At the risk of speaking ill of the dead: I was never much of a Sondheim guy, but while writing my first musical, 'February House,' Bob Hurwitz, longtime head of Nonesuch Records, implored me to read the two volumes of annotated lyrics (Finishing the Hat, etc.). I read both and found them illuminating/edifying/all the things. "Now I understand Sondheim!" I thought.
Then I saw a production of 'Into the Woods' and came away with the impression that what's most successful about the show is actually Lapine's book, which is consistently and effortlessly funny and moving. The songs, meanwhile—as in most of his shows—are musically undistinguished and lyrically showy. I have often thought that when it comes to lyric writing for the theater, cleverness is the enemy of truth. It is more often than not emotionally distancing, drawing our attention to the wit of the songwriter rather than to the psychological core of the character.
This may be a bridge to far, but I speculate that as our society has become more individualistic, artists like Sondheim have been venerated in spite of the fact that their particular craft serves to burnish their reputations rather than strengthening the art form. We genuflect before the altar of Sondheim because we're impressed by his wordplay, not because his wordplay reveals anything particularly deep about his characters.
I'm sure that you approach Sondheim's music differently from me, because you're a composer and there are things you'll notice that maybe I won't. I...just don't hear his songs as "musically undistinguished," at least not in the shows I know best, which are "Sweeney Todd" and "A Little Night Music." The latter is musically showy, with its profusion of 3/4, 6/8, 9/8, its canonical writing in "Perpetual Anticipation", and magnificent in its variety. I remember liking "Assassins" a lot but it's been quite some time since I saw it.
I've only seen the film of "Into the Woods," though I'll be seeing the production Joshua reviews here before it closes, plus I'm seeing "Sunday in the Park with George" later this month.
Thank you for the full-throated defense - which should not be necessary - of these two giants.
At the risk of speaking ill of the dead: I was never much of a Sondheim guy, but while writing my first musical, 'February House,' Bob Hurwitz, longtime head of Nonesuch Records, implored me to read the two volumes of annotated lyrics (Finishing the Hat, etc.). I read both and found them illuminating/edifying/all the things. "Now I understand Sondheim!" I thought.
Then I saw a production of 'Into the Woods' and came away with the impression that what's most successful about the show is actually Lapine's book, which is consistently and effortlessly funny and moving. The songs, meanwhile—as in most of his shows—are musically undistinguished and lyrically showy. I have often thought that when it comes to lyric writing for the theater, cleverness is the enemy of truth. It is more often than not emotionally distancing, drawing our attention to the wit of the songwriter rather than to the psychological core of the character.
This may be a bridge to far, but I speculate that as our society has become more individualistic, artists like Sondheim have been venerated in spite of the fact that their particular craft serves to burnish their reputations rather than strengthening the art form. We genuflect before the altar of Sondheim because we're impressed by his wordplay, not because his wordplay reveals anything particularly deep about his characters.
(places bomb, lights fuse, leaves room)
Interesting!
I'm sure that you approach Sondheim's music differently from me, because you're a composer and there are things you'll notice that maybe I won't. I...just don't hear his songs as "musically undistinguished," at least not in the shows I know best, which are "Sweeney Todd" and "A Little Night Music." The latter is musically showy, with its profusion of 3/4, 6/8, 9/8, its canonical writing in "Perpetual Anticipation", and magnificent in its variety. I remember liking "Assassins" a lot but it's been quite some time since I saw it.
I've only seen the film of "Into the Woods," though I'll be seeing the production Joshua reviews here before it closes, plus I'm seeing "Sunday in the Park with George" later this month.
What can I say, I just think the songs don't hold a candle to Kern, Rodgers, Arlen, Bernstein, Guettel... (speaking purely of the music.)
So I've seen two Sondheim/Lapine shows in the last few weeks and wrote about the experience: https://irontongue.blogspot.com/2026/01/amplification.html
Different strokes, clearly!