21pm

No.

My name is neither "adam" nor "greer."

BroadwayConcierge

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joined:7/24/15

Broadway Legend
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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#5
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:52pm

Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?

usn120 said: "Really... REALLY...? It's been 8 years and you thought it was worth bumping to share that you THINK Broadway "Star" Alex Wyse is Jewish?"

rattleNwoolypenguin

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joined:10/11/11

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10/11/11

Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#6
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:53pm

He's spent most of his career being severely underrated especially musically. Mainstream media still only focuses on him writing the lyrics to "West Side" and "Gypsy" and "Send in the Clowns". I would love a world where everyone gets sick of hearing the songs/seeing remakes of Assassins or Little Night Music the way they're tired of The Music Man and Annie. Then at least people would have so much more exposure to him.

BroadwayConcierge

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joined:7/24/15

Broadway Legend
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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#7
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:53pm

In fact, a hallmark of Sondheim's career has been how impossibly difficult it has been for some of his works to translate to commercial appeal/success. Overrated? Not even close.

usn120 said: "Really... REALLY...? It's been 8 years and you thought it was worth bumping to share that you THINK Broadway "Star" Alex Wyse is Jewish?"

rattleNwoolypenguin

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joined:10/11/11

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#8
Posted: 10/29/16 at 5:57pm

I've also been thinking recently a Broadway revival of Sweeney, with a commercially appealing staging and larger orchestra could be as successful as a Les Mis or Chicago.

Especially when I've noticed a slow cult following building with the Tim Burton film.

Valentina3

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joined:2/26/16

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#9
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:02pm

^ that's just sad to hear, rattle. Because Sweeney the movie was just bad.

Phantom of London - why would you start this post? What do you not like about/from Sondhiem?

icecreambenjamin

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joined:6/7/14

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#10
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:03pm

CindersGolightly

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joined:5/2/14

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#11
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:17pm

Not in the slightest.

"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."

hork

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joined:6/28/15

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#12
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:28pm

Yes

qolbinau

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#13
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:33pm

The quality of Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations and recording quality for the Sweeney film are probably the best recorded for any Sondheim show ever in any medium. The voices might be thin, but Sondheim's melodies are still coming through strong (e.g., My Friends; Epiphany; Pretty Women; Not While I'm Around etc.). Personally, I'm not sad if people are enjoying this music.

"It’s the fractured quality in [Bernadette Peters'] singing voice and line readings that puts across the character as someone for whom resentment is sliding into madness." - NYtimes on Follies (2011).

sephyr

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joined:11/21/10

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#14
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:33pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "I've also been thinking recently a Broadway revival of Sweeney, with a commercially appealing staging and larger orchestra could be as successful as a Les Mis or Chicago.

Especially when I've noticed a slow cult following building with the Tim Burton film.

"

I completely agree. Get an all star Sweeney and Lovett and you've got it. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters maybe? I'd love to see Sweeney with all the grandness it deserves back on Broadway.

godlessondheimite

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Understudy
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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#15
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:36pm

broadwaybabywannabe2

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joined:11/9/11

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#16
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:38pm

in words even you can understand...NO!!

broadwaysfguy

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#17
Posted: 10/29/16 at 6:55pm

no...

and you do have to be willing to invest in seeing great productions of sondheims best works to truly appreciate his multi layered genius

listening to a few of his songs or cast recordings without seeing the genius unfold live is like trying to truly apprciate shakespeare by just reading it....

Mr. Nowack

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#18
Posted: 10/29/16 at 7:27pm

From a technical standpoint his lyric work is superb so he's worthy of all the praise, but his works can be a bit highbrow so the lack of mass appeal is understandable. I think he is rated just about evenly.

Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

Jay Lerner-Z

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#19
Posted: 10/29/16 at 7:55pm

No, but if you really wanted a discussion, perhaps you could've given your own answer and at least attempted to make an argument for or against.

Hopefully the people who respond will put a reciprocal amount of effort into their posts.

Sick, pathetic POS

gypsy101

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#20
Posted: 10/29/16 at 7:56pm

if anything his work is underrated with the vast majority of the populace.

"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."

henrikegerman

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joined:4/29/05

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#21
Posted: 10/29/16 at 8:22pm

Imagine the musical theatre of the last 60 years without him.

Now, do you still feel like asking this question?

pupscotch

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#22
Posted: 10/29/16 at 8:29pm

No. If anything, he's underrated. One of the best composers of our time.

Mildred Plotka

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#23
Posted: 10/29/16 at 10:12pm

Valentina3 said: "^ that's just sad to hear, rattle. Because Sweeney the movie was just bad.

Phantom of London - why would you start this post? What do you not like about/from Sondhiem?

"

I think if they wanted to do anything other than stir the pot they'd have elaborated at the start.

"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"

Jordan Catalano

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joined:10/9/05

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#24
Posted: 10/29/16 at 10:48pm

What a stupid f*cking thread.

GavestonPS

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Is Stephen Sondheim Overrated?#25
Posted: 10/29/16 at 11:34pm

Is Sondheim overrated? Of course not. His lyrics can be as sophisticated as those of Cole Porter or as colloquial as those of Oscar Hammerstein, as funny as Larry Hart's or as touching and true-to-character as Sheldon Harnick's.

His minimalist music is not only memorable in its own right (think of the opening theme of FOLLIES: most of us didn't even know it had lyrics until years later), it is the perfect medium for stage music, where the lyrics must be intelligible even as an orchestra plays, scenery moves, and the dancing chorus taps.

I don't know why "mass appeal" is even a criterion, Mr. Nowack. Are the paintings of the Cubists inferior to "Dogs Playing Poker"? Mass appeal is usually enjoyed by those who tell us comforting clichés (pets are like people); artists such as Sondheim confront us with truths we usually do our best to avoid.