Take Me To The World
April 27, 2020 11:33 AM Subscribe
As a tribute to Stephen Sondheim (who is still alive, take a breath folks), ALL THE STARS IN THE SKY got together (separately) to sing his songs.
Broadway.com is using this tribute as a way to support ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty). It’s over 2 hours, but worth every minute.
This is truly what we all need right now.
Broadway.com is using this tribute as a way to support ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty). It’s over 2 hours, but worth every minute.
This is truly what we all need right now.
Video seems to be unavailable at this URL
posted by Clustercuss at 11:49 AM on April 27, 2020
posted by Clustercuss at 11:49 AM on April 27, 2020
Ladies Who Lunch, Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald.
Audra is what I think I sound like when I drink that much, but I'm closer to Meryl, probably.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:53 AM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
Audra is what I think I sound like when I drink that much, but I'm closer to Meryl, probably.
posted by betweenthebars at 11:53 AM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
I was watching this livestream as it was airing last night, and the early hours were rough. It started about 30 minutes late, and began with opening title card while there was a windowed video of the host, Raul Esparza, still talking to his tech team on a hot mic for about 15 seconds.
Then the mic was muted and there was this lovely piano overture with Stephen Schwartz, followed by the host coming back to talk through the intro while forgetting that his mic was still muted, so he's just going on silently for easily three minutes before he realizes that something's wrong.
Cut to the end of the livestream. Wait five minutes refreshing BroadwayTwitter and seeing everyone making cracks about the absence of a tech rehearsal. New livestream, that's just two minutes of Stephen Schwartz doing the overture again, then it stops again.
Finally, over an hour after the scheduled start, the Broadway team gets it right and it's just a lovely series of home recorded performances that are intimate and amazing. The show must go on indeed. It was the most sincerely weird and surreal concert experience that I've watched in a weird and surreal pandemic spring, but it was also deeply human yet deeply professional and in the end, the technical fuckups only added to, instead of subtracting from, the humanity of the experience. This is who we are: people trying to express love and fucking it up and forgiving each other until we get it right, because getting it right in the end is what makes it worthwhile.
posted by bl1nk at 11:58 AM on April 27, 2020 [12 favorites]
Then the mic was muted and there was this lovely piano overture with Stephen Schwartz, followed by the host coming back to talk through the intro while forgetting that his mic was still muted, so he's just going on silently for easily three minutes before he realizes that something's wrong.
Cut to the end of the livestream. Wait five minutes refreshing BroadwayTwitter and seeing everyone making cracks about the absence of a tech rehearsal. New livestream, that's just two minutes of Stephen Schwartz doing the overture again, then it stops again.
Finally, over an hour after the scheduled start, the Broadway team gets it right and it's just a lovely series of home recorded performances that are intimate and amazing. The show must go on indeed. It was the most sincerely weird and surreal concert experience that I've watched in a weird and surreal pandemic spring, but it was also deeply human yet deeply professional and in the end, the technical fuckups only added to, instead of subtracting from, the humanity of the experience. This is who we are: people trying to express love and fucking it up and forgiving each other until we get it right, because getting it right in the end is what makes it worthwhile.
posted by bl1nk at 11:58 AM on April 27, 2020 [12 favorites]
So, Bernadette Peters is ACTUALLY a witch, right? I mean, that's the only explanation.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 12:58 PM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 12:58 PM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
I cried through more than of this than I thought I would, which is to say I cried through most of it.
For me, the biggest surprise of the night was not that Lin has no chill or that Randy Rainbow has the cheek to insert some of his own lyrics, or that Someone in a Tree (reportedly Sondheim's personal favorite of his many songs) worked so beautifully on zoom, or not even the instantly legendary Baranski/Streep/McDonald everybody RIIIIISE - no, for me it was the shock of how incredibly good Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhall were as Dot and George. I am kicking myself anew that I missed their run on Broadway back in 2018. Sigh.
posted by minervous at 3:05 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
For me, the biggest surprise of the night was not that Lin has no chill or that Randy Rainbow has the cheek to insert some of his own lyrics, or that Someone in a Tree (reportedly Sondheim's personal favorite of his many songs) worked so beautifully on zoom, or not even the instantly legendary Baranski/Streep/McDonald everybody RIIIIISE - no, for me it was the shock of how incredibly good Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhall were as Dot and George. I am kicking myself anew that I missed their run on Broadway back in 2018. Sigh.
posted by minervous at 3:05 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
Katrina Lenk turning "Johanna" into a sort of folk song was something.
And, on a completely different level, 80- something(?) Linda Lavin doing "The Boy From."
And Meryl fucking Streep using the cocktail shaker as a percussion instrument.
I was happily tweeting good-natured jokes and inside lyric references during the hour wait. ("Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul, but...")
The overall phenomenon of what people are trying to produce online under these circumstances deserves its own thread.
Of the totally live-from-home theater productions I've seen so far, the one-man "Buyer and Cellar" last week was my favorite. And of the previously taped productions, The National Theatre's "Jane Eyre." Stars in the House also has had some interesting episodes, a mix of interviews, songs and some play readings.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:11 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
And, on a completely different level, 80- something(?) Linda Lavin doing "The Boy From."
And Meryl fucking Streep using the cocktail shaker as a percussion instrument.
I was happily tweeting good-natured jokes and inside lyric references during the hour wait. ("Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul, but...")
The overall phenomenon of what people are trying to produce online under these circumstances deserves its own thread.
Of the totally live-from-home theater productions I've seen so far, the one-man "Buyer and Cellar" last week was my favorite. And of the previously taped productions, The National Theatre's "Jane Eyre." Stars in the House also has had some interesting episodes, a mix of interviews, songs and some play readings.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:11 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
This whole thing is great, and I didn't do the live stream so I didn't have the frustrations. I don't have any clue how long this is available. I'd put this aside to post but thankfully got beaten to it because that means someone else loves it.
Sondheim is sort of a home plate for me. I can't explain it. I have a lot of home plates, but Sondheim is definitely one. George, Woods, Company, Follies... God, putting on a community theater production of Follies is impossible because of the double casting and the demands on the set.
Anyway, I digress. This whole thing is so great, and I love how people are performing in their personal spaces and not on stage and maybe they're feeling a bit more free in their performances... ?
It's delicious from end to end, and thanks for posting this. I wish the thread had gotten more love, because this is an astounding thing to be assembled.
posted by hippybear at 10:02 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
Sondheim is sort of a home plate for me. I can't explain it. I have a lot of home plates, but Sondheim is definitely one. George, Woods, Company, Follies... God, putting on a community theater production of Follies is impossible because of the double casting and the demands on the set.
Anyway, I digress. This whole thing is so great, and I love how people are performing in their personal spaces and not on stage and maybe they're feeling a bit more free in their performances... ?
It's delicious from end to end, and thanks for posting this. I wish the thread had gotten more love, because this is an astounding thing to be assembled.
posted by hippybear at 10:02 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
Despite the technical difficulties, I loved the hell out of that, and Bernadette Peters made me cry.
posted by suelac at 10:36 PM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by suelac at 10:36 PM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Re; Bernatdette Peters' performance:
If there was ever an argument for Sondheim soliloquy songs being equal to any other soliloquies across literature, that a cappella performance of that song as a speech is the ultimate example. It's Willie Loman or King Lear or anything.
posted by hippybear at 10:47 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
If there was ever an argument for Sondheim soliloquy songs being equal to any other soliloquies across literature, that a cappella performance of that song as a speech is the ultimate example. It's Willie Loman or King Lear or anything.
posted by hippybear at 10:47 PM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm watching for the second time now. This is exactly created to crawl into a corner of my brain and make me feel good, even when the songs are super sad. I might be using this as long as it is available for my background "I need voices" instead of NPR or whatever.. This is much better. And it's so long, it's not a quick repetition. And OMG, Sondheim... how did I manage to be alive during the same time as him? And he's still working on a new show, and maybe it will come out after the vaccine is developed and we can all have normal packed theaters again?
posted by hippybear at 11:24 PM on April 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 11:24 PM on April 27, 2020 [3 favorites]
You are absolutely my people.
posted by blurker at 7:44 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by blurker at 7:44 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
At the Sondheim Tribute, Necessity Was the Mother of Invention - Slate, Sam Adams, 4/27/2020
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:33 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:33 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I second that, Megami. And like Shakespeare (and like a couple performers noted in the concert), performing Sondheim makes you a better actor.
I sang No One Is Alone at an AIDS memorial concert when I was 20. Technically, I sang it beautifully; I was well-trained. Emotionally? I think it's charitable to say that I gave it what I thought was a good push, like I saw the singers on Star Search doing.
A couple days afterwards, my acting professor stopped me after class and asked me to come into his office. He was a tender guy, the kind of teacher who nudges you gently for months, giving you the time and space to figure out what he's trying to teach you when you're ready to figure it out. But that day, he sat down, looked right in my eyes, and said, re my Sondheim song, "That was an insulting performance. You're better than that beauty-pagent crap. Buckle down and get serious, and be brave eough to show yourself, or don't bother continuing your training." ...Or something like that. I honestly went into shock about two sentences in. I got the gist, and stumbled out of there and went back to look at the song again. I saw it anew and wanted to die from shame. Instead I tried to do what he said. Still am. Probably always will be.
posted by minervous at 11:38 AM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
I sang No One Is Alone at an AIDS memorial concert when I was 20. Technically, I sang it beautifully; I was well-trained. Emotionally? I think it's charitable to say that I gave it what I thought was a good push, like I saw the singers on Star Search doing.
A couple days afterwards, my acting professor stopped me after class and asked me to come into his office. He was a tender guy, the kind of teacher who nudges you gently for months, giving you the time and space to figure out what he's trying to teach you when you're ready to figure it out. But that day, he sat down, looked right in my eyes, and said, re my Sondheim song, "That was an insulting performance. You're better than that beauty-pagent crap. Buckle down and get serious, and be brave eough to show yourself, or don't bother continuing your training." ...Or something like that. I honestly went into shock about two sentences in. I got the gist, and stumbled out of there and went back to look at the song again. I saw it anew and wanted to die from shame. Instead I tried to do what he said. Still am. Probably always will be.
posted by minervous at 11:38 AM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
What a gift he gave you. minervous!
I can't hear that song without crying. I can't imagine truly performing it.
posted by blurker at 1:48 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
I can't hear that song without crying. I can't imagine truly performing it.
posted by blurker at 1:48 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
The tag "stephensondheim" above has a lot of great previouslies with links that still work, for those wanting more sweet sondheim action.
Also, there are a bunch of his PBS musical stage presentations on YouTube if you look around a bit. I watch Into The Woods and Sunday In The Park With George regularly there, but I think there is also Company (maybe a couple of them?) and Sweeney Todd (stage), and several others.
posted by hippybear at 9:14 PM on April 29, 2020
Also, there are a bunch of his PBS musical stage presentations on YouTube if you look around a bit. I watch Into The Woods and Sunday In The Park With George regularly there, but I think there is also Company (maybe a couple of them?) and Sweeney Todd (stage), and several others.
posted by hippybear at 9:14 PM on April 29, 2020
This whole thing is amazing. Is it going to be available on YouTube for a long time or does it have an expiration date? I wonder if a good HQ download is available anywhere.
posted by hippybear at 10:00 PM on April 29, 2020
posted by hippybear at 10:00 PM on April 29, 2020
Oh crap I'm watching this again and it's just a giant tear fest and it's wonderful. I guess I have stuff I need to get out and the only exit for them is my tear ducts!
Thanks again Stephen. I love you and your work.
posted by hippybear at 4:20 PM on May 18, 2020
Thanks again Stephen. I love you and your work.
posted by hippybear at 4:20 PM on May 18, 2020
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posted by blurker at 11:41 AM on April 27, 2020 [1 favorite]