At this time, virtually the entire "Follies" section had yet to be written. He had a lot else on his mind. According to Chapin, it was Hal Hastings who put together the counterpoint section, which is par for the course. People are sometimes surprised by how much Sondheim — not just Sondheim, of course, among Broadway composers — gives over to the musical director, orchestrator, dance arranger and sometimes others who, if I can trust what I have heard, Sondheim doesn't even know did the work to put together some important musical material. I didn't even know till relatively recently — perhaps not until Everything Was Possible, although I think I did know this a bit before then — that "One More Kiss" was written as a solo. It wasn't till rehearsals that they decided to make it a duet, taking advantage of Victoria Mallory having been hired and having little to do, with the small role she had been partly hired for gradually disappearing. When it was decided, Hastings was the one who made it into a duet.
I can remember years ago mentioning here that Sondheim rarely has done the vocal arrangements, and being challenged by someone who just could not believe that he wouldn't have. I had quotes from both Gemignani and Sondheim himself about this. |
