Underrated Sondheim Songs- Page 2
Underrated Sondheim Songs
commasplice
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/29/04
#25re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 1:11pm
Definitely agree that most of Pacific Overtures is underrated.
I feel like the Liebeslieder material in Night Music doesn't get the credit it deserves (kind of like the transitions in Passion).
#26re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 1:24pm
I love Into the Woods - forgot about "On the Steps of the Palace" - probably my favorite rhyme scheme of all time. I even use that song to teach rhyme to my students when we study ITW.
I also wanted to add from my previous list "That'll Show Him" from Forum (it always makes me laugh) and, though Sondheim only wrote the lyrics, "What Do We Do We Fly" and "No Understand" from Do I Hear a Waltz.
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
#27re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 2:30pmI always though The Worst Pies in London from Sweeney and Getting Married Today from Company were really underrated.
I know you.
I know you.
I know you.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#28re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:18pm"Poems" from Pacific Overtures - I love how it starts so simply, then the accompaniment/orchestration builds slowly in intensity. The harmony on the duet section is thrilling.
#29re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 4:31pm
[QUOTE]I always though The Worst Pies in London from Sweeney and Getting Married Today from Company were really underrated.[/QUOTE]
Really? I thought they were among the most popular songs from each musical..
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#30re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 4:56pm
"I Read" from Passion
"Talent" from Bounce
"The Gun Song" from Assassins
"My Friends" from Sweeney....not sure if it is exactly *underrated* but the song is pure genious anyhow
#31re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:00pm
After going through my Sondheim playlist..
I love "Ariadne" from The Frogs, as well as the movie version of "The Glamorous Life".
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#32re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:00pm
After going through my Sondheim playlist..
I love "Ariadne" from The Frogs, as well as the movie version of "The Glamorous Life". And, though I'm not sure if it is underrated per se, but "Now/Later/Soon" is brilliant.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#33re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:17pm"What More Do I Need?"
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
#34re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:23pm
""My Friends" from Sweeney....not sure if it is exactly *underrated* but the song is pure genious anyhow"
Yeah, I'm [i]sure[/i] this is one of his most popular songs so I wouldn't say it is underrated at all :P.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#35re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 6:29pm
"In Buddy's Eyes"- Is it really underrated? Maybe Barbara Cook made it a little more popular, but it doesn't get sung as often as "Losing My Mind" or "I'm Still Here", two other popular (and fabulous) songs from Follies and it certainly deserves to. It's brilliant.
"Uptown Downtown"- Maybe PalJoey can enlighten us on why the hell it was cut from Follies and replaced by the wonderful, but inferior, "Lucy and Jessie"? His opinions on the show are always valid and welcome. I think that it is not only a better song, but makes its point clearer than "Lucy and Jessie."
"Green Finch and Linnet Bird"- A stunning aria
"I Read"- Some of those lyric lines ("There is a flower...", "If you have no expectations...", "The more you cling to things...") are just brilliant and the music really defines Fosca very nicely.
The "Now/Later/Soon" trio also comes in mind. I've been using this word too often today, but I think it is just orgasmic the way the three come together.
AndAllThatJazz22
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/8/08
#36re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 6:33pm
Marry Me a Little
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas."
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
-Danmeg's 10 year old son.
#37re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 6:38pmThis isn't really underappreciated but I love it more than the average person- Green Finch and Linnet Bird.
#38re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 6:55pm
'Memory' from Cats
Best post of the thread.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
#39re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 7:02pm
"This isn't really underappreciated but I love it more than the average person- Green Finch and Linnet Bird."
Oh, "Green Finch" is pretty underappreciated. I mean, they were thinking of cutting it from the film for God's sake! If they had, they could have just gotten a piece of cardboard to play Johanna. And it's a brilliant aria that ranks with "Glitter and Be Gay."
#40re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 8:18pm"I Remember" from Evening Primrose. I absolutely *adore* that song.
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#41re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 8:30pmHow about the entire score of Evening Primrose?
#42re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 9:37pm
Gun Song/Ballad of Czolgosz from Assassins
I just feel that the Balladeer has to do circular breathing at the end!
I once heard someone describe her (Ruthie Henshall) singing as sounding as though she's trying to swallow a whole meatball slightly larger than her windpipe. (The same person compared Michael Ball's singing to sounding as though he's sitting on a washing machine on spin cycle and Colm Wilkinson's to a man with a paralyzed lip trying to eat cottage cheese.) --- Schmerg_The_Impaler
#43re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 9:49pm
Lotte, I've played the Balladeer in Assassins and the end of that song was one of the hardest passages I've ever sung! Plus I was playing banjo at the same time. Definitely not easy. Brilliant, but not easy. :)
Mister Matt, I was going to say "On the Steps of the Palace," but I was afraid of saying anything from Into the Woods since I don't know if anything from that show could be considered underrated. But it's definitely one of my favorite songs (if not my favorite) from that show. I love that lyric! It's so well-written. Of course my other favorite from that show would be "Moments in the Woods," but again, is it overrated? I'm not so sure. But those are two wonderful, wonderful songs.
~Steven
#44re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 10:11pmOh, let me add "No More" from Into the Woods to my list. I think it's pretty damn brilliant and despite marvelous recordings by Mandy Patinkin and (my favorite) Barbara Cook, it doesn't get sung as often as "No One Is Alone" or "Children Will Listen." 'Tis a crying shame.
#45re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 10:16pm
Oh my! There are so many, I can't even think of them all right now.
Definitely 'What More Do I Need?' from Saturday Night
and 'Bang' from A Little Night Music...
ALL of Merrily... as far as I'm concerned
'Too Many Mornings' from Follies
'Children and Art' from Sunday...
I'm also loving the stuff from Stavisky thanks to The Story so Far... You never hear about those songs.
"As we all should probably have learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals" - Frank Rich
"I think it's appropriate: iSondheim - a Sondheim for the new generation! (wailing guitar riff) Get your kids hooked early on Sondheim, so they'll grow up to be just as emotionally stilted and self-conscious as we are! - BustopherPhantom
"I think it's appropriate: iSondheim - a Sondheim for the new generation! (wailing guitar riff) Get your kids hooked early on Sondheim, so they'll grow up to be just as emotionally stilted and self-conscious as we are! - BustopherPhantom
#46re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 10:19pm
jv92, I've got to agree. "No More" has my favorite line in the entire show: "Where are we to go? Where are we ever to go?" The song is beautiful.
~Steven
#47re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 10:22pm
"jv92, I've got to agree. "No More" has my favorite line in the entire show: "Where are we to go? Where are we ever to go?" The song is beautiful. "
Agreed once more. I've got the song playing right now. It's also my favourite song from the show.
'can't we just pursue our lives, with our children and our wives
until that happy day arrives
how to do you ignore...'
"As we all should probably have learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals" - Frank Rich
"I think it's appropriate: iSondheim - a Sondheim for the new generation! (wailing guitar riff) Get your kids hooked early on Sondheim, so they'll grow up to be just as emotionally stilted and self-conscious as we are! - BustopherPhantom
"I think it's appropriate: iSondheim - a Sondheim for the new generation! (wailing guitar riff) Get your kids hooked early on Sondheim, so they'll grow up to be just as emotionally stilted and self-conscious as we are! - BustopherPhantom
#48re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/12/08 at 10:31pm
"Pretty Little Picture" from Forum
"Remember" from A Little Night Music
"Like It Was" from Merrily We Roll Along
"Beautiful" from Sunday in the Park
"Stay with Me" from Into the Woods
"I Love to Travel" from The Frogs
"Hades" from The Frogs
"Fear No More" from The Frogs
And even though he only wrote the music for this one, let's not forget the jingle he sang when he guest starred on The Simpsons.
"President or Ayatollah/Everyone loves new Buzz Cola/(whisper) With lemon"
My avatar = A screencap from Avatar, arguably the greatest animated show of all
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#49re: Underrated Sondheim Songs
Posted: 11/13/08 at 3:39amWater Under the Bridge from the sadly never made Rob Reines movie musical Singing Out Loud. But please NOT the Liza Minelli version on the new box set (she actually told a fan I know who said how much he loved the song that she didn't get it and found it dreary) The Debbie Shapiro Gravitte take on Unsung Sondheim is to die.
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