Sondheim: A Little Night Music

Stephen Sondheim is possibly the most influential American composer of the 20th century. Millions know his music intimately, yet the man is an enigma – until now.
The MacEwan theatre arts and theatre production programs are featuring Sondheim on Sondheim, a production whereby the composer has the final say on his unparalleled body of work.
This conceptual revue, featuring 37 Sondheim songs from the beloved to the obscure, is punctuated with film footage. In the taped commentaries, the composer reveals fascinating aspects about his life and art.

“It tells his life story and how different people shaped his career and his journey,” says Karina Cox, a St. Albert actress who sings In Buddy's Eyes from Follies.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods. These are all popular Sondheim musicals.

Jarrett Krissa, another St. Albert actor and Rory Turner from Morinville also star in this ensemble revue.

MacEwan theatre arts chair Jim Guedo first spotted the show in New York and tapped Kate Ryan, artistic director of Plain Jane Theatre, one of Edmonton's musical theatre specialists to direct.

“He's brilliant. In a way, a lot of us in theatre view him as a god. What's so intriguing is his honesty. It's not all glitter and gold. He writes about how everyone is troubled and everyone can understand those themes. He really was a pioneer in theatre writing,” notes Krissa.

Sondheim's incredible body of work is in large part due to a complicated, tumultuous childhood. The composer's parents had a ferociously bitter marriage and his father abandoned them when Sondheim was only 10.

“His mother took all her anger and bitterness out on him. They were friends with Oscar Hammerstein and she pawned him off to the Hammerstein family,” Cox explains.

Janet “Foxy” as his mother was named was psychologically abusive. In a small sampling of her volcanic rage, just before having open-heart surgery, Foxy let Sondheim know her one regret in life was giving birth to him.

Hammerstein's son was a boyhood friend of Sondheim, and the older composer became both a surrogate father and musical mentor.

“Hammerstein was his saviour and Sondheim often said that if it wasn't for them, he might not be alive.”

Krissa adds, “Oscar took him under his wing and that was the reason he became a composer. If Oscar had been a geologist, Stephen would have been a geologist.”

For most of his life, Sondheim remained a solitary figure, an emotionally scarred individual who abstained from deep emotional relationships.

“He didn't want to depend on anyone else,” Cox notes. It was through composing both music and lyrics that he expressed his deepest, most intimate emotions and thoughts.

Sondheim's songs are a challenge to perform. It is not uncommon for songs to run four different lines in one verse that sound discordant and unified in the same breath.

As Turner explains it, “The music is so interesting because it's complex. Some of the notes are weird, but once you get it, it falls together so perfectly.”

“I would like to meet him. He's such a smart guy and he knows how to make great art, but it's not excessive. He writes for actors. In all his pieces, he thinks about the characters and the music follows the characters' intentions.”

Much like Sondheim's own.

Sondheim on Sondheim runs in the black box Theatre Lab at MacEwan University's Centre For Arts and Communication from March 23 to April 2.