![]() ![]() Scenery modifications in the touring production made the show move along more swiftly, says Sondheim, “so there are a couple of things that have been changed.” For instance, Sondheim has brought back about a minute’s worth of music to underline the idea of community responsibility, “which is what the second act is about,” he says. The show had its first reading at Playwrights Horizons, the same Manhattan theater that launched “Sunday in the Park.” From there, the show went careening off to San Diego’s Balboa Park, then back to workshops in New York, and in November, 1987, to Broadway. So with such familiar characters as Jack, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, they focused on “the essence of the experience,” rather than the characters’ actual experiences Lapine wrote what Sondheim calls “interior monologues” that Jack, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood might say to themselves, and Sondheim then “fashioned” songs from those monologues. Sondheim had long wanted to create a quest tale along the lines of “The Wizard of Oz,” and after deciding they didn’t want to either invent a fairy tale or expand an existing one, they combined several fairy tales plus adding one of their own.Īfter Sondheim grilled everyone he knew on just how much they remembered about fairy tales like Jack and the Beanstalk, the collaborators began to worry that while some audience members might not remember a thing about the plot, a literal retelling might bore those who knew it by heart. Sondheim and Lapine started thinking about “Into the Woods” “almost immediately” after “Sunday” opened in 1984. You talk about what characters (are), but until they’re on the page, they’re not alive.” Once I know what the style of diction is, and what the emotional outlines of the characters are in his mind, I start writing songs. “I usually wait until the book writer writes at least a few pages, a couple of scenes, so I know how he hears the characters talking. There’s obvious crossover, he explains, as he jots down what the scenes are about, what points to make in a song, and where the plot’s going. He would meet regularly with Lapine, as he had with other collaborators, taking extensive notes on three legal pads-one for characters, one for songs and one for ideas. Long before writing a single note or lyric for the “Woods” score, Sondheim prepared for the challenge. He has frequently described lyric writing as “an elegant form of puzzle.” An avid puzzle and game player, he “composed” crossword puzzles for several months for New York Magazine that have been described as “maddeningly diabolical.” The next day Sondheim and Lapine left for New York.įor Sondheim, writing is a disciplined search for inspiration. ![]() During the tryouts at the Old Globe, the show premiered without what has become the show’s anthem, “No One Is Alone.”Īt that point, there was simply a spot in the “Woods” script that said “quartet for Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Baker and Jack.” During intermission at a Wednesday evening performance, Sondheim showed up with “No One Is Alone.” He played it for the cast after the show that night, and it was part of the score by Friday. ![]() “Woods” co-producer Rocco Landesman has said he “wouldn’t be surprised if (Sondheim and Lapine) put in new stuff the week it closes.” Sondheim added the witch’s song, “Last Midnight,” just a week before the show opened on Broadway. Nowadays the excited calls are to Lapine, the playwright/director with whom he shared a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for their musical “Sunday in the Park With George.” Sondheim says that besides the camaraderie and creative stimulation he gets from collaborators, they also provide him with what he calls “real deadlines.” By his own admission, he’s a procrastinator. And what collaborators-composers such as Leonard Bernstein ( “West Side Story”) and Jule Styne (“Gypsy”), playwrights such as Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”) and directors such as Harold Prince (“Follies,” “Company,” “Pacific Overtures,” “Sweeney Todd”). The best part of his work, says Sondheim, is coming up with a great lyric or song and then sharing it with his collaborators. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |