This is from a 2007 podcast interview with Sondheim, conducted by Norman Lebrecht (a name I hate to even type).
Lebrecht (discussing Passion): Meryle Secrest, in your biography, suggests that it’s to do with the coming of love in your life, a powerful intimate relationship in your sixties. Is . . . . ?
Sondheim (interrupting him): That’s completely nonsense because I wanted to do that show long before that ever happened to me. I saw the movie in . . . whatever year it was . . . nineteen-eighty (trailing off) . . . I’d say nineteen eighty-three. In this country anyway. I wanted to do it immediately.
It's hard to punctuate that clearly, but Sondheim really interrupted him. NL was not at a temporary loss for words, as the ellipsis may suggest. He would have said more, but Sondheim was having none of it. He would not let that statement stand. |
