Love him or hate him, Stephen Sondheim is the icon of the American musical theatre, credited with or blamed for the modern musical. His shows receive critical raves but have little longevity despite the almost cult-like adulation of his admirers. Other than his collaborations as lyricist of his dozen or so musicals, few have run as long as a year on Broadway — yet they continue to be revived and performed everywhere from high schools to regional theatre. And he doesn't seem to have any trouble getting backing for these slow-to-recoup-if-ever projects.
Granted, you'll probably find ten times as many sites devoted to Dwight Gooden or Spam®, but the primary sites concerning the elliptical Mr. Sondheim show the same kind of attention to detail, focus and frequent bursts of crystalline beauty you find in his work.
SSS
Longest on the scene and most comprehensive and sprawling is
the Stephen Sondheim Stage (aka "SSS"),
the brain-/love-child of hijinks
design's always bubbly and artistic Mark
Bakalor. The eminently readable site is chock full of data and info
about Sondheim. The site is broken into nine primary sections:
- News/This Just in . . . — where you find the latest Sondheim-related stories and news articles, like what's going on with his latest effort, Wise Guys?; is the on-again off-again world premier of Sondheim's unproduced 1950's effort Saturday Night on again or off again?; what award has SS won this week? Plus links to "One from column a...," written by the pseudonymous "Real A," with gossip and other noise. This week's column details the author's eating habits (s/he nibbles his/her shirt while surfing the net) and excerpts from a fictional battle between Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber carried out in song parodies — not the only song parodies on the page, there's also Assassins as written by Oscar Hammerstein and an answer to the question of the author's sex to the tune of "Love and Marriage." Of greatest value on the page is an area where the Real A answers readers' questions about things theatrical. If this is your cup of tea, go for it — to me it seems out of place in an otherwise fairly inspired site.
- The Library — which has links to sound clips provided by Music Previews Network, details scripts, videos, a magazine devoted to SS — The Sondheim Review, production requirements and contact info, and a huge list of all Sondheim's tunes and scores known to be available for purchase. Plus links to a comprehensive
