“writing is a form of mischief” - here’s to king of mischief - Stephen Sondheim.
I begin writing this after a pint of very good lager with friends - raised to Mr Stephen Sondheim. This is utterly appropriate as the man himself claimed to have never written a musical without being under the influence and stated that the only score he ever wrote completely tea-total was the film music to the 1974 French film, Stavisky. Here's to you, sir!
I was 22 years old when I first fell madly, hopelessly and unsuccessfully in love. While the romance was never to be, the drama of it was certainly a turning point in my life, and the emotions that I struggled with throughout that on-off relationship are a constant source of inspiration and recall for me as a librettist, director, and performer.
What has that got to do with Stephen Sondheim? Well, one of life's little ironies and my own personal melodramas is, that shortly after the whole affair fell to pieces, I found myself living directly below the man who had so thoroughly destroyed my heart, rehearsing the wonderful song "Not a day goes by" from Sondheim’s Merrily we Roll Along at my ceiling, and as loudly as possible. If you do not know the piece and may have missed the irony, here are the lyrics:
Not a day goes by
Not a single day
But you're somewhere a part of my life
And it looks like you'll stay
As the days go by
I keep thinking when does it end?
Where's the day I'll have started forgetting?
But I just go on thinking and sweating
And cursing and crying
And turning and reaching
And waking and dying
And no, not a day goes by
Not a blessed day
But you're still somehow part of my life
And you won't go away
I fervently believe Sondheim would have found this poignant scene from my early twenties quite amusing.
The key line from this number - Not a day goes by, not a single day/ but you're somehow a part or my life/ and it looks like you'll stay - is what many people in the musical world will be feeling today, and in the coming weeks, at the loss of one of musical theatre's great composers and lyricists.
Born in New York in 1930, Sondheim's accolades include eight Tony Awards, eight Grammies, a Pulitzer prize, a Laurence Olivier Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The face of 20th Century musical theatre would not be same without him.
While his childhood was emotionally difficult, his parents' early divorce distancing him from both of them, he fell in love with the theatre young. He would recall his first theatrical experience aged nine - "The curtain went up and revealed a piano. A butler took a duster and brushed it up, tinkling the keys. I thought that was thrilling."
And we went on to create thrills of his own.
Many great anecdotes jump out from his life, but a particular favourite of mine is that, after he was left off the credits of a number of out-of-town performances of West Side Story, Bernstein offered to remove his name from those productions, allowing Sondheim sole credit. He also offered to adjust the royalties in Sondheim's favour, but Sondheim refused this generosity, later regretting - "If only somebody would have put a gag in my mouth."
Musicals such as West Side Story and A Little Night Music are what inspired me to be an actor. While my journey may have taken me into opera, I will always listen to "Send in the Clowns" with tears in my eyes. The lyrics and the music together are just so powerful. The bitter irony behind human relationships is perfectly captured in all of Sondheim's work.
One of the last pieces of theatre I saw before lock down was, in fact, the National Theatre's much lauded production of Follies. It feels like a lifetime ago now - so much has changed for both the world, and me personally (I gave birth to my first child in April 2020), but I can truly say that this show stuck with me and left me with the joy of theatre to cherish. Sondheim perfectly captures the highs and lows of a life on the stage, the passion and addiction performers feel, and the richness of the characters that populate the theatre. The musical also depicts how deeply the relationships formed between performers, directors and producers are, even if they may be fleeting. So much of Sondheim's output tussles with what it is to be an artist. This is why it is so valuable to all performers, of every discipline.
