Amazing Sondheim Celebration, 'Take Me to the World'
Monday, April 27, 2020 at 9:34AM by Nathaniel R
Meryl will drink to that! (and she did not disappoint for Sondheim's 90th)ICYMI last night (and thousands did since it started over an hour late!) make sure to watch the Sondheim birthday celebration concert benefitting ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty). While it's reductive to cite favourite moments because the concert was chalk full of life-affirming, ear-pleasuring, moving music and delicate or funny performances, we've had to share a few notes after the jump.
But honestly we loved it all. It doubled as not just a tribute to the world's greatest living musical theater composer but as a melancholy collective longing for the return of Broadway which originally housed most of those tremendous songs...
0:18 Stephen Schwartz - "Prologue" (Follies)
3:28 Broadway Musicians - "Overture" (Merrily We Roll Along)
8:47 Sutton Foster - "There Won't Be Trumpets" (Anyone Can Whistle)
Have we ever told you how much we love Sutton Foster. Oh right yes we have. We mention her whenever we find an excuse. We've seen her five times on Broadway and have watched every TV show she's ever made an appearance on. Cannot wait to see her with Hugh Jackman doing Music Man when Broadway reopens. Provided that show is still on. Who can keep track anymore in quarantine.
12:47 Neil Patrick Harris - "The Witch's Rap" (Into the Woods)
Using his children as props. Harris has gone from well loved to sort of hated online (have you noticed) this past decade but we'll never forget seeing him in Sondheim's Assassins in the Aughts. Best in show that particular production.
16:26 Kelli O'Hara - "What More Do I Need?" (Saturday Night)
That voice! Kelli has one of music's greatest instruments. When we met her at our summer at the National Critics Institute we had the opportunity to listen to her sing live in three smallish spaces over the course of a single week and it was like the prettiest and clearest of melodic bells just kept ringing to enrich the soul.
19:56 Judy Kuhn - "What Can You Lose?" (Dick Tracy)
This four time Tony nominee chose the Mandy/Madonna duet from Dick Tracy (a special favourite of ours). An unexpected flex and we love her for it. But then we've always loved her from the days of listening to the Chess, Rags, and Les Miz original cast recordings as a kid and of course as the singing voice of Disney's Pocahontas. More recently she was lovely in the justifiably acclaimed LGBTQ musical Fun Home which we hope is actually making the jump to a film version as rumored.
23:53 Katrina Lenk - "Johanna" (Sweeney Todd)
The Band's Visit star was beyond beautiful giving a sapphic acoustic spin to this yearning ballad.
27:11 Aaron Tveit - "Marry Me a Little" (Company)
TBH tired of the long hair but he remains one of the dreamiest of leading men.
32:58 Beanie Feldstein & Ben Platt - "It Takes Two" (Into the Woods)
When this started my bestie made fun of me due to the upcoming Merrily We Roll Along film version -- "remember when you got so excited for a film premiere... in 2038!"
36:25 Brandon Uranowitz - "With So Little to Be Sure Of" (Anyone Can Whistle)
Somehow missed this one last night. Was I on the phone? In the bathroom? Making another drink? Will have to watch today.
41:04 Melissa Errico - "Children and Art" (Sunday in the Park with George)
Melissa just hangin' on her couch with pillows
46:20 Randy Rainbow - "By the Sea" (Sweeney Todd)
So much fun.
49:21 Elizabeth Stanley - "The Miller's Son" (A Little Night Music)
We aren't familiar with this actress (something you don't often hear us say about musical theater divas, right?) but now we want to be. An amazing rendition. Casting note: her eyes are so enormous on her face that she outta be in pictures, too! Hollywood, get on that immediately.
54:21 Mandy Pantinkin - "Lesson #8" (Sunday in the Park with George)
Outside and acapella!
59:05 Maria Friedman - "Broadway Baby" (Follies)
Cute! That story was awful though about people expecting Elaine Stritch and getting her and voicing their disapproval. Audiences can be so cruel to understudies or lesser knowns. They can also be amazingly generous. Related story: When seeing "Wonderful Town" on Broadway in 2004, Donna Murphy got sick during the show and her understudy went on for the second act (the only time I've ever seen a switcheroo mid performance in all my theatergoing). You could hear the audience groaning when the announcement was made but that woman (sadly I don't know her name) acted and sang and danced her ass off. She was working so hard during act two to sell every moment and at such a disadvantage (she looked nothing like Donna Murphy and didn't have the first act to warm up or get the audience used to her in any way) that by the curtain call she received simply thunderous applause.
1:02:36 Lin-Manuel Miranda - "Giants in the Sky" (Into the Woods)
A perfect song choice for this musical theater superstar. But imagine how much jockeying for position there was between celebrities on this concert for certain songs.
1:05:46 Lea Salonga - "Loving You" (Passion)
1:08:28 Laura Benanti - "I Remember" (Evening Primrose)
Laura in her bathroom!
1:14:06 Chip Zien - "No More" (Into the Woods)
These past few weeks of online concerts have reminded us that age is sometimes cruel for singers, robbing their voice of its subtleties, clarity, or power. But he was so expressive. One of the best numbers all night.
1:19:27 Josh Groban - "Children Will Listen/Not While I'm Around" (Into the Woods/Sweeney Todd)
1:25:13 Brian Stokes Mitchell - "The Flag Song" (Assassins)
Unexpected song choice. Love this man.
1:28:04 Michael Cerveris - "Finishing the Hat" (Sunday in the Park with George)
One of Broadway's greatest voices and a fine actor, too. You've heard us rant about Hollywood's mishandling of musicals many times on this site but true story: One of our darkest fantasies is to sit every single person who works in Hollywood at any level of power that will ever have any say in casting a movie musical and force them to listen to Cerveris and Johnny Depp singing the same song back-to-back from the cast recording and the movie soundtrack of Sweeney Todd. It's like comparing the sun to the a dim light bulb. I actually heard people gripe after Sweeney Todd the movie that 'the music had no melody or memorable songs' (this about one of the top 10 musicals ever written) and what they didn't know was that it wasn't the music, it was the singers! It ruins movie musicals to value name recognition over the ability to act expressively through beautiful singing that understands song structure, rhtym, and tonal beauty. It's like trying to film a thriller or horror movie without actors who are able to look menacing or filming a comedy with actors who are bereft of comic timing. In other words: IT SHOULD NEVER BE DONE.
What's more there are famous 'name recognition' actors who are truly gifted at musical theater (Patrick Wilson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Toni Collette, Catherine Zeta Jones, La Streep, Kristin Chenoweth, the list goes on and on and is surprisingly lengthy) so casting people like Emma Watson or Johnny Depp in musicals should never even cross anyone's mind! And if it does those people should lose their jobs instantly never to return to the set of a movie musical. End rant.
In short: We love Michael Cerveris.
1:33:28 Linda Lavin - "The Boy From..." (The Mad Show)
Cute number. But as with many online concerts of late it's hard to hear some performers without the benefits of song mixing or good recording equipment or a room that's suited to sing in.
1:37:10 Alexander Gemignani - "Buddy's Blues" (Follies)
Wonderful. Act Two of Follies -- hell, all of Follies -- remains one of the most genius things ever written in any storytelling medium. That said it should simply NEVER be made into a movie unless a real auteur who understands both cinema and stage equally (think another Bob Fosse -- and no one like that currently exists) helms it.
1:41:08 Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh & Thom Sesma - "Someone in a Tree" (Pacific Overtures)
Wasn't expecting to hear this one. Fav song from a polarizing musical.
1:50:59 Raúl Esparza - "Take Me to the World" (Evening Primrose)
Any world you want, Raúl yes. He's been gone from Broadway for far too long. One of our favourite leading men. That he doesn't have a Tony yet is a crime against musical theater as an artform.
1:53:55 Donna Murphy - "Send in the Clowns" (A Little Night Music)
We stan forever. She should be a household name and huge star. She can do anything from intense drama to wacky comedy whilst in perfect voice and radiating star charisma.
1:58:47 Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep & Audra McDonald - "The Ladies Who Lunch" (Company)
The funniest number. It just kept topping itself with Baranski, Streep, and McDonald all camping it up with fake-drunk relish. This will be gif'ed forever and ever. So cute to see Streep reunite with two co-stars and so smart to make this a trio rather than anyone trying to live up to Elaine Stritch's iconic rendition.
2:03:31 Annaleigh Ashford & Jake Gyllenhaal - "Move On" (Sunday in the Park with George)
This is one of the productions we most regret not seeing on Broadway (but the run was short and expensive) because these two. *swoon/sigh*
2:08:14 Patti LuPone - "Anyone Can Whistle" (Anyone Can Whistle)
The most we've ever heard Patti enunciate in a single song.
2:11:46 Bernadette Peters - "No One Is Alone" (Into the Woods)
The perfect lo-fi way to end this, a spoke/sung delicately rendered classic... as if you're in Peters dining room and she's comforting you. Just you. Only it's all of us. She's probably offered you dinner too. It was that warm. (Also this woman is 72 and more than any other ageless celebrity is clearing hiding a demonic portrait in her attic.)
2:17:49 Ensemble - "I'm Still Here" (Follies)
It was fun to be reminded that little Iain Armitage (Big Little Lies, Young Sheldon) still worships musical theater. Also an 11 year old leading an ensemble through this number is very Anna Kendrick in Camp "Ladies who lunch" inappropriate but hilarious energy.
Reader Comments (21)
My gawd, that was fantastic! Remind me why Judy Kuhn and Donna Murphy aren’t MORE famous? Chip Zien made me cry, and I love love love Brian Stokes Mitchell and Michael Cerveris. Also I’m officially IN LOVE with Raul Esparza. And Katrina Lenk’s rendition of Johanna was lovely. Two and half hours (well, three and a half if you count the technical difficulties in the beginning) certainly not wasted.
I agree about casting actors who can legit sing over big names. See The Good Fight for examples of about half of these singers’ acting chops.
I've been resisting the Good Fight because I dont like legal dramas very much but if it has half of these people on it maybe i should try it.
Thank you for this wonderful review. I am so looking forward to seeing this today. I imagine in future years this will be one of the prime examples used to show "how we lived then."
And I really appreciate your rant about casting non-singers in movie roles (and even on Broadway itself). There's no excuse for it when there are such riches out there in the way of casting. I wish all the actors you listed would go into the studio (even at home) and just record some digital albums for people to listen to. There is no reason the world shouldn't know what an amazing singer Toni Collette is. Toni, it doesn't have to sell, it just has to exist. People need to know!
Well, Bernadette is 72 and totally injected.
It was all worth it even though I was up till 5 in the morning my time. I can’t even mention a favourite perfornance because they were all so wonderful. I enjoyed there were a lot of unexpected song choices at the beginning of the event.
I really was enjoying the spotlight on Anyone Can Whistle the most under appreciated Sondheim show.
As Meryl famously said in her AFI lifetime speech “can’t we do this every year”.
Great posts! I am actually getting ready to across this information, is very helpful my friend.
The Good Wife was the good one.
Glad to announce that shortly after performing Jake proposed to me, and I said Yes.
i'm so glad you covered this! i hate having to watch people sing in their own living rooms, so i was shocked how well this worked. so much insane talent singing such master material. personal MVPs were aaron tveit (a very very very very difficult song to sing and he killed it), elizabeth stanley (same), jake and annaleigh,and especial esparza, who really transcended.
I see no comment on Josh Groban but I loved his two songs last night. I thought he was terrific in Natasha and Pierre.
Mandy Patinkin near that stream and his naked voice singing "George would have liked to see people out strolling on Sunday"... I sobbed for a good five minutes after that. This night was such a gift for right now. What an unthinkable world this would be without Sondheim's music.
My favourite thing about this post is Nathaniel's enthusiasm for musical theatre shining through. Thanks for sharing!
Bottom line: Michael Cerveris was the MVP in a sea of talent. I was just floored by how good we was.
Also: Raúl Esparza is aging *extremely* well. Made me rather thirsty. And his closing comments were lovely.
Ben <3 and Beanie were adorable. Loved so much. Jake! Aaron! Swoon.
It's nuts to me that Annaleigh Ashford isn't a movie star yet. I hope that Judy Holliday movie happens, because she's so perfect for the role!
Now that Kelli O'Hara has a Tony, I hope they find a way to give one to Judy Kuhn, who is long, long overdue for the prize.
I saw Patti Lupone in Company in London and I'm sorry but Baranski, Streep and MacDonald blew her out of the water. (The raves Lupone received were unwarranted.) Of course, if a Company movie somehow happened, Meryl would clearly get the part - as always LOL.
Raul Esparza is so hot. Come back to Broadway. That tan -- mmm.
Raul is DADDY!!!
Meryl Streep singing and drinking a martini. Seriously, when are we going to see her in a big-time action movie franchise? There's a shitload of $$$$$$$$ to be made. I think people are ready for that.
Annaleigh is in that new HBO movie 'Bad Education" with Hugh and Allison. She's supporting.
I don't know Sondheiim nearly as well as Webber, and his melodies aren't as "catchy" as Webber's, but they are far more sophisticated and complex.
Loved several of these that I didn't know from "Sunday in the Park" and "Anyone can Whistle", and always thought "What Can You Lose?" was the best song from "Dick Tracy".
Broadway will go on!!
Lea Salonga left you speechless too huh?
Anyways, that was VERY fun. And I even enjoyed the technical snafu at the beginning. It was nice to "complain" about something online that has NOTHING to do with our current reality.
And of course once it started going, it really was star upon star singing so many wonderful songs. Good stuff.
Watched parts of this show and I enjoyed most of it. Elizabeth Stanley was in Jagged Little Pill where she played Mary Jane. While there are many characters and standout in that musical (Lauren Patten -- huzzah!), the center is Mary Jane and Elizabeth Stanley was solid, pitch-perfect and heartbreaking especially towards the end. Indeed, she's destined for the movies. Her The Miller's Son is perfection. Those eyes!
I've already watched this about 37 goddamn times (allusion to Boys in the Band) and have a few comments:
Kelly O'Hara has a magical voice.
Aaron Tveit was probably my favorite. I would definitely Marry Him a Little.
Alexander Gemignanit slayed with his rendition of Buddy's Blues, doing all 3 parts and not missing a beat.
Linda Lavin was amazing with her mastery of "The Boy From".
And of course the women who did their Ladies Who Lunch in a new style.
Overall, so wonderful!
Favorites were
Chip Zien - sounds the same and so emotional
Elizabeth Stanley - beautiful storytelling
Ladies Who Lunch - what is there to say?
Sutton - pure joy to watch and listen to
Linda Lavin - fantastic character work
Pacific Overtures number - charming! I want to learn more about each of these actors
Raul Esparza - that voice
Donna Murphy - emotional
Bernadette - wow
Wish these Sondheim legends had been involved:
Angela Lansbury
Donna Mckechnie
Chita Rivera
Glynis Johns
Len Cariou