Celebs Mourn Stephen Sondheim

[@michaelisennock8391]

There will NEVER be another Sondheim. I only saw him in person once, at a reunion concert for "Into the Woods". From playing the Baker in "...Woods" to a childhood production in "Gypsy"as a Newsboy, singing his music and lyrics are among my greatest joys in life.

[@chass1771]

“Do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good” Thank you-forever-for being my spiritual friend and teacher.

[@1millionmolecules]

I met him at a talk at the Donmar Warehouse in London. After the talk, I was in the toilets, and heard his distinctive voice echoing close by. I DASHED out of the bathroom into an empty corridor where he was speaking with Helena Bonham Carter, who had also come to see the talk. Even though it was just the two of them, I thought 'I have to say something!'. I apologised for interrupting them, and said "Mr. Sondheim, I just had to say thank you for your body of work, it is incredible and speaks to me so much." - he replied with a lovely and warm thank you very much. Considering I was interrupting them talking, quite the generous and nice response. RIP Steve.

[@takakhan-z3w]

Goodbye Mr. Sondheim. Now that you have moved on, there is finally a giant in the sky.

[@GraemeONeil]

Oooo, that is a beautiful pun ❤️

[@austinpearce5442]

91 years was a life VERY well lived

[@GraemeONeil]

Yes it is. What a life!

[@balesjo]

My introduction to Sondheim was when I was a closeted boy living in the deep South, and I bought the cast album of COMPANY. After that it was the cast recording of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. I was a giant of musical theater, and his music will never die. RIP Stephen Sondheim, you will be missed.

[@GraemeONeil]

Yup he will be missed, but like you said, his music will never die.

[@petemichael4512]

John, I was buying those albums too. Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, and on and on. I was lucky enough to finally be able to go to NYC and able to see Pacific Overtures, Sunday in the Park...with Bernadette and Sweeney Todd with Angela. I was quite emotional when I heard of his death. Perhaps because he reached deep inside and touched our hearts and souls with his genius. Thank God his wonderful contributions remain and will continue to have the same affect on new generations.

[@AGMundy]

Thank you for posting. As for my own memory of Sondheim - I wrote to him in 2016 to express admiration and gratitude for his work, comparing him to Benjamin Britten. He kindly wrote back self-deprecatingly saying that "my compliments had done my ego no end of good". His work will endure even as we say a final farewell and thank you to this man of genius.

[@highbaritone]

I was so fortunate to have played six of his masterful characters. We was a genius amongst us humans. Yes, I too was addicted from day one on hearing “Side By Side”. Thank you for this post. 🎭

[@GraemeONeil]

Very cool! Which was your favourite and why? And actually, what was the most difficult song to sing?

[@jonathanburroughs9380]

He created both a sound track and poetry for our lives. I cannot think of a day that his music and extraordinary lyrics did not run through my mind in one way or another. His work will live as long as there are people on earth who can think and feel.

[@palmereldritch7777]

Feeling so incredibly lucky to have seen original Sweeney Todd on Broadway......and then a lifetime addiction. Like so many others. It is heartbreaking. One of the greatest tributes is i think how many talented composers and lyricists have learned - more likely soaked in his lessons, taken up his challenge and discoveries and followed their own voice. It's gonna be hard listening to his shows for a while though.....

[@GraemeONeil]

Very well said.

[@palmereldritch7777]

@@marshallartz395 Yeah, was an incredible evening.. and i think i got my reduced tickets at the ticketron on Times Square like couple of hours before the show.....and this was ffin Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Victor Garber (who, well his" Johanna" is still echoing somewhere in my spine). What a production.

[@palmereldritch7777]

@@marshallartz395 Yeah, but we were discussing Sweeney. But yes, original Night Music - wow.......something to be jealous about :-) Made it to the Bernadette and Stritch one - and well you just gotta love those shows, don't cha. (but if people couldn't cut it........then it was a bit of an ordeal to bite on my lip-tongue/gnash my teeth)

[@marshallartz395]

@@palmereldritch7777: Yikes! I messed up. I’ll attribute that to a “senior moment.” I did see the original Night Music. That was back in 1973. It remains the most memorable evening I ever spent in the theatre. To clarify, I also saw the original Sweeney Todd with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou. Weeks later I got their autographs on the original cast album during an event at a Sam Goody record store. I saw the still-underrated Pacific Overtures a few days after it opened, and it was there that I had my only Sondheim sighting. He was standing in the aisle near an exit door listening to the show. A few minutes later he disappeared. And last, but certainly not least, I saw Sunday in the Park with George. Unfortunately, Bernadette Peters left the show one day before I saw it. Her replacement was excellent and Mandy Patinkin was still in the cast and, of course, was great. Four landmark musicals. Each so different and so great. 🎭 *P.S. You’re right. It’s excruciating to hear a great Sondheim song butchered. Sharpen that razor, Sweeney!* 💈🩸💇🏻‍♂️🪒💈

[@palmereldritch7777]

@@marshallartz395 AS in the contest : I Gaivva it up ! you beat me good sir, outclassed :-) Sweeney was my first and yeah where do you go from there . The Mackintosch Revival in londen of Follies - where again - yeah god near perfect/ perfect.....rate it bit higher than the excellen National Theatre show that thank god they filmed (well). Dolores Gray - dman she just had to stand there and sing, not even act it out or so......she just WAS. made it to INto the Woods, original run. I remember being slightly - ow dare i say - disappointed" but by then i was already going, nah, youidiot it's just you not getting itall - (and it is very dense play) bought the Cd immediately and (not being a native nglish speaker) had to go with reading the lyrics to let it really sink in and the melodies - of course after that it became one of my favorites. I'm still a bit disenchanted with the scenery and costuming of that production though, would have liked a bit more German Medieaval Gothic flavor - some of it looked too operetta for me (cinderella, the princes). Ah well, you go to Sondheim for meaning in the end, and learning. and damn that music, the lyrics, the emotion.

[@1BrknHrtdRomeo]

Just hit me...Jonathan Larson and Stephen Sondheim can finally work together...

[@GraemeONeil]

awww thats beautiful

[@nafis9465]

STOP😭😭😭

[@MamaGator]

A lovely thought but I’m more excited for him to be reunited with Hammerstein ♥️

[@ARS1508]

Don’t hurt me like this 😭😭😭

[@ciegacita]

91 is a long, full life. my grandma was like 61 when she died. he got 30 more years.

[@GraemeONeil]

Yup. And he lived them to the fullest.

[@ChuckMusicDinoLover]

He had taken us on quite a ride, to places in musical theater we had not known were possible before. It was simply time for him to get off the ride. But for us, we will be riding on his musical journeys till the end of time. He was asked at the end of a New York Times 2008 interview, what would he like his legacy to be. He said, "I would just like the shows to keep getting done. Whether on Broadway, or in regional theaters, or schools or communities, I would just like the stuff to be done. Just done and done and done and done. You know, that would be the fun." For me, his works will always be encouraging creativity, always be thought-provoking, and will always be pulling on our heart-strings. He makes us utilize all our senses. His creative mind seemed to have no boundaries. I think the very last line spoken in Sunday In The Park With George not only summed up what Georges Seurat believed, but was also Stephen's mantra as well... "White. A blank page or canvas. So many possibilities."

[@GraemeONeil]

Ya that’s the thing…his work will truly live on and be performed forever.

[@ChiChisWorld]

Aww, I just saw Tick Tick Boom yesterday & didn't know that was his real voice on the recording. That hits differently. 😔

[@GraemeONeil]

Well, I noticed right away that it wasn’t Bradley Whitford’s voice so I figured it was the real Sondheim…and yup it was. Lin also says he re-recorded it for the movie.

[@visariosorino8034]

He was a very talented gentleman, may he RIP. 🙏

[@GraemeONeil]

Yes he was.

[@roxbuchanan6357]

How will I remember Stephen Sondheim? By singing his songs every chance I get. Even though my voice has been wrecked by rheumatoid arthritis, I will raise it as best I can to honor a legend. And, of course, by loving, as he taught us.

[@randallsundeen3383]

My life long love affair with musical theater began as a child riding in the back of our station wagon hearing Judy Collins singing SEND IN THE CLOWNS I knew the first time I heard it what SPECIAL meant, We are all just VISITORS in this world and all of us who were fortunate enough to share this time with Stephen's musical wit and candor should take comfort in the fact that his gift will live in our collective hearts Thank you to the gentle titan of the American theater!!!

[@GraemeONeil]

Ya it’s incredible how many wonderful performers got to perform his work.

[@hannahrosereviews5073]

I remembered him tonight by watching Into The Woods while quite literally "finishing [a] hat." I crochet.

[@GraemeONeil]

hehe, that's awesome. I love that movie. It was a great adaptation and what a talented cast!

[@mrjmrj7646]

I never expected it this early. I was convinced he'd see his 100, or well over. He seemed so alive and fit, still shocked!

[@GraemeONeil]

it did seem like it was sudden.

[@wildcrocus]

Lin had Stephen record the voice mail part for the movie. It was not from a tape of John Larson's

[@frenchielnoir9365]

I'm still in shock.

[@hellbenthornball1153]

I saw the original cast of Follies in Los Angeles when I was a young teenager with my mom. (Back then, Broadway performers sometimes toured themselves rather than having regional casts perform.) My mom managed to convince me that I would enjoy Follies because Yvonne DeCarlo was in it (and I was a Munsters/Lilly Munster fan). I also remember Alexis Smith starring in it. Lo and behold, the musical was very adult and complex, and my little teenage brain couldn't handle it, so I drifted off to sleep. Shame. Many years later, I saw a local production of Follies WIDE AWAKE. Loved it.

[@MikeA15206]

Hillary's was the best. No one is alone! Everybody rise! Perfect tribute.

[@Mason_____]

Sondheim was immortalized 50 years ago, his death is merely a reminder that gods that walk this earth need to go home eventually…even after 91 years. RIP to the greatest of all time.

[@micheledemugerian3386]

Back in the day, I was an actress/singer. This coming Wednesday, the place where I live is having a Holiday show. I'll be singing Sondheim. I've been ruminating what I should sing. One possibility is "Goodbye for Now" from the movie "Reds". Am also considering "Send in the Clowns.:

[@GraemeONeil]

So many possibilities! Good luck ❤️

[@burtihal]

Not a Day Goes By

[@micheledemugerian3386]

@@burtihal Thanks Hali. 😊 For the last 48 hours, I've been in a perpetual state of feeling like weeping.

[@burtihal]

@@micheledemugerian3386 You are not alone. I've been crying for days. At first I thought I had written your comment. I too, back in the day, worked as an actress/singer. Over the years, I was fortunate to work in several of his shows (not Broadway), in large and small parts: WWS, Gypsy, Company, and Side by Side - got to sing many of my favorites - Another Hundred People, Losing my Mind, Could I Leave You?, And of course all the duos and trios.

[@micheledemugerian3386]

@@burtihal The only Sondheim show I did was "Candide" as the Old Lady. As you know Maestro Sondheim did the lyrics, Leonard Bernstein wrote the music.

[@Leftatalbuquerque]

I wish...

[@GraemeONeil]

what was THAT? (i know not that memorable of a line, but i LOVED Emily Blunt's delivery of it in the movie)

[@VILJL]

What, no message from Trump? He probably doesn't even know who Sondheim was.

[@GraemeONeil]

Tbh, I didn’t check but ya, I think that’s a long shot 😜

[@brunoantony3218]

As an opera goer in New York I can testify to the fact that in the 90s and early 2000s Trump was always seen at the opera and other Lincoln Center theaters. He definitely knows who Sondheim was. Not brain surgery anyway. I personally despise his dishonesty and tackiness, Trump's I mean. But let's not forget that in 2016 the average Trump voter had higher education and income than the average Hillary voter. Numbers don't lie.

[@jasongould407]

Sweeney Todd is my favourite. What a genius. RIP Stephen Sondheim.

[@whostosay3256]

You’re mom interpreted his music masterfully! The best!

[@dennismclaurin1487]

Stephen is a good name.

[@janedustin7741]

My first child was named Joanna - after my husband & I had seen Sweeny Todd in 1980 or 81. Angela Lansbury was in it. & I cannot remember the main actor who played Sweeny BUT it was fantastic! Beautiful! Yes, RIP S.S.!

[@timothytikker3834]

I worked with a couple did exactly the same, after he played the sailor in Sweeney Todd, for which production the wife was music director.

[@GraemeONeil]

Wow! Quite a tribute

[@EricaGamet]

Len Cariou played Sweeney on B'way... maybe that's who you saw? How awesome to have seen Ms. Lansbury on stage!

[@mountainlinx]

Genius!

[@tomthetank1]

is he referencing Rosie O'donnell band leader John? Lol...

[@dennismclaurin1487]

D.

[@johntlew]

Did Anna Kendrick need to use profanity?

[@luzalgarin9518]

My comment has the goal to share an up building message full of hope. Jehovah God promises that those who have died will live again in Isaiah 26:19: "Your dead will live. My corpses will rise. Wake up and shout for joy, residents of the dust! For your dew is like the morning dew, and the earth will let those who are powerless in death live again." He will bring them back to life; that is the hope of the resurrection. Have a super great peaceful day!

[@dennismclaurin1487]

D.