The Art of Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) incl. Stephen Spielberg´s new "West Side Story" 2021 - presented in English - Showtime #12/2021; incl. Madonna winning an Oscar with a compisition by SS

Dear Stephen sadly  passed away just after Thanksgiving 2021 aged 91.

Without him Broadway and  musical theatre would not be the same.

He was a titan of musical theatre, who  passed away, and we are have a show that will not even get close to what he achieved a lifetime, but will try to scretch on it.

There are many world hits on his list:

"Broadway Baby" (from Follies),  composer / lyricist
"America", lyricist for composer  Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story)
"Send In The Clowns", composer / lyricist (A Little Night Music)

also compositions for Madonna
and many more.

Listen to his Milliom Sellers 
including the new version of WEST SIDE STORY, a brand new (remake-)movie directed  by Stephen Spielberg, 2021
composed by Leonard Bernstein, Words by Stephen Sondheim

This production is presented 
presenting the Art of, the composer Stephen Sondheim

featuring
Madonna
Julie Andrews
Eartha Kitt
Cleao Laine
Liza Minelli
Pet Shop Boys
Stephen Spielberg
Julia Mac Kenzie
and mostly the original Broadway Casts

With contributions by
Rainer Wallraf,
the New York Times
Benny Anderson of Abba
DBshowbizz.com

Presented by Yours Truly Joe
recorded between Nov 27th to Dec 2nd, 2021
This podcat aired for the first time Dec 5th, 2021 on Popmundial Easy "Broadway"

Transcript

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SPEAKER_31 0:08

We show you the variety of music. Everybody from Pop Mondial.com Life from the X a Broadway, baby.

SPEAKER_22 0:38

Walking off my tired feet. Pound and forty second street to be in a show. Broadway, baby.

SPEAKER_31 0:52

Broadway baby sung Stephen Sondheim accompanying himself at the piano. Sondheim who? Stephen Sondheim. He was one of those Broadway babies, but behind the scene. Without him there'd be no Broadway as we know it today. And he had more enthems and lyrics written which passed the way to understanding what Broadway and Musical Theatre is all about today. Stephen's on time passed away just the night after Thanksgiving 2021, age 91. This is only a small attempt to reflect on his music, his word hits and achievements in theatre. Rest in peace, Steve. Send in the clowns for the last time for Stephen Sometime 1930 to 2021.

SPEAKER_06 3:27

Just when I stopped opening doors, finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours, making my entrance again with my usual flesh. But where are the clouds? Quick send in the cloud. Don't bother. Losing my timing is a leg in my and where uh the clouds. Where's the cloud? Well maybe next yeah.

SPEAKER_31 5:18

Welcome again to a showtime celebrating the yard of Stephen Songheart. This was the first ever recording of this song. Because if they had anything on going wrong. In this case, uh interview with any of the words together.

SPEAKER_25 6:10

Wrote a dream rehearsal uh essentially overnight. Limited John could not sustain notes. So I thought I gotta write a song with short phrases. And if there's gonna be short phrases, what are better short phrases than questions? So the whole idea of isn't it rich? Are we a pair? Questions, which ordinarily would not occur to me, came into my head. And once I've gotten that, once you get the idea of questions, then it's quite easy to write.

SPEAKER_06 6:36

Isn't it less? Don't you approach?

SPEAKER_25 6:44

Once you get the notion of, isn't it rich? Aren't we aren't we schmucks not to not to be together? I mean, are you uh you get that tone? You can write that that takes a very short short period of time.

SPEAKER_06 6:56

Send in the class.

SPEAKER_25 6:59

When I was 10 years old, my parents divorced. My mother got custody of me, and she bought a place in Doellestown, Pennsylvania as a sort of summer residence, and I was an only child. Uh, and uh because she was a working woman and also a uh a celebrity hunter, uh, she knew the Hammerstein slightly when they had a uh a son my age, a year younger, Jimmy.

SPEAKER_31 7:25

Well, this is quite a story. He kept at a uh tonight show uh Steven Slaud and Oscar Hammerstein the second. Listen.

SPEAKER_32 7:37

Welcome back to the late show. Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest this evening is the greatest composer and lyricist in the history of the theater. Please welcome to the late show, Stevenson.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

It's nice to see you again. Thanks for being here. That's uh there's Hammerstein. There's you. Sixteen years old. You haven't changed at all, kid. It looked fantastic. For the you know, for the people out there, the burgeoning uh Sondheims out there, what is it that he taught you that still sticks with you today as a composer and as a lyricist?

SPEAKER_25 8:42

Majorly he taught me to write for myself. Because I wrote songs that imitated him. He said, no, write what you feel. Uh you know, he said, This is what I feel about you know, love and humanity. You write what you feel. And that was important because you think that that would be natural, but it's not. It's not. Particularly if you think highly of the person that you're imitating, which I did.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

Putting it together. Only way to make a work of art. Every moment makes a contribution, every little detail plays a part. Just a vision's no solution. Everything depends on execution. Putting it together. That's what counts.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Putting it together.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

But without the proper preparation, just imagines no solution. Everything depends on execution. The art of making all is putting it together, bit by bit.

SPEAKER_20 9:52

Note by note, working on projection. Lips, teeth throat, looking for a moment to inhale, keeping the emotional connection, even when your fellow actors fail. Pointing up the subtext by inflection.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Helping your director reach perfection.

SPEAKER_20 10:06

Even though you have a strong objection to the way she's handling the direction. Art isn't easy. Every minor detail is a major decision. Have to keep things in scale, have to hold to your vision. Even when you're feeling apprehensive, that you're looking bland and inoffensive.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

And because your wardrobe was extensive.

SPEAKER_20 10:28

Don't forget that spangles are expensive to the right.

SPEAKER_17 10:57

He does that every night.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Beat by beat, pushing an ambition.

SPEAKER_20 11:07

And speech, trying to relax, but not too much. Trying to lay out the exposition, but without exposing it as such.

SPEAKER_17 11:14

Trying to perform, but not audition, trying to establish recognition, trying to persuade the electrician that he should destroy the competition.

SPEAKER_14 11:31

Every word, every line, every glance, every movement. You improve and refine and refine each improvement. Putting it together. Peace, my piece, working on the vision night and day.

SPEAKER_20 11:47

What it takes is time and perseverance. Dealing with the tales along the way. Dealing with producers' interference.

SPEAKER_17 11:53

Waiting for the author's disappearance.

SPEAKER_20 11:54

Filling up the holes with animation. This is not a Macintosh production.

SPEAKER_31 12:08

These are Judy Andros, Stephen Collins, Rachel York, um with a Stephen Sotheim song, Putting It Together from Sunday in the Park, the original broader cast of Putting It Together as a song compilation of the great song. Well, you listen to Pop Mondial Easy, Pop Mondial really the comic. Well, and I can ask you what happened to Madonna and Stephen Sodheim together. Composed by Stephen Sondheim, former donor singing on the soundtrack of Dick Tracy in 1990. He was 50. She's 27 singing this beautiful song by Stephen Sondheim, winning an Oscar for the most beautiful song of the year.

SPEAKER_11 13:54

I always get my man But if you insist, babe, the challenge delights me. The more you resist, babe, the more it excites me. And no one I kissed, babe, ever likes me again. If you're on my list, it's just a question of when I get on then baby. Sooner is battle than later, but love I'll have.

SPEAKER_25 16:08

And I was an only child. And uh because she was a working woman and also a uh uh a celebrity hunter, uh, she knew the Hammerstein slightly, and they had a a a son my age, a year younger, Jimmy. And so uh we became friends and companions, and um Oscar obviously realized that I had some gift for uh songwriting, so he encouraged me during my teen years, and in fact taught me. And I brought him a show when I was 15 years old that I thought he would want to produce. Uh uh was a show about my the school I went to, George School. And I was uh very disappointed to find out that he wouldn't produce it, but I wanted to be the first 15-year-old Umbral over the show. But he said, if you want to know what's wrong with the show, I'll tell you. And he went over it page by page, starting from the first sentence. He treated me like an adult instead of like a kid. By the time the afternoon was over, I really knew more about the nuts and bolts of writing a musical than most people learn in a lifetime.

SPEAKER_31 17:14

We are listening to Stephen Santheim telling about his life from his early beginnings to what comes next, the West Story, and how it all began.

SPEAKER_25 17:30

And we fell to talking, and I said, What are you doing? And he said, I'm about to start on a musical version of Romeo and Juliet. And I said, uh I said, and who's doing the score? He said, Leonard Bernstein. I said, Who's doing the lyrics? And he said, Oh my god, well, I never thought of you. And he literally smote his forehead. And he said, in his typical Arthur Lawrence fashion, he said, I didn't much like your music, but I thought your lyrics were kind of good. I said, All right. He said, Would you like to come and play for Lenny? Now, I had no intention of just writing lyrics. I want to write music, but I thought, chance to play for Leonard Bernstein? Why not? So the next morning I played for Lenny. And Lenny said, I will know within a week, and I'll let you know. And I said, Thank you so much, Mr. Bernstein. Sure enough, a week later, the phone rang and he said, Would you like to do it? And I said, Uh, let me call you back because I didn't want to do just lyrics. And I called Oscar, who's, you know, my advisor on everything. And um, I said, you know, I don't want to do this, but Oscar said, Look, there you you have a chance to work with with very gifted professionals on a show that sounds interesting, and you can always write your own music eventually. He said, My advice would be to take the job. And that's why I took it. Lenny wanted Lenny wanted everything, uh, the lyrics to be very poetic, but his idea of poetry and my idea of poetry are simply not the same. I mean, you know, I was 25 years old and um he was a big, big force, and Lenny kept pushing me to be very fruity. Today the world was just an address. That's a perfectly fine line on paper, but you the boy from the streets has seen that. And I've often quoted, you know, I feel pretty, it's alarming how charming I feel, says this girl from the streets, and she sounds like Noble Coward.

SPEAKER_10 19:23

It's alarming, how charming, how something's coming.

SPEAKER_25 19:28

That's my idea of a poetic lyric in the sense that it uses imagery.

SPEAKER_16 19:32

Something's coming! I don't know what it is, what it is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_25 19:39

And I like the Jet song too.

SPEAKER_29 19:41

When you're a jet, you're a jet, all the way from your first cigarette to your last dying day.

SPEAKER_25 19:47

But you know, you're a jet if the spit. Songs like somewhere. I mean, that's deeply embarrassing.

SPEAKER_09 19:53

So no.

SPEAKER_08 20:27

Are you ready?

SPEAKER_29 20:35

The first ringo boy was mouse are you?

SPEAKER_27 22:06

Speaking of singing and dancing, what were your rehearsals like?

SPEAKER_23 22:09

How intense was that? Three and a half months in a little place called Gelsey Kirkland in Dumbo, which is in Brooklyn. Very, very fun. Crazy. Operated like a factory. It was it was wild, and it was it was like oddly just the most romantic time.

SPEAKER_27 22:24

I mean, is it unlike like anything that you've ever done before, especially having the leadership of Steven Spielberg and Rita Moreno out there with you? Probably unlike anything I will ever do again. Like, let's just be honest. Yeah, I mean, so when you were went through your your dance training and everything, was it all of you guys together? Was Rita there with you guys?

SPEAKER_23 22:40

Rita came as much as she could. You know, she had costume fittings in New York, and so she would pop into all of these rehearsals and just give us the most incredible insights, the historical context of the film, and the stories that she went through when she was making the movie, when she was auditioning, when what all of her processes. It was just so inspiring.

SPEAKER_27 22:57

Yeah, yeah. Any advice from Steven Spielberg while you were going through the role? Like what was it like having him as your director?

SPEAKER_23 23:02

I mean, he's the most generous, genuine person in the world. There's no better director, in my opinion. I was so blessed to work with him. My first time out the gate. Um, as for advice, really, it was just use your fear, propel yourself forward.

SPEAKER_27 23:15

Steven, look an amazing man. Congratulations. This is your night. Um, I have to say, I mean, you promised yourself as a child that you would make your West Side Story version. This is a full circle moment. What's unique about your version, especially having Rita Moreno back?

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Well, Rita Moreno is the bridge uh across several legacies, starting with Peter Rivera in the 1957 Broadway's production, the original production, the 61 film, and now she's playing Valentina in an arm movie. We're very lucky to have her. She's also our executive producer, and she built a lot of bridges, and she did a lot of good work behind the scenes on this film. And uh, but this is a dream come true for me. This was really something I heard at 10 years old. My mom and dad bought the album, the original cast album, and I listened to it warred out, and as I began having children, I compelled all of them to memorize Stephen Sonheim's lyrics and understand Leonard Bernstein's melodies. And we've been singing this at home since all my kids were really little. So it was just a matter of time before I would kind of take a big deep breath and say, I wonder if I can get the rights to make my version of Westside Story.

SPEAKER_27 24:26

Yes, yes, and it's finally here, and you're premiering in New York. I mean, how does that feel to be celebrated?

SPEAKER_01 24:30

I used to premiere this initially. It's a New York story. Uh all the rehearsals began a half a block from here, where we're standing right now. And our picture really is about what happened to San Juan Hill with the Robert Moses project with the uh raising of this entire area from I think it's 62nd Street, uh maybe it's I think it was 59th Street to 6 uh 72nd Street, and right to the river was all raised, and they built the Lincoln Center.

SPEAKER_27 24:58

Yeah, well, and you know, we are we're all still mourning the death of Stephen Sondheim. Tell me about you know the meaning behind his lyrics and and having you know his influence in this film that you got to make.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Well, it was his first real job, West Side Story. He was 24 years old when Arthur Lawrence uh brought him in to meet Leonard Bernstein and Oscar Hammerstein, who was Steve uh Steve Sondheim's mentor, encouraged him to take this job. And his his lyrics uh obviously have uh stood the test of time, which is why we're here now in 2021, because this the Westside story should be generational, and I I I I I would hope in 20 or 25 years somebody else makes their version of Westside story. Yes, because it's relevant, I mean it just continues relevant now than even was in 57. And and I hope and I hope it is not relevant in 20 years, but I think it will be.

SPEAKER_31 25:50

Romeo and Juliet consists of this famous Burconey scene. And here it is in the new version by Steven Spielberg.

SPEAKER_28 26:03

Maria Shh! Quiet Come down!

SPEAKER_19 26:16

No, Maria Please, my mother and father will wake up just for a minute. A minute is not enough for an hour then I cannot then forever coming up, Maria Momentito, Papa!

SPEAKER_18 26:36

Now see what you've done, Maria Kayate it is dangerous if Bernardo knew.

SPEAKER_08 26:44

We will let him know. I'm not one of them, Maria.

SPEAKER_18 26:47

But you are not one of us, and I am not one of you to me.

SPEAKER_32 26:51

You're all the beautiful Maruca.

SPEAKER_18 26:53

See, Yavengo, Papa Maruka, his pet name for me.

SPEAKER_28 27:06

I like him, and he will like me.

SPEAKER_19 27:10

No, he's like Bernardo. Afraid. Imagine being afraid of you. You see, I see you.

SPEAKER_08 27:21

Oh Maria, see only me you.

SPEAKER_10 27:27

You're the only thing I see forever in my eyes, in my words, and in everything I do.

SPEAKER_08 27:37

Nothing is but you're nothing for me, but every sign that I see is for me.

SPEAKER_19 30:06

I cannot stay. Go quickly.

SPEAKER_28 30:08

I'm not afraid.

SPEAKER_19 30:09

Please.

SPEAKER_28 30:45

I love you. I love you.

SPEAKER_21 31:03

Yes. Yes, hurry. Tony. When will I see you? Tomorrow. I work at the bridal shop across the street. Madame Lucia's. I'll come there. At closing time, six o'clock. Yeah, yeah. Good night.

SPEAKER_18 31:28

Good night. Tony.

unknown 31:35

Shut up.

SPEAKER_21 31:37

When you come, use the back door.

SPEAKER_19 31:54

Tony. What does Tony stand for? Teodoro Antonio.

SPEAKER_28 32:09

Teodoro, Maria.

SPEAKER_31 32:20

Sleep well and well It's the twenty-three one West Side Story soundtrack of Steven Spielberg, uh, which sends goose bombs on the ever ringing on a scene between tribes, between beliefs. Stephen Somter. He had uh no less than tons of awards in his pack just to name some, and you gonna hear the names of the Hitchos. Um he created Grammy Awards for 1970 Company music. 1973, a little night music, 1975. Sent in the clowns only for the song, Song of the Year with Glenn Jones, we just heard it. Sweet talk nineteen seventy-nine, the demon of the street, and we're still talking about Grammys. 1984, Sunday in the Park was George 88 Into the Woods. Woods. 1988 Into the Woods, 1994, Passion, and the revival of the West Side story in 2010. Tony Awards, 1963. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. 1971 Company 1972, 4073, Little Night Music, Sweeney Tot 79, Into the Woods, 88, Cashman, 1994, and the Tony Award for Life Achievement in 2008. And in Britain the Sir Lawrence Olivier Awards for Sweeney Totten 1980, Follies 87 and 88, Condit, 1991, Sunday in the Park with George. Merley were all along in 2000. And what and well it all began like this.

SPEAKER_25 34:41

I like to change styles. That's one of the things that appeals to me about stories is if I've never done anything like it before. It has to be some unknown territory. It's gotta make you nervous.

SPEAKER_16 39:33

I want you to show it's like I'm losing my mind. I trust a friend, I think the love And do they know it's like I'm losing my man. Să te night You said you love me, or you just want you to touch that night, just think about sleep this night, just think about Justin Love Me, Orama does my chest or am I losing my mind? Losing my mind while you are still listening to us season sondes, the art of season sond.

SPEAKER_31 42:30

This is Lazimedy with another great world hit art of season sondages, losing my mind uh from his nineteen seventy-one uh world hit or state production for you. I've seen them all in my dear word in all the same Mizil Show for this. This is Ultra Kid, and that is her hands on I'm still here.

SPEAKER_07 43:20

Strum Julales sung the blues, seen all my dreams disappear, but I'm here. I've slept in panties to get the WPA and I'm here. Danced in my panties, 30 bucks and I was the fate, and I've here I've done with the back. No lady. I met a big financeer. So I'm here. I've been through Gandhi, Windsor, and Wally's hair. And I'm here. Ames and Andy, Mahjong, and Platinum Hair. And I'm here. I got through Abies. I reach rose. I the D on babies. May doubles. I T B G B's for BBs. Battle Speed. I lived through Shirley Temper. And I'm hearing I've gotten through Herbert and Jaygahoover. Gee, that was fun and a half when you've been through Herbert and Jayga Hoover. And the says a lie. I have been through the video. I should have gone to an acting school. Still someone said she's sincere. So I'm here black saber one day. Next day, it goes into hot. And I'm here. Monday and Tuesday. You're touring in stock. And I'm here. First tour another. Then someone's mother. Then your cap. And then you career. From career to career. I'm almost through my memoir. And I'm here. I've gotten through. Hey lady, I'm into who's it stuck? Wow, what a looker you were. Better yet than I thought you were who's it. Whatever happened to her. I took them on an idea. I'm still here. But fellas, sometimes. Sometimes a pet stolen beer. But I'm here. I forgot the damage. Eight dusty. I've got the whole dusty. I'm done. I was dying. I'm dying.

SPEAKER_31 47:50

Let's name to Pokemon Yard radio, and this is the art of Steve Stop. Swinging. But we have another great swinging track.

SPEAKER_13 49:01

I could understand a person. If it's not a person's bag, I could understand a person. If you med it as a guy, a person that a person that titulates a person and then leaves her flight is crazy. He's a troubled person. He's a truly crazy person himself. When a person's personality is pleasant, he shouldn't want to sit like a lump. It's harder than a matter than coercing a bull to try to get you off of your rope. So single and a tentative and attractive a man is everything a person could wish. But turning off a person is the act of a man who likes to pull the hoops out of fish. My luck is really, I'm working on my drum. Oh, that's sweet affection. What is wrong? Where's a loose connection? How long, oh Lord, how long? Bobby, booby, booby, booby, bobby. You could drive a person buggy. You could blow a person's cool. First you make a person feel all huggy. Why you make a feel a cool? When a person says that you are sexual. That's when you're good, you impersonate a person.

SPEAKER_09 50:39

Better than a zombie shooter.

SPEAKER_13 50:41

I could understand a person if he wasn't good in bed. I could understand a person if he actually was dead.

SPEAKER_31 51:06

Clearing uh sings a song time from his musical company. You could drive a person crazy. Well, this was uh sometime teaser. It can't be perfect. And um in the few minutes we had, well nothing less could be said than sight by sight by suntime. Thanks for listening, Yells Joe, and um thanks for listening to Popmondiar Radio.

SPEAKER_15 51:58

Comfree and cozy side by sight by sight once in pass tree three company saving by sight by sight and by sight.

SPEAKER_10 52:40

Julie by side David Suntime.

SPEAKER_31 52:48

Famous last word for this uh sometime special Pokemon yeah, I belong to Rhinotime friend with uh Harold Prince which we didn't mention here in the show at all. Live time nobody else can do nobody can ride 60 minutes here of fishing music on the radio carrying on Showtime.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

Ich habe zum ersten Mal ein Werk von Stephen Swordheim gesehen, das war das Musical Company 1972 in New York. Danach habe ich fast alle seine Musicals gesehen. Ich habe auch viele Songs von ihm in Konzerten und in Studioaufnahmen am Bayerischen Rundfunk produziert, und ich habe so ein schönes Zitat von ihm mitbekommen. Man darf schlechte Songs schreiben, aber man darf keine falschen Songs schreiben.

SPEAKER_10 54:45

Well, our blessings, Robert. Don't tell your wish, Bobby, or it won't come true.

SPEAKER_26 54:51

You just blew it.

SPEAKER_10 54:52

It probably was a wish you wouldn't have got anyway, Robert.

SPEAKER_05 54:54

Can you wish for a life, Robert? Don't. You're a lucky son of a gun now. Hang in there. Actually, I didn't wish for anything. What do you mean you didn't wish for anything?

SPEAKER_10 55:01

So curious.

SPEAKER_05 55:04

Stay exactly as you are, Robert.

SPEAKER_10 55:06

That's right, you sweet thing. Stay exactly as you are. Everyone adores you.

SPEAKER_05 55:10

What an awful thing.

SPEAKER_10 55:12

Things happen for the best. I don't even believe that myself.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

I mean, when you've got friends like mine. I mean when you've got friends like mine. Isn't it poor? Isn't it rosy? Side by side.

SPEAKER_15 55:37

Such a cutie.

SPEAKER_05 55:38

By side. Side by side. By sight. I envy that. Everything shines. How sweet. Side by side. We're just by side. Parallel. Who meet? Love him. Can't give enough of him. Everyone winks. Nobody's nosy. Side by side. It's just crazy about you bring the drinks. I will bring the posy. Side by side. I sigh. One is lonely and two is boring. Think what you can keep ignoring. He's my best friend. I saw.

SPEAKER_21 56:50

Second best.

SPEAKER_24 57:01

Older and older. It's amazing. We've gotten older every year and he seems to stay exactly the same. Sherry the team.

SPEAKER_12 57:13

You know what comes to my mind when I see him? The Seagram's building. Isn't that funny?

SPEAKER_26 57:23

Sometimes I catch him looking and looking. I just look right back.

SPEAKER_15 57:30

So rain. We're so crazy. He's so sane.

SPEAKER_24 57:39

Friendship for it. Anything big. A person like Bob doesn't have the good things and he doesn't have the bad things. But he doesn't have the good things either. Being a kid as well as a sick.

SPEAKER_04 57:54

Let me make him a drink. He's the only guy I know I feel should drink more.

SPEAKER_05 57:59

One's impossible. Two is dreary. Three is company. Safe and cheese.

SPEAKER_10 58:10

He always looks like he's keeping score. Who's winning, Robert?

SPEAKER_05 58:15

Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Open the doors and see all the crazy party people.

SPEAKER_31 58:28

Pop mondial.