Word: sondheimer
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...times there is too much fuss in the arrangements, and the set includes one clinker -- a souped-up duet with Johnny Mathis on Day Follows Day in which it's obvious the two singers recorded in separate studios. But with a half- | spoken rendition of Sondheim's Old Friend, Horne demonstrates why she may be unrivaled at creating a character in a song. Horne seems rhythmically more daring than she used to be, toying with the beat in Havin' Myself a Time with an assurance that reveals how much she owes to Billie Holiday, the singer who made the song...
...Stephen Sondheim's Passion and Disney's Beauty and the Beast led this year's Tony Award nominations with 10 and nine, respectively, even though both opened to mixed reviews. In a season that made it sometimes difficult for the nominating committee to meet a minimum of four plays per category, revivals ! made just as much news, topped by She Loves Me, which also received nine nominations. The most honored drama was Tony Kushner's Perestroika, the second half of Angels in America, with six nominations...
Theater: Stephen Sondheim's Passion is exceedingly grim...
...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...