| Sondheim and Me -- Full Disclosure: Not all that Interesting | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:26 pm EST 03/11/22 | |
| In reply to: so sad it wasn't filmed - Chazwaza 04:16 pm EST 03/11/22 | |
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| Easy for you to say because you don't have the money. Have you ever talked to Sondheim and made those proposals to him directly? I doubt it. Because I know what he would say. I only met him one-on-one twice, but very briefly in a couple of New York theaters. I pretty much just said "Hello, Mr. Sondheim", and he chatted with me politely for a few minutes. However, on two occasions, I did participate in group discussions with him in Chicago during talkbacks after shows. In '99 at the Truman College theater after a performance of Saturday Night, he moderated a discussion with Gary Griffin and Ian Brennan for a group of students and anyone who attended the show. Some of the proposals you mentioned were actually presented to him. He was very straight forward and honest in his answers. First of all, he told us that his expertise is composing music and writing lyrics. He's not a financier, nor a producer, and has no interest in filling those roles. That's the job of guys like Hal Prince, Richard Rodgers, the Landesmans, Berlind, Rudin, and others. It's their job to come up with projects and approach him for his stamp of approval. His first questions are always #1 how much will it cost, #2 is there a demonstrable audience for the project, and #3 are there investors willing to cough up the money to finance it. If the answers to all 3 questions are "yes", he will consider getting on board. In regard to putting his own money into a project, his answer was pretty sensible, i.e., only fools (like Rosie O'Donnell) put their own money into projects like the ones presented to him. The reason is because 90% of the time, you lose your ass, things go wrong, and the end result does not make anyone happy. As best as I can remember, those were his comments. BTW, I never asked a question during that discussion. I listened and absorbed. The second talkback with Sondheim was in 2010 at the Harris Theatre in Chicago after a performance of An Evening with Stephen Sondheim. It was less interesting because members of the audience were invited to submit 3 written questions in advance, and Sondheim would chose which ones to answer. Griffin was again the moderator. He's an acquaintance of my partner so I was able to button hole him well in advance with my questions. He looked at them and told me bluntly, "He'll never pick these. They're too hard." Anyway it was still a great evening with Sondheim playing raconteur about his various experiences growing up and with his shows. The questions he answered afterward were interesting, but there was no direct engaging with the audience. |
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