Word: sondheimer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...says something about Stephen Sondheim that being in love for the first time in his 64 years -- as he recently acknowledged he is -- has evoked the darkest, most depressing show of his career. Passion, the only memorable musical of the Broadway season, portrays the romantic obsession of a penniless, ugly and dying woman for a kind, handsome and accomplished soldier. By the end, she is dead, he has been driven insane, the man who introduced ; them has been gravely wounded, and a doctor who fostered the relationship has been burdened with guilt that will last a lifetime. The audience...
...akin to a stalker, too creepy to induce sympathy. Her unstinting devotion resembled emotional blackmail. The narrative, two hours without intermission, felt strained and wearisome. Many theatergoers fidgeted or tittered in the wrong places. (There aren't many right places to laugh in Passion, which makes no use of Sondheim's greatest gift -- a talent for writing intricate comic lyrics that fit the characters.) Sensing disaster, Sondheim and director-librettist James Lapine revamped the plot, recast a major role, picked up the pace and added three songs. The show is vastly improved, but huge problems remain. The obsessed woman, stirringly...
Passion is ably staged but so austere that it provides little visual pleasure. The score similarly resists anyone's yearning to walk out humming, exceeding even the anti-showstopper standards of recent Sondheim: the melodies are elusive, and the program omits song titles. The only lush moment is the opening, a nude bedroom encounter between Shea and luxuriantly fleshy Marin Mazzie. It too soon goes sour. They sing liltingly of abundant happiness. Then she returns to her husband, her child and her hypocrisy, while he goes off to his new posting and his doom...
...first four acts. No one dies, only the villains end up with egg on their face, and just about everyone finds a love to run off with. Although the Bergman film on which the musical is based, "Smiles of a Summer Night," explores the darker side of romance, Sondheim's script and score revert to a more optimistic vision. HRDC's Night Music loses track of the inevitable happy ending and plays with conflicts as if they may never be resolved. All too often the players dwell heavily on melancholy as if it may prevail, rather than as a comedic...
Singing, instead of speaking, about emotions and situations actually better conveyed the intended mood of this piece. The consistently frivolous chorus, played with great flamboyance, brings the lighter mood back into play. Everyone succeeds in putting great fun into the flouncy pop score by Stephen Sondheim. His lyrics and expression are what the hardcore thespian would disparagingly lable witty; they nevertheless succeed in drawing the players up from their dramatic doldrums. But while de Lima and Upton stand out with rich, impressive voices, several other performances are inconsistent with their standard, preventing the music from carrying the production...