#3
COMPANY
MUSIC AND LYRICS: STEPHEN SONDHEIM; BOOK: GEORGE FURTH
Company is often cited as the first plotless musical to ever be put on Broadway. You will also notice this is not only the second Stephen Sondheim show on the list but also the second plotless Sondheim show. He has a knack for that. The show is an examination of marriage in 1970 New York through the eyes of perpetually single and unable/unwilling to commit Bobby, who is celebrating his 35th birthday. We jump through vignettes of Bobby with one of five couples all in different types of marriages, as well as three women Bobby is dating.
Though written and taking place in 1970, the show is surprisingly mature on its views of relationships. Yes, marriage is still considered something a couple should do, but with the right director, the focus can be shifted away from that and more towards Bobby’s need to connect. It is a coming of age story for a man. The reason for its more sophisticated views is that Sondheim approached the show as an academic rather than a romantic. He, at the time of writing the show, had never been in a fully committed, real relationship, so he interviewed people about marriage to understand its mechanics, creating a fascinating perspective.
I believe the best Sondheim songs are stream of consciousness. Melody does not matter as much as character. He writes highly verbal, complex songs where the character is deeply in the moment. The reason I typically drift away from the overly melodic stuff is it sounds preplanned. Sondheim songs feel spontaneous. You get some of the best examples of that in this show, with songs like “Someone is Waiting” and “Barcelona”. The second song is essentially a conversation set to music, with ebbs and flows, wit, and tension. It is terrific storytelling.
“Being Alive”, the final song of the show, is one of the most powerful songs in all of musical theater. Where most shows would have its final song be a declaration of love, this show ends with the character declaring he is ready to love. It is not to love anyone in particular. He just has broken down the barrier for connection. By simply changing the word “someone” from the first half of the song to “somebody” in the second, a character has a revelation that moves me every time I hear the song. It is a spellbinding ending to a spellbinding show.
Music Highlights: “Company”, “You Could Drive a Person Crazy”, “Another Hundred People”, “The Ladies Who Lunch”, “Being Alive”
#2
VIOLET
MUSIC: JEANINE TESORI; BOOK AND LYRICS: BRIAN CRAWLEY
Had I made this list a year ago, this show would not be on the list. I was totally unfamiliar with Violet, but thanks to “Encores!“, this show has quickly risen to become one of my favorites. “Encores!”, for those who don’t know, is a concert series by the New York City Center where they put up full scores of musicals that do not often get performed in New York. In 2013, they put up their concert of Violet, starring two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster and two-time Tony nominee Joshua Henry (only once at the time). This concert was so popular and the people involved did not want to be finished with it that the Roundabout Theatre Company put it on Broadway for the first time this year, which is where I saw it.
I am not overstating that the hour and forty-five minutes I spent watching the show is the most rewarding experience I have ever had watching a live performance, be it a play, concert, stand-up, circus, magic, etc. This is a show about embracing one’s own individuality and finding the people who love you for it. I am a big proponent of being happy with who you are. If you feel the need to change yourself to appease someone or fit in, you are doing yourself a disservice. People need to acclimate to you, not the other way around. I know this is a pretty familiar theme, but I cannot think of an instance where it was better explored than here.
Violet is a woman who, at the age of thirteen, was left with a horrific scar across her face when an axe blade came loose. It is 1964, and she is getting on a bus to travel from Spruce Pine, North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma to see a televangelist about healing the scar. On her trip, she encounters two soldiers, Flick and Monty. Flick is black. Monty is white. Flick sees Violet as a person, and Monty sees her as someone he can take advantage of. This story is intercut with Violet as a young girl living with her father, dealing with not being attractive, a hard-edged father, and a dead mother.
The main reason this show works, though, is its score. Jeanine Tesori took the sounds of 1964, folk, gospel, and blues, and wrote one of the most rousing scores in theater. Rousing is definitely the best word for it. Songs like “On My Way”, “Raise Me Up”, and especially “Let it Sing” are numbers that hit every sweet spot inside you. Your heart swells when you hear it, or at least mine does. The score puts its heart on its sleeve without ever feeling cloyingly sentimental, and it takes a very talented composer to do that.
The structure of the show lends itself very well to film. It is performed in one act, making its pacing much more suited to the screen and the two different timelines could be juggled on screen in a very interesting way. Also, road trip movies are not uncommon, and this is far better than a good majority of the ones already made, particularly lately. This is the one show on this list where I know exactly how I would want to make it and would be ready to start tomorrow, just as long as I could have Sutton Foster and Joshua Henry reprising their roles.
Music Highlights: “On My Way”, “All to Pieces”, “Let it Sing”, “Lay Down Your Head”, “Bring Me to Light”
#1
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
MUSIC AND LYRICS: STEPHEN SONDHEIM; BOOK: JAMES LAPINE
My favorite musical of all time is Sunday in the Park with George. This causes a problem because it is almost impossible to talk about something that is my favorite. It is my favorite because it resonates with me in so many deep rooted ways that only I can understand them. When you care for something so deeply, words can rarely do it justice. All you have is the way it moves you when you experience it. This being a text based medium, not writing words about it sort of defeats the purpose, so I will try.
Sunday in the Park is inspired by the life and work of artist Georges Seurat. Georges is in the middle of painting what will be his most famous piece, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”. He is a repressed artist who puts just as much stock in his work as he does with the people around him, perhaps even more. This is a big problem for Dot, Georges’ model and girlfriend, who is madly in love with him and his work but can never get through to him. Even when she shacks up with a local baker, gets pregnant, and plans to move to America, Georges is still focused on his work. He longs for the connection she asks of him but does not know how. He thinks his art can be it, but no one else sees it that way. And that is just the first act.
The second act jumps one hundred years into the future, to what was present day 1984. Georges’ great-grandson, named George, is an artist himself. He is struggling to find his voice as an artist, constructing a giant chromolume machine which reflects the Seurat painting from the first act. So, as you can tell, there is a lot happening here.
As an artist, or aspiring artist may be more accurate, this hits very close to home. I have been the guy who cannot connect with others because I am so wrapped up in something I am making. I have been the guy who doubts his creativity and purpose. I have never seen these ideas tackled in this unique a way before or since. What I love most about how they are handled is Georges and George are not judged for their behavior. Georges is not seen as a monster because he cannot show love in the way Dot wants. George is not seen as a sell out because he makes work seemingly without substance. They are shown as people who can improve and want to improve.
There is a line from the song “Move On” I try to live my life by:
Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new. Give us more to see.
Much like Violet, the show is about individuality. It affirms that you have something worth saying, and if it is familiar, your perspective on it makes it its own thing. For as neurotic as Sondheim work can get, that is a beautiful message shining through. I know I probably have not adequately explained why this is my favorite musical, but I just ask you seek it out for yourself. Pick up the original cast recording or the filmed version of the original cast, featuring Mandy Patinkin (in the role he has said changed his life) and Bernadette Peters. You will not regret it.
Music Highlights: “Color and Light”, “Finishing the Hat”, “Sunday”, “Lesson #8”, “Move On”
Honorable Mentions
As I said, I only allotted myself three Stephen Sondheim shows, but there are so many that could have made the list. Merrily We Roll Along was the closest to making the list, having switched it and Drood numerous times, but Pacific Overtures, Follies, and Passion were also strong contenders.
Aside from Sondheim, Ragtime, the adaptation of E. L. Doctorow‘s novel by Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, and Terrence McNally, I greatly considered. The book has already gotten a non-musical film adaptation directed by MiloÅ¡ Forman, but I think the musical does a much better job at adapting the material as well as exploring the various issues of race, class, and what it means to be an American much better.
Some others I considered: Urinetown (by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis), The Book of Mormon (by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez), Matilda the Musical (by Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly), The Light in the Piazza (by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas), and tick, tick… BOOM! (by Jonathan Larson and David Auburn, which I consider to be Larson’s best work).
Well, I hope you enjoyed this list. Are there any musicals out there you wish would be turned into movies? Do you love or hate any of the shows on my list? Are there aspiring filmmakers out there who have a piece of material close to their heart they wish to make?
I will leave you with the great Mandy Patinkin singing “Finishing the Hat” from Sunday in the Park with George. You’re welcome.
