Essays Explore Sondheim's Work
Joanne Gordon has collected fourteen thought-provoking essays on Stephen Sondheim's work into one volume, Stephen Sondheim: A Casebook (Garland Publishing). Gordon has chosen her contributors well; following her illuminating introduction, most of the essays focus primarily on a single show while a few explore more general themes.
In the opening essay, Laura Hanson contrasts Sondheim's work with her definition of traditional musical comedy which, she says, celebrates the joy of love, portrays confidence, wise women with conventional marital values and emphasizes happy endings. Sondheim, she notes, portrays the pain of love and shows us women "more confused than ever about life and love." He explores dark and complex textures, she says, and often provides a less-than-perfect ending.
John Olson looks at the variability of contemporary musicals, using the 1970 and 1995 Broadway productions of Company as illustrations. By definition, musicals set in the present quickly become dated and lose their novel attraction. Olson lists criteria for a contemporary musical to become more endearing. He goes on to describe Company as an exhibition of the dysfunctional behaviors addressed regularly in our current national self-help trend -- "denial, co-dependency, control, self-esteem, risk-taking, approaching avoidance, people-pleasing and fear of intimacy."
Examining Follies, James Fisher sees a reflection of the Zeitgeist permeating Nixon's America, and notes the parallel themes of betrayal (be it marital betrayal in Follies or political betrayal from Watergate), and the country's corresponding loss of innocence mirroring the shattered romantic illusions in Follies.
The first part of David Craig's essay is a restatement of general musical theater performance principals and aesthetics from his first two texts, On Singing On Stage and On Performing. He then shares his experience translating the text and subtext of songs in A Little Night Music (for 1991 production in Los Angeles) into physical blocking choices, providing excellent insights on the practical realization of Sondheim's dramatic intentions.
Leonard Fleischer suggests that all Sondheim shows are a journey from the false comfort of illusions to the destruction of those illusions in the face of painful reality.
Continuing this theme, Mari Cronin calls Sondheim an idealist. I draw a medical analogy to illustrate her point: think of a social problem (marital dysfunction in Follies, for example, or fanatical outsiders in Assassins) as an infected wound. Instead of dressing the wound in scenic Broadway glitz or ignoring it altogether as traditional escapist fare does, Sondheim exposes the wound, examines it, tries to squeeze some infection out at least some of the infection and begins the healing process. To illustrate Sondheim's idealism, Cronin defends Merrily We Roll Along as an exposure to compromise and betrayal rather than a cynical celebration of these actions, as was perceived by many at a time.
Judith Schlesinger tends to rhapsodize to excess about the brilliance of Sweeny Todd. Once you get past the hyperbole, her writing is delightfully trendy and makes some good contrasts between madness and evil, comparing Sweeny to such socipaths as Hannibal Lecter, Jeffrey Dahmer and the Unabomber.
Discussing Assassins, Scott Miller suggests that the show shares characteristics with every so-called concept musical that preceded it. The balance in his essay is mostly a restatement of his chapter on Assassins from his director's guide to musical theater, From Assassins to West Side Story, often quoting himself directly. He does add excellent new insights into the black comedy moments in the show.
Gary Konas makes some interesting suppositions about Passion: that the three-note motif that begins and ends "Happiness" suggests the romantic triangle, and that deeper connections exist between Passion and its references to L'Elisir d'amore than were previously perceived. The text would have benefited greatly. from the insertion of actual musical examples instead of his verbal discriptions of them.
Konas draws intriguing comparisons between Passion and two other Beauty-and-the-Beast stories, the Disney Version and the Andrew Lloyd Weber Phantom. He also comments on the recurring images of dreams and flowers on the interplay between light and darkness in Passion.
Among the other essays, Douglas Braverman explores The Last of Shelia, using the movie as a window into Sondheim's personality. Andrew Miller compares Hammerstein and Sondheim through their experimental works Allergo and Merrily We Roll Along. Edward T. Bonahue's premise is that the innovation in Sunday in the Park with George comes from its form (structure), not its content (its presentation of classic artistic principals).
Finally, Barbara Means Fraser examines Sondheim's use of the chorus, defining its individualistic characterized role in his shows (as opposed to the more supportive and faceless role of the chorus in most Broadway musicals) and finding other similarities to the dramatic use of the chorus in the classic Greek drama.
The book carries a hefty price ($47.00) and there are no photos, but with such a diverse collection of viewpoints and analyses, each reader will come away with something different, based on his or her own prior experience and background with Sondheim's work. Gordon is to be applauded for her careful work in compiling this volume.
- review by Matt Bean, The Sondheim Review
