Enchanted Evenings:The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber (129 page)

63
. Green, “Sondheim Dismembers ‘Sweeney’” (“Slashing the Score”), quotation by Green.

64
.
Sweeney Todd
, 2-Disc Special Edition, Special Feature, “Musical Mayhem: Sondheim’s
Sweeney Todd
,” DreamWorks Pictures 2007.

65
. Another excellent example of this approach occurs in the film version of “A Glamorous Life,” in which Frederika sings about her mother; it is accompanied by images of her mother, Desiree, played by Elizabeth Taylor, who does not sing in this number.

66
. DreamWorks 2007.

67
. The published literature on Sondheim offers numerous and often valuable discussions of
Sunday in the Park with George
(see especially Banfield,
Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals
, 343–79; Stephen Citron,
Sondheim & Lloyd-Webber
, 289–99; Gordon,
Art Isn’t Easy
, 262–300; Martin Gottfried,
Sondheim
, 155–66; Horowitz,
Sondheim on Music
, 91–98; Scott Miller,
Deconstructing Harold Hill
, 153–89); Meryle Secrest,
Stephen Sondheim
, pp. 327–41. I am grateful to Larry Starr for making available to me in typescript the penetrating critical overview of
Sunday
he presented at the Annual Meeting of the Sonneck Society for American Music (now the Society for American Music), Nashville, Tennessee, April 1989, “The Broadway Musical as a Critique of Modernist Culture, or Sunday in the Park with Sondheim.”

68
. The motive of “Putting It Together” (Ex. 15.3a) adds one additional long note to the horn call. Although neither of the two new long notes of the former are as long as the single long note in the horn call, the connection between these motives might be discernible even to those who disdain the idea of organic connections.

69
. See Banfield,
Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals
, 364–79, especially 375–79.

70
. Sondheim, “Interview with Stephen Sondheim,” 1988, 236. For a recent example of the opposite view, see John Lahr’s acerbic and unsympathetic portrait of the work in his review of the 2008 revival with its reference to “the strained, deadly second act” (Lahr, “The Haunted,”
The New Yorker
, March 3, 2008, 85).

71
. Michiko Kakutani, “Beyond Happily Ever After,”
New York Times Magazine
, August 30, 1987, 30, 76.

72
. For more on
Follies
, see Chapin,
Everything Was Possible
, passim; Hirsch,
Harold Prince
, 93–105; Ilson,
Harold Prince
, 177–97; Mandelbaum, “‘A Chorus Line,’” 66–78; Ethan Mordden,
One More Kiss
, 34–47; Prince,
Contradictions
, 158–70; Sondheim, “The Musical Theater,” 231–32; and Zadan,
Sondheim & Co
., 135–53.

73
. Another post–Rodgers and Hammerstein musical,
Candide
, underwent considerable literary and musical alterations between 1956 and 1989. See Andrew Porter, “
Candide:
An
Introduction,” notes to the 1989 recording, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Deutsche Grammophon, 429–73401.

74
. The two librettos of
The Girls Upstairs
(from among the alleged thirteen) housed in the Theater Collection of the New York Public Library (Restricted Material #5870 [first draft] and Restricted material #2624 [second draft]) for the most part substantiate Prince’s recollection. Seven of the twenty-two numbers in the 1971
Follies
(in addition to the “Prologue”) can be traced to these pre-
Follies
versions; four of these songs appear in Restricted Material #5870. The New York Public Library also houses two drafts of
Follies
, one dated September 1970 (Restricted Material #2625) and the other January 2, 1971 (NCOF+73–1867).

75
. Ilson,
Harold Prince
, 180.

76
. Many, if not all, of the discarded
Follies
songs have been recorded on
Follies: The Complete Recording
(1998) (CD: TVT 1020–2) 2-disc set and
A Collector’s Sondheim
(1985) (CD: RCD3–5480) 3-disc set.

77
. Sondheim discusses the artistic limitations of “Can That Boy Foxtrot!” in Sondheim, “Theater Lyrics,” 87–88.

78
. The resolution of a triadic figure to the fifth of its triad offers a striking parallel (if not influence) in the culminating transformation of the principal motive in the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (the “Eroica”), first heard toward the end of the development and increasingly prominent in the recapitulation and coda. See the commentary by J. Peter Burkholder in
Norton Anthology of Western Music. Volume 2: Classic to Twentieth Century
, 5th ed., ed. by Burkholder and Claude V. Palisca (New York: W. W. Norton), 281–82.

79
. Mandelbaum, “‘A Chorus Line,’” 70–71.

80
. Zadan,
Sondheim & Co
., 143.

81
. Prince,
Contradictions
, 163.

82
. In honor of Bernstein’s seventieth birthday, Sondheim composed the parody “The Saga of Lenny,” which, according to a particularly helpful anonymous reader of this book (later revealed as Wayne Shirley), “shows a good understanding and sympathy with the original ‘Saga of Jenny.’” See also Steve Swayne,
How Sondheim Found His Sound
, 272n110.

83
. Prior to
Follies
, Simon had written the books for
Little Me
(1962),
Sweet Charity
(1966), and
Promises, Promises
(1968) (the latter choreographed by Bennett). After
Follies
, Simon would contribute uncredited one-liners in Bennett’s
Seesaw
(1973) and
A Chorus Line
(e.g., Sheila’s “Sometimes I’m aggressive”), and the libretto for the adaptation for his
The Goodbye Girl
, like
Chorus Line
with music by Marvin Hamlisch. Bennett also played an important role in Simon’s work. He assisted (without credit) the direction of
The Good Doctor
(1973) and directed
God’s Favorite
(1974). See Mandelbaum, “‘A Chorus Line,’” 74, 78, 85–86, 124, 146–47.

84
. Ibid., 74.

85
. Zadan,
Sondheim & Co
., 150.

86
. Ibid., 148, 150.

87
. Ibid. Although he acknowledged that “many critics felt that Goldman’s book was the weak link in
Follies
, and that it contained unpleasant characters difficult to care about and action that was hard to follow,” Sondheim concluded that “these critics were only echoing Bennett’s sentiments throughout the tryout” (Mandelbaum, “‘A Chorus Line,’” 73–74). For a thoughtful defense of the book, see Mordden,
One More Kiss
, 34–47.

88
. Zadan,
Sondheim & Co
., 322.

89
. Ibid., 151–52.

90
. Ilson also notes that “ironically, when the show was revived in London in 1987, Goldman has them [Ben and Phyllis] stay together” (Ilson,
Harold Prince
, 196).

91
. A folly song (in
Follies
) is a song in which each of the principals sings an honest diegetic “number” that reveals their deeper nature and conflicts. All the follies take place in the imaginary Loveland in the last part of the musical. After “The Folly of Love” (an ensemble number) and “The Folly of Youth” (separate and then combined duets by the principal married couples), Buddy, Sally, Phyllis, and Ben sing their solo follies in succession.

92
. The first movement of Grieg’s concerto had also been featured prominently in
Song of Norway
(loosely based on the life of Grieg) and more briefly in the song “Rosemary” from Loesser’s
How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
.

93
. When I asked to study a copy of the 1987
Follies
libretto, Goldman “turned the matter over to his attorney” and “notified the Library of Congress that no permission is to be given for an examination copy” (letter to the author from Barbara Deren, President, Barbara Deren Associates, July 5, 1994). From this letter I have inferred that the librettist came to favor the 1971 libretto, but I could be mistaken.

94
. Horowitz,
Sondheim on Music
, 123.

95
. The lyrics to all four songs, “Marry Me a Little,” “Multitudes of Amys,” “Happily Ever After,” and “Being Alive,” are printed and discussed in Sondheim, “Theater Lyrics,” 92–97. See also Banfield, 166–73.

96
. Prince,
Contradictions
, 143–57; quotations on 156–57.

97
. Ibid., 183.

98
. Gottfried,
Sondheim
, 189, and Banfield,
Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals
, 382.

99
. Gottfried,
Sondheim
, 151. Banfield considers the critical problems generated by
Merrily
’s autobiographical subject matter: “But it would be difficult to fix the audience’s sympathy—and regrets—on Franklin Shepard, for the simple reason that the musical is about the compromise of his talent and we can only measure that talent by transferring it to Sondheim” (Banfield,
Sondheim’s Broadway Musicals
, 312).

100
. Banfield would call this technique “reflexivity,” that is, “the words describing what the music is doing.” Ibid., 42.

101
. The populist Sondheim composed two songs for Madonna to sing in the movie
Dick Tracy
(1990), including the Academy Award–winning Best Song of 1991, “Sooner or Later.” Sondheim gained major recognition with the popular and critically acclaimed 2007 film release of
Sweeney Todd
featuring box-office sensation Johnny Depp discussed earlier in this chapter.

102
. Block, Review of
Assassins
,
American Music
11 (Winter 1993): 507–9.

Chapter 16:
The Phantom of the Opera

1
. Alexandra Wilson,
The Puccini Problem
, 6.

2
. Of these shows only
Aspects of Love
(closed too soon) and
Sunset Boulevard
(too expensive) lost money in their New York runs. It should be noted that Lloyd Webber musicals almost invariably enjoyed longer, usually far longer London runs. Here are the comparisons:

Despite the apparent reversal of the norm in the case of
Joseph
, according to Michael Patrick Kennedy and John Muir in
Musicals
, “the 1980 production became a provincial phenomenon in Britain, setting up a record as the longest-lived touring show of the postwar era, and making periodic appearances in London en route” (Michael Patrick Kennedy and John Muir,
Musicals
, 187). As of this writing, after
Les Misérables
(Boublil and Schönberg), the second, third, and fifth longest running shows in the West End (
Phantom, Cats
, and
Starlight Express
, respectively) are Lloyd Webber shows.
Jesus Christ Superstar
ran for eight years,
Evita
nearly seven.
Evita
was also the longest running foreign musical import up to that time, to be eventually surpassed by
Cats
.

3
. Paul Prece and William A. Everett, “The Megamusical,” 255.

4
.
Jesus Christ Superstar
was the only Lloyd Webber-nominated show before
Evita
was nominated for the 1972 Best Score Tony Award (awarded to Sondheim’s
Follies
); by the time
Evita
won for Best Musical and Best Score in 1980, Sondheim had already obtained this prize for four shows (
Company, Follies, Night Music
, and
Sweeney Todd
).