Sondheim! The Birthday Concert Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert Blu-ray Movie Review

Happy Birthday, Steve.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 7, 2010

Stephen Sondheim is America’s composer-lyricist non pareil for theater (and occasionally film). If you’ve dropped by this review out of curiosity, or just by chance, you may not instantly recognize Sondheim’s name, but you have without a doubt heard either his music or his lyrics. Sondheim is often thought of as one of the reigning demigods of America’s intelligentsia, and his literate, often unbelievably complex, lyrics are the stuff of legend. While his music has never received the acclamation that it easily deserves, there are legions of people who, even if they’re not particular fans of musical theater, can quote line and verse from Sondheim’s lyrics to such Broadway spectaculars as Gypsy and West Side Story.

Sondheim, who has just released his own memoirs entitled Finishing the Hat (after one of his songs from Sunday in the Park With George), got a new lease on public consciousness life with Tim Burton’s film version of Sweeney Todd, the musical which capped Sondheim’s most amazing, innovative and productive decade on Broadway, the 1970s. If Burton’s film eschewed Sondheim’s patently operatic leanings in this particular score, it at least introduced the Sondheim name to a whole new generation of potential fans who hopefully had the common sense to check out more of the master’s work. While contemporary Broadway audiences have had their share of any number of incredibly talented people, neither the “three named” composer-lyricists like Jason Robert Brown or Michael John LaChiusa, nor the progeny of Broadway royalty like Adam Guettel (grandson of Richard Rodgers and son of Mary Rodgers, both of whom collaborated with Sondheim) or Amanda Green (daughter of Adolph Green and Phyllis Newman), have been able to work outside of the rather looming shadow of Sondheim’s achievement. And the fact is, none of them would probably want to, so loved and admired are the many classic musicals which have sprung from his fertile imagination.

While even casual passers-by of the Broadway scene are at least potentially familiar with Sondheim’s shows which made it to film—West Side Story, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd (the less said about Harold Prince’s ill conceived film version of A Little Night Music the better)—even a cursory review of Sondheim’s other contributions to musical theater can be overwhelming. After having made his mark as a lyricist with two of the most iconic shows of the 1950s, West Side Story and Gypsy, Sondheim wanted to prove himself as a composer-lyricist. His first attempt (to make Broadway anyway), 1962’s uproarious A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, was a rousing success and provided Sondheim with his first semi-standard written entirely by him, “Comedy Tonight.” His follow-up, 1964’s Anyone Can Whistle remains one of the most notorious flops in Broadway history, but one which has established its own cult through the years, though it also saddled Sondheim with the misapprehension that he couldn’t write a “hummable” melody. In 1965 Sondheim returned to lyrics only, collaborating with Richard Rodgers on a musicalization of the famous David Lean film Summertime, entitled Do I Hear a Waltz?. The show was one of the least successful in either Sondheim or Rodgers’ outputs, but that dearth of box office appeal ended a few years later with Sondheim writing both the music and lyrics of three shows which completely reinvigorated the musical genre in the early 1970s, Company, Follies and A Little Night Music.

That trifecta easily established Sondheim as the leading theater composer-lyricist of his generation, and all three shows are still looked upon as timeless classics, with brilliantly integrated songs showing the full blossoming of Sondheim’s genius, including the song which has become perhaps its author’s most enduring standard, “Send in the Clowns” (from A Little Night Music, a musicalization—all in triple meter—of the charming Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night.) While Sondheim went on to immense acclaim (not to mention a Pulitzer Prize) with such musicals as Sunday in the Park With George, his 1970s output is still seen not only as the pinnacle of his career, but a touchstone for contemporary musical theater. (His one semi-flop from the decade, the Japanese themed Pacific Overtures, is still considered a brilliantly innovative succès d’estime).

Despite having a reputation for being a rather dark personality, Sondheim is held in such high regard that a veritable who’s who of Broadway talent turned out for his 80th birthday celebration held over two March nights in 2010. This new Blu-ray preserves a lot of the merriment, as well as the nostalgia, the celebration offered. (There will be a broadcast of this concert on PBS’ American Masters series later in November ). David Hyde Pierce, who not so long ago cut his Broadway musical teeth in the final Kander-Ebb show Curtains, is a decidedly piquant host for the evening, making the most of several running gags, including wanting to do “Steve”’s songs in various languages, and repeatedly admonishing conductor Paul Gemignani (a longtime Sondheim collaborator) for launching into the Sweeney Todd Overture. But between these runners are some golden performances from Sondheim shows both well known and rare.

While a nice longer segment is indeed given over to that 1970s trio of inestimable hits, there are copious pleasures on either side of that apex to enjoy. The 1970 segment is highlighted most especially by a wonderfully wistful reading by original Follies Ben, John McMartin, in the Robert Frost-esque "The Road You Didn’t Take". While McMartin isn’t quite able to hold notes as long as he did back in the early 1970s when he took Broadway by storm with this role, his added age only seems to magnify the eloquent appreciation for chances not taken, a recurring Sondheim theme. But there is also an absolutely magnificent, perfectly operatic reading of the gorgeously haunting "Too Many Mornings", from Follies, by Audra McDonald and Nathan Gunn, arguably the best sung moment of the evening.

But even the earliest work of Sondheim shows his inimitable mastery of language and especially internal rhyme. "America" is given a curiously sedate reading from the recent Spanish language cast of West Side Story, but the little known "Don't Laugh", which Sondheim contributed to the Mary Rodgers-Martin Charnin flop Hot Spot (written for and starring Judy Holliday in her last Broadway appearance) shows how effortlessly Sondheim is able to craft character out of rhyme. Yes, he’s damnably clever—something some critics can’t seem to “excuse”—but it’s a cleverness anchored in the nuts and bolts of a given individual’s foibles and psychology. Sondheim himself has lamented that sometimes he’s too “fancy” with his language, especially with regard to “simpler” characters like Maria in West Side Story, but the sheer brilliance of the man’s manipulations of language leaves those of us who love wordplay breathless.

This evening has so many contagiously effective moments that it seems almost churlish to single only a few out for special mention. Having the many divas of the cast flaunt their wares to Follies’ opening number "Beautiful Girls" is a nice touch. Having two different Sweeney Todds (George Hearn and Michael Cerveris) meet each other in two different songs from the score is funny and also delightful. If Patti Lupone doesn’t quite rise to her infamous “who do you think you are?” profligacy, she delivers a biting "The Ladies Who Lunch" to its original interpreter, Elaine Stritch. Stritch herself brings down the house with Follies’ iconic anthem to survival "I’m Still Here", certainly a worthy eleventh hour number in homage to its creator, now beginning work on his ninth decade.

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sondheim! The Birthday Celebration often looks distressingly soft on this Blu-ray, encoded via AVC in 1080i and 1.78:1. While close-ups (and there are lots) reveal a wealth of detail, including everything from David Hyde Pierce's flyaway hair to Mr. Sondheim's slightly mottled skin, medium range and far shots are just mushy. The best evidence of this is the gigantic red bow which adorns the upstage area, behind the New York Philharmonic. In medium and far range shots, it's simply a blooming red mass with no definition, more redolent of that "silly stuff" that was in The Blob than a festive package decoration. In facts reds seem to bloom (albeit slightly at times) pretty consistently throughout this enterprise, including the "diva" segment where all the big women stars are clad in brilliantly red gowns.

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much better are the two lossless audio mixes provided on this Blu-ray, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. While I personally would have liked a little more bombast from the New York Philharmonic, both in performance and in the mix, some of my qualms might be related to the "new, improved" orchestrations by longtime Sondheim collaborator Jonathan Tunick, who here frequently stays away from punching brass to deliver more brittle and ascerbic reed and wind commentary, certainly perfectly in tune with Sondheim's spirit. The vocals themselves all sound magnificent, and the variety of voices, which includes everything from the lyric soprano of McDonald to the liquid tenor of Alexander Gemignani to the thundering bass of Nathan Gunn, provides ample opportunity for the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 to really shine over a huge range of frequencies. The ambience and reverb of Avery Fisher Hall is perfect, and separation and balance between the orchestra and vocalists is also superb.

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on the disc. The insert booklet has a nice essay by director Lonny Price.

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I had the great privilege of conducting one of the west coast premieres of Putting It Together, Sondheim's quasi-plot based revue, and one of the thrills of doing that show was getting little handwritten emendations from "Steve" as we moved through our rehearsal process. That picayune attention to detail is the hallmark of a perhaps obsessive compulsive artist, but the proof is in the pudding, and what a pudding it has been over the past 60 or so years. Sondheim is an ineffably elegant writer, one with more rhymes up his sleeve than some people have in total vocabulary, and this wonderful birthday celebration is a fitting tribute to a man whose output will probably never be equaled. Though this Blu-ray's image quality leaves something to be desired, the event itself is so touching and beautifully performed that the disc must easily be rated Very highly recommended.