Under any conditions, an evening or even an hour with Stephen Sondheim in conversation will likely draw an overflow crowd. Putting it Together: An Evening with James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim would surely have crammed Town Hall last night, even without the presence of moderator Christine Baranski and added “guest stars” Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin.
Things being as they are, the affair was forced onto a Zoom screen, which prevented fans of the Master—especially the legion of younger enthusiasts who know Sunday only from revivals and recordings, and have never had the pleasure of his rarified presence—from the opportunity of being “in the room” with the composer. Even so, the one-time-only streaming democratically placed Sondheim within the reach of all. It also allowed him the comfort of speaking from his own little corner of his own little room, a considerably more chummy atmosphere than an uneasy easy chair under harsh stage lights on a speaking platform.
The occasion was something of a book party for Mr. Lapine’s sparkling new tome with the concisely-if-loquaciously-worded title Putting it Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created “Sunday in the Park with George.” Which, indeed, offers a meticulous look at the surprising journey of a Pulitzer-winning Broadway musical that broke just about every traditional rule along its most unconventional path.
Baranski—as those who were privileged to see the five-week workshop-in-progress of Sunday in the Park mounted by Playwrights Horizons for its subscribers in the summer of 1983 will recall—offered a dynamic presence as Clarisse (later renamed Yvonne) in that incomplete version. So dynamic, indeed, that Mike Nichols wafted her away from the banks of La Grande Jatte to appear in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, making her unavailable to continue to Broadway with Sunday in the Park. (Baranski did, however, win her first Tony Award for The Real Thing.)
She made a fine interlocutor for the occasion, and a personally involved one; unlike your typical interviewer, she is very much present within the book, which intersperses Sunday participants in conversation with Lapine. What’s more, she clearly delved into the text to assemble an assortment of intricate and intriguing questions.
Peters and Patinkin, for their parts, offered an array of compliments toward Lapine and warm-hearted love towards Sondheim; Bernadette with her customary modesty, Mandy with what we might call a gushing enthusiasm that at one point almost flooded the stream. Both looked at the composer through their webcams with a warmth befitting top-caliber performers who appreciate the fact that they had career-defining material hand-crafted on them by a living genius. A sentiment Sondheim might well object to, but even so.
The conversation closely reflected the contents of the book, which is a refreshingly candid account of the what and the how as the mismatched creators—the man behind Company and Follies and Sweeney Todd (not to mention West Side Story and Gypsy), on the one hand, with an avant-garde off-Broadway director who had hardly ever stepped foot above 43rd Street—came together to “put it together.”
The panel was capped by Town Hall Artistic Director Melay Araya asking Lapine and Sondheim a series of questions from viewers. Responses included the composer’s discussion of the influences of Ravel and Britten on the score, and culminated with his advice to young writers: “Don’t be afraid of criticism. You’re going to get it, don’t let that deter you. The important thing is that you should love what you do.”
Putting It Together was streamed on August 3, 2021 and will remain online through August 12. Information: thetownhall.org “Putting it Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created “Sunday in the Park with George is now available from Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
