Since my early teens, it's been a goal to see a live production/staging of every major Sondheim (music and lyrics) musical. With the recent Assassins concert at Encores!, I realized that I've finally accomplished this goal. I thought it would be fun if we could all post our lists of professional Sondheim productions that we've seen over the years, obviously, some members will have endlessly long lists, including the legendary original productions, which is always fun to read.
The criteria is Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tour, regional, and staged concerts such as Encores!, the Philharmonic, and Ravinia. I'm not counting professional videos, bootlegs, school, or community theater productions, as I've seen one community theater production of Company that copied the Doyle production and I've tried erasing it from my memory.
Excluded are Saturday Night and The Frogs, as these are very rarely produced, but feel free to include them in the optional section if you've seen them.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - 2011 Papermill Playhouse
Anyone Can Whistle - 2010 Encores!
Company - 2006 Broadway Revival - 2011 Philharmonic Concert
Pacific Overtures - 2017 Classic Stage Company (Off-Broadway)
Sweeney Todd - 2005 Broadway Revival - 2017 Tooting Arts Club Revival (Off-Broadway)
Merrily We Roll Along - 2012 Encores!
Sunday in the Park With George - 2008 Broadway Revival - 2010 Philadelphia Arden Theater - 2016 New York City Center Gala Concert - 2017 Broadway Revival
Into The Woods - 2012 Shakespeare in the Park - 2015 Roundabout Revival (Off-Broadway)
Assassins - 2017 Encores! Off-Center
Passion - 2013 Classic Stage Company (Off-Broadway)
Road Show - 2008 Original Production (Public Theater, Off-Broadway)
Other/Optional (include revues, Saturday Night, The Frogs & Bounce here)
Sondheim on Sondheim - 2010 Original Broadway Production
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Whoopi Goldberg Revival
Anyone Can Whistle - nope, never
Company - Broadway Revival (and regional, amateur)
Follies - Broadway Revival (and performed in, amateur)
A Little Night Music - 2009 Broadway Revival
Pacific Overtures -nope, not ever
Sweeney Todd - Broadway Revival - Tooting Arts Club Revival (Off-Broadway) - directed (non professional)
Merrily We Roll Along - I wish!
Sunday in the Park With George - Broadway Original
- Broadway Revival - Broadway Revival
Into The Woods - Shakespeare in the Park
Assassins - no, very sadly
Passion - nope
Road Show - Original Production (Public Theater, Off-Broadway)
Other/Optional (include revues, Saturday Night, The Frogs & Bounce here)
Sondheim on Sondheim - nope
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Saturday Night - Scheduled for regional production next year in SF
West Side Story - West End revival 1997, Bway revival 2009
Gypsy - U of Michigan 1974, Bway Revival w Patti 2008
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - regional in MI 1978, Bway revival 1996
Anyone Can Whistle - still unfulfilled
Do I Hear a Waltz? - 2014 SF regional
Company - Bway revival 2007, SF regional 2015
Follies - 2011 revival in DC & Broadway
A Little Night Music - 2010 with both CZJ & Bernadette Bway revivals, regional 2015
Pacific Overtures - 2017 John Doyle revival
Sweeney Todd - 2001 SF Symphony w Patti LuPone, George Hearn & NPH, 2005 John Doyle revival & tour, local SF 2012, SF Opera 2015, Pie Shop transfer 2017
Merrily We Roll Along - not seen onstage
Sunday in the Park with George - Roundabout revival 2008, Paris 2013
Into the Woods - Bway revival 2002, SF regional 2013, 2014,
Assassins - Local SF Productions 2011, 2017
Passion- not seen onstage, but hate the video version
The Frogs - not seen onstage
Sondheim on Sondheim - 2010
Road Show - (See also Bounce, Wise Guys...) Local SF 2014
Just a heads up/reminder, for those in the northeast who are still waiting to see a live production of Merrily, Maria Friedman's lovely production will be at the Huntington Theatre in Boston this Fall. I am tempted to make the trip.
Not sure I agree with all of the OP's criteria. Not including Saturday Night and or The Frogs just because they are tough to cross of your list?? I call cheating! I also don't think it's fair to exclude amateur and community productions. A live production is a live production, and some amateur productions are actually quite good in my experience. So using my preferred rules, here we go:
Company -San Francisco Playhouse
Follies - 2011 Broadway Revival
A Little Night Music - A.C.T
Pacific Overtures - 2017 Classic Stage Company (Off-Broadway)
Sweeney Todd - 2017 Tooting Arts Club Revival (Off-Broadway)
-Ray of Light Theatre (Regional)
Merrily We Roll Along - Youth Musical Theatre Company (Amateur)
Sunday in the Park With George - 2017 Broadway Revival
Into The Woods - 2012 Shakespeare in the Park - 2015 Roundabout Revival (Off-Broadway)
I should've been clearer, the criteria is more so for MY personal list, you can include whatever you'd like. For me, personally, my goal was always professional productions of each show.
Also, It seems easier to have seen a production of Anyone Can Whistle (Carnegie Hall, LA, London, Ravinia, Encores) or Merrily than The Frogs or Saturday Night. You can include whatever you want under the optional section, but if The Frogs or Saturday Night were mandatory, I doubt there would be many people with complete lists. Also, I wrote "major" Sondheim musicals, I certainly wouldn't consider Saturday Night or The Frogs two of his major works.
ljay889 said: "I should've been clearer, the criteria is more so for MY personal list, you can include whatever you'd like. For me, personally, my goal was always professional productions of each show.
Also, It seems easier to have seen a production of Anyone Can Whistle (Carnegie Hall, LA, London, Ravinia, Encores) or Merrily than The Frogs or Saturday Night. You can include whatever you want under the optional section, but if The Frogs or Saturday Night were mandatory, I doubt there would be many people with complete lists. Also, I wrote "major" Sondheim musicals, I certainly wouldn't consider Saturday Night or The Frogs two of his major works. "
Fair enough - to each his own goal. But I still strongly disagree with you on that last point. They may not be his most famous works, but The Frogs was produced on Broadway, and Saturday Night had major productions at Second Stage and in London. They both have cast recordings, and are both available for licensing. Furthermore, they are both listed on Sondheim's Wikipedia under "major works." Of course Wikipedia is not the be-all-end-all, but it's telling. I think it's pretty silly to exclude The Frogs and Saturday Night while still including Road Show and Anyone Can Whistle. To me, those four are at roughly the same level of obscurity. Of course you're allowed to set your own parameters for your goal, but you claimed to have seen professional productions of all the major Sondheim musicals, and to me that just seems untrue.
Sweeney Todd - 2014 NY Philharmonic - 2017 Tooting Arts Club Revival (Off-Broadway)
Sunday in the Park With George - 2008 Broadway Revival
Into The Woods - 2002 Broadway Revival
Assassins - 2004 Roundabout
Passion - 2013 Classic Stage Company (Off-Broadway)
-2005 Lincoln Center (Lonny Price dir., Lupone, Cerveris, McDonald)
West Side Story - 2009 Broadway Revival
-2016 Papermill Playhouse
Other/Optional 2010 - Sondheim: The Birthday Concert at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. Truly an astonishing night I will never forget. Here's my favorite moment: https://youtu.be/_B3MvJhn2Hs
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum- Phil Silvers and Nathan Lane productions Gypsy - Angela in Philly and NYC, Tyne, Bernadette, Patti, Betty (enough of Gypsy) Do I Hear a Waltz - Encores Anyone Can Whistle- Encores Company- original Broadway, Doyle Production and the awful Roundabout revival Follies- Original, Papermill, and Danner, Williams, Ivy Revival A Little Night Music-Original and Revival (with Peters, Stritch) Pacific Overtures- Original, Boston tryout, Roundabout revival, Doyle revival Sweeney Todd- Original, Doyle revival, seeing one on Barrow Street in September Merrily We Roll Along- Original (in previews) York revival. (If I saw the Encores, it escapes me.). Sunday in the Park with George- Original, Roundabout revival, Jake revival Into the Woods- OBC Assassins- Playwrights Horizons production, Roundabout Revival, and some production at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival years ago Passion- OBC (once is enough) Road Show- Public Theater The Frogs - Lincoln Center production The Sondheim Celebration at the Shubert Theater (logo is Scrabble pieces) I think in '75 or '76. Saturday Night - Off-Bway production with David Campbell (?) from Australia. West Side Story - Some revival at the Minskoff, an excellent Paper Mill production
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum- Valley Forge Theatre - Mickey Rooney Gypsy - Broadway with Tyne Daly, Patti LuPone (also NYCC), Bernadette Peters Do I Hear a Waltz - Encores Company- Broadway - Roundabout & Esparza Revival Follies- Danner/Williams Revival, Peters/Maxwell Revival (Kennedy Center & Broadway) A Little Night Music-Revival with Zeta-Jones and Peters Pacific Overtures- Roundabout Revival, CSC Sweeney Todd- Lansbury & Hearn in Philly, LuPone Revival, Barrow Street Revival Merrily We Roll Along- Encores Sunday in the Park with George- Original, Roundabout revival, Jake revival Into the Woods- Peters/Gleason, Williams Revival, Laura Pels Off Broadway Revival Assassins- Roundabout Revival, NYCC Passion- OBC, CSC Kennedy Center Celebration at Lincoln Center West Side Story - Last Broadway Revival
A Little Night Music: 2003 NYCO production (Jeremy Irons, Juliette Stevenson, etc), 2009 Broadway revival (once with CZJ/Lansbury; 3x with Bernadette/Stritch), 2013 Arden Theatre Company (Philadelphia)
Sunday: 2008 Broadway revival, 2016 City Center concert
Into the Woods: 2002 Broadway revival
Company: 2006 Broadway revival, 2011 NY Philharmonic concert
West Side Story: 2009 Broadway revival, 2017 Media Music Theatre (Media, PA)
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body