On Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide (38 page)

^*
“America” was written as a dispute between a pro–Puerto Rico Anita and an assimilating Bernardo, backed by the girls and boys, but Jerome Robbins wanted an all-girl number on Broadway. The original lyrics are in
Finishing the Hat
.

^*
A perfect example is
Show Boat
’s “Why Do I Love You?,” a duet turned into an ensemble when bystanders—visitors at the Chicago World’s Fair, actually—simply join in. Rodgers and Hammerstein generally banned the practice as illogical, though
Allegro
’s very busy chorus does take over “You Are Never Away” from the hero. One year before
Waltz
,
Hello, Dolly!
(1964) employed the usage throughout the evening.

^*
Jones produced wonderful cast albums, wedding the music to anchoring dialogue to “artifact” a show. His
Ben Franklin in Paris
(Capitol, DRG) is exemplary: the Mark Sandrich Jr.-Sidney Michaels score is not on the cult list, yet it jumps out of one’s speakers so theatrically one can almost see Robert Preston going through another of his period impersonations in wholly contemporary style. Thomas Z. Shepard, also known for catching the spirit of a show on disc, handled most of Sondheim’s Broadway cast recordings, from
Company
through
Sunday in the Park With George
, though the most recent titles were produced by Tommy Krasker.

^†
As I said earlier, Sondheim used Joan Crawford as his model. But the song ends up telling us of someone who never really made it, not someone who, like Crawford, was big enough to tie with Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer as Queen of the Lot at MGM and win a Best Actress Oscar (for
Mildred Pierce
).

^*
Opera buffs will recognize it as the first word of the introduction to the famous “Laugh, clown, laugh!” aria “Vesti la Giubba” in Leoncavallo’s
Pagliacci
. “Recitar!,” it begins, with savage irony: “Play your part!”

^*
The ruler of the spirit world in
Die Frau Ohne Schatten
. Keikobad’s influence pervades the action, but, now commanding, now leading from behind, he never actually appears. One might say that, as with Robert, we know him except when we don’t.

INDEX

Note: Page numbers in
bold
indicate the primary reference to a title.

Aarons, Alex,
11

Abbott, George,
48
–
51

Abel, Walter,
113

Adams, Edie,
82

ad libbing,
52

Aeschylus,
98
,
113
,
118
,
141
–
42

Aladdin
,
150

Aldredge, Tom,
124

Alexander, Jace,
128

Alexander, Jason,
110

Allegro
(Rodgers and Hammerstein)

cast recordings,
172
–
74

and
Company
,
67

experimental nature of,
20

first act ending,
125

Follies
compared to,
83

and Hammerstein’s influence on Sondheim,
4

and inspirations for Sondheim’s musicals,
112

and
Merrily We Roll Along
,
117

mixed reactions to,
77

Allen, Elizabeth,
60
,
62
–
64

All That Glitters
,
22

American Repertory Theatre,
17

Amory, Cleveland,
6

anagnorisis
,
46
–
47
,
156

Anderson, Judith,
113

Anderson, Maxwell,
4
,
106
,
150
n

Andrews, Julie,
135
,
150
n

Anouilh, Jean,
55
,
86
–
87
,
88
,
95

Antonelli, Laura,
137

Anyone Can Whistle
,
54–59

cast recordings,
171
,
179
–
80
,
184

and
Do I Hear a Waltz?
,
60

and film musicals,
156

and Sondheim’s characters,
68

and Sondheim’s creative control,
9

Anything Goes
,
136

Applause
,
15

Aristocratic Age,
11
–
12

Aristophanes,
140
–
42

Aron, John,
13

Aronson, Boris,
67
,
82
,
92
,
98
–
99
,
109

Asner, Edward,
154

Assassins
,
16
,
128–31
,
145

Astaire, Adele,
135

Astaire, Fred,
135

Atkinson, Brooks,
15
,
42

Ayers, Lemuel,
6
,
33
–
34
,
35

Babbitt, Milton,
5

Bacall, Lauren,
15

Ballroom
,
84

Barnes, Clive,
94

Barrow, Robert,
4

Bart, Roger,
140
,
143

Bass, Alfie,
155

Beatty, Warren,
16
,
152

Beggar on Horseback
,
4
–
5
,
5
n,
22

The
Beggar’s Opera
,
38

Begman, Ingmar,
86

Behan, Brendan,
74

Behrman, S. N.,
73

Belmondo, Jean-Paul,
151

Bennett, Michael,
67
,
77
,
79
,
83
–
84

Bergen, Polly,
82

Bergman, Ingmar,
87
,
88
–
89
,
91
n,
93

Berkman, John,
82

Berle, Milton,
102

Berlin, Irving,
7
,
62
,
145

Berliner Ensemble,
29

Bernstein, Leonard

and
Candide
,
82
,
119

cast recordings,
169
,
171

and film musicals,
154

influence on Sondheim,
24
–
25

inspirations for Sondheim’s musicals,
104

relationship with Sondheim,
17
–
18

and Sondheim as Play Doctor,
9

and Sondheim’s career,
7
–
8
,
14

and
West Side Story
,
7
,
37
,
41
–
43

Bettelheim, Bruno,
126

Be Yourself theme,
33

Billington, Ken,
109

Bishop, André,
129

Björnson, Maria,
84

Black Comedy
,
63

The
Black Crook
,
136

“The Blob,”
113
,
115
–
16
,
118
,
122

Bloom, Harold,
11
–
12
,
15
–
16
,
28

Blyden, Larry,
140

Boito, Arrigo,
133

Bond, Christopher,
103
,
104
–
6
,
109

Bonvalet, Margot,
19
–
20

Booth, John Wilkes,
128
–
31

Booth, Shirley,
61
,
64

Bounce
,
146
–
47
,
147
n

Bower, Jamie Campbell,
155

Bowles, Sally,
27

The
Boys in the Band
,
88
–
89

Brahms, Johannes,
25
–
26
,
25
n,
87