What embarrasses Stephen Sondheim?

Stephen Sondheim tells 60 Minutes if he could do it again, he would rewrite certain lyrics from "West Side Story" - including a line from "Tonight."
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"60 Minutes," the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10. "60 Minutes" has won more Emmy Awards than any other primetime broadcast, including a special Lifetime Achievement Emmy. It has also won every major broadcast journalism award over its tenure, including 24 Peabody and 18 DuPont Columbia University awards for excellence in television broadcasting. Other distinguished awards won multiple times include the George Polk, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow, Investigative Reporters and Editors, RFK Journalism, Sigma Delta Chi and Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Reporting. "60 Minutes" premiered on CBS Sept. 24, 1968. The correspondents and contributors of "60 Minutes" are Bill Whitaker, Steve Kroft, Scott Pelley, Lesley Stahl, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim and Norah O'Donnell. "60 Minutes" airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local listings.

[@richardallen3810]

Sondheim is a national treasure. He knows more about Bway and theatre than anyone alive. He studied as a boy with Oscar Hammerstein and he has worked with legends. No one today can touch his genius.

[@christiankrenek7689]

Just incredible. Mr. Sondheim is 89 years old, still sharp as can be, and never stops writing and editing his own work. Truly a treasure, and made immortal by his incredible pieces. Thank you, sir!

[@crisfranco4717]

I feel fortunate to have lived in a time when Stephen Sondheim was alive and creating his lasting library of breakthrough musicals. Thank you, Mr. Sondheim for having graced us with your many storytelling gifts.

[@zakariashartley]

He still is alive

[@eleftheria8911]

@@zakariashartley why is this so funny

[@zakariashartley]

@@eleftheria8911 who's laughing?

[@terryhammond1253]

Steve was so kind to me in the seventies.... analyzing my music and lyrics...I cherish the dozen or so letters he has written me over the years. A great man as well as a great artist.

[@anastapatsak]

Really? Wow I can't even imagine how that would be like 😍

[@Themanwhocameback2]

He was only obeying the laws of karma.: Oscar Hammerstein had been even more kind and generous to him when he was starting out.

[@elliottbronstein1214]

You're a song writer?

[@JHParee]

It sounds a lot like the correspondence between Sondheim and Larson. I wish you all the luck in the world with your work.

[@cupcake4177]

I just want to give Stephan Sondheim a Big Ol Hug. That is just the one thing I want in life.

[@anhw3303]

He wrote it when he was 25 so he feels like any one of us would looking back decades at our younger selves. But of course for a genius like Sondheim, his juvenile work happens to be a masterpiece like WSS.

[@alextirrellRI]

Right? I still cringe at old Facebook posts!

[@hlwatts9979]

The man is 90 years old and still sharp as a tack! What a treasure!

[@bradleyscarton3931]

He also later cringed at his lyrics to “I Feel Pretty.”

[@oliverbrownlow5615]

I admire the lyrics to "I Feel Pretty" very much just as they are, but to be fair, Sondheim's discomfort with them goes all the way back to the show's preview performances. Sheldon Harnick is said to have suggested to him that the lyric was too sophisticated for the character. Sondheim agreed, and actually wrote an alternate, simplified version, but his collaberators refused to accept it.

[@penguincommunity6218]

I had no idea that’s where “Krup you!” came from! Sondheim regularly goes to West Side Story when asked for examples of lyrics he regrets. I read a book decades ago where he said he didn’t like “for a small fee in America” because of the way the words were accented. It said it sounds like “smafee”.

[@JohnDoe-gk7ok]

Penguin Community Have any revivals replaced it with what he wanted?

[@oliverbrownlow5615]

@@JohnDoe-gk7ok I don't know that there's an alternate. The problem is simply that the words come too fast to be comprehended, at least for many first-time listeners -- and of course it's difficult if not impossible to fully articulate the word "small" at high speed. You lose too much of the "l" sound ("sma-luh"). I've sometimes thought it might help to insert a brief pause after the phrase "small fee," just to let it breathe a little, and give a moment to allow the listener to process it. (Having written this, it strikes me that your question might be about Krupke rather than the "small fee" problem in "America." To my knowledge, no one has attempted to restore the vulgarity originally directed at Sgt. Krupke.)

[@andrewkohler3707]

"Gee Officer Krupke, krup you!" (Lenny's idea, as Sondheim wrote in Finishing the Hat), is genuinely better-a rare case of censorship improving something.

[@grantmalone]

Agree, it's much smarter vs just shock value.

[@emalaw1329]

"Lenny" as in Bernstein?

[@andrewkohler3707]

@@emalaw1329 Yup!

[@bodenlosedosenhose1590]

You rarely see people who at this age are this aware, fast-thinking and in the moment.

[@termsofusepolice]

Joe Biden is sharp as a tack.

[@tomimpala]

'Today the world was just an address' is a great line as is "we're gonna beat every last buggin' gang on the whole buggin' street!"

[@Themanwhocameback2]

Often artists are not the best judge of their own work. Tennesse Williams was even worse.

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

Not only is he a lyrical and musical genius, he's humble to boot! A very wise man. How lucky I am to have been born into a world where Sondheim and his musicals exist! Thanks for all the music, the lessons, the laughter, and the tears Stephen!

[@depaola63]

" isn't rich...are we a pair ? " CLASSIC with Sinatra singing

[@Twentythousandlps]

"Today the world was just an address" uses plain language poetically, which seems right to me. On the other hand, as he says, "I feel pretty" is not the right diction for the character of Maria - but the words and the music work so well together.

[@vking7889]

Thank goodness for that 'no four letter words' rule & that Sondheim decided he did want to sell records outside of the state! "Gee, Officer Krupke... krup you!" is soooo much better than using the real 'four letter word'... and says the same exact thing. BRILLIANT, even if by accident!

[@sherribrown-webster1866]

One of muy FAVES!!! I love love love Stephen sondheim...he's genius!!! Westside Story is my Favorite Musical EVER!

[@jasmineledesma3234]

Father!!!!!!! I love him so much 😭

[@MrStewbee]

A national treasure for sure...Love his music.

[@wesman422]

Oh I adore him.

[@HaydenofEverything]

I'm gonna do a performance where "Gee Officer Krupke" ends with the original line idea.

[@emmarose4234]

Mr. Sondheim is in his nineties now. Wow.

[@mlynnlm9068]

I like his humble nature.

[@Yugvijay]

What a beautiful voice

[@juanmonge8]

The Sin of Perfectionism and over analyzing. We love you anyway.

[@TheStockwell]

No offense intended, but perfectionism isn't a sin except to people incapable of it - or who are envious or baffled by people who keep working something over and over until it's a good as it'll ever get.

[@patrickhicks9880]

he's a genius and i love his songs even though he's famous he's still underrated

[@omgwth9796]

The charming brainy genius human.

[@arthurjackson3287]

a giant has passed... Thank You, Maestro

[@glitterthat07]

I love Sondheim!!!

[@williamevans9426]

For me, one especially jarring Sondheim lyric is from the song 'Our time', in 'Merrily we Roll Along'. In this, the lyrics run, 'It's our time , Breathe it in. Worlds to change, and worlds to win. Our turn, coming through, Me and you man, me and you." I cannot understand why Sondheim did not avoid the repetition of 'Me and you man, me and you' simply by inverting the first phrase, so it reads 'You and me man, me and you'. He must have pondered every phrase, so if anyone can explain this seemingly overlooked issue, I really would be glad of an explanation! Many thanks!

[@ev13191]

This seems to me to be entirely subjective. My guess is that he feels "Me and you, man -- me and you" is much more something someone would actually say, especially a young person (by this point in the show, they're very young and idealistic), rather than the poetic inverting of the phrase. Basically the same thing he's talking about in this video. I would agree with him. *shrug* I highly doubt there's any explanation past that.

[@williamevans9426]

@@ev13191 Thank you for this interesting interpretation - it certainly makes sense to me. (You and me!)

[@1101grayzer]

It’s a good thought, William. If you say „You and me man, me and you“, it feels rather awkward and the sound of the repetition just FEELS more natural and easy. Repetition doesn’t have to be wrong, does it? Think of pieces of music, lots of Mozart for example, where a phrase is repeated and you take care to play it differently the second time, for emphasis. I think it’s similar. Or maybe Mr. Sondheim could not find a better solution and this just felt best. I know he did not just choose lazily to repeat. He‘ll have given it a lot of thought.

[@StarCrusader12]

RIP Stephen Sondheim😔

[@amviciouso]

RIP

[@cadredeux1047]

Send in the clowns. Oh, they are already here.

[@stephaniestanley8041]

He was a gorgeous man. See The Ladies Who Lunch with Elaine Stritch.

[@jesuiszrr]

Censorship 🙄

[@elliottbronstein1214]

As far as I'm concerned, Sondheim>Lloyd Webber. I only wish the man was still making shows.

[@termsofusepolice]

Of course. That one's not even close IMO.

[@grantmalone]

Very different composers, excellent in their own way. I find the constant need to compare them odd really. All anyone is talking about in the end is personal taste. There's no "of course" about it.

[@phaffner4106]

Sondheims lyric" today the world was just an address " is quite current. That's all you see is Ip addresses. Quite prophetic!

[@c.d.9035]

Sondheim's critical of some of those lines that don't sound like they should come from those characters' mouths, but I always took it as part of the style of that particular musical. Sure, a street kid wouldn't actually say "today the world was just and address," and a recent immigrant wouldn't really say "I feel pretty, and witty, and gay." But gang bangers don't actually break into ballet moves either. It's stylized, which is the way I always felt it was conceived by all of its creators.

[@detoxmuscle]

ICON

[@Norvo82]

And the "dirty" words still get bleeped. It may be 2020, but not a whole lot has changed.

[@MatthewTS22]

I am curious, however...one of his embarrassing moments is to give a kid living in poverty some intelligence?

[@AdamBechtol]

:)

[@nhmooytis7058]

From what I’ve read, this will be a stinkeroo pandering to SJWs, I wouldn’t see it with a gun to my head. I’ve loved the original since I was 7.

[@yeshualionofjudah7107]

I’m sorry, I don’t know who he is. Poor guy how can he see out of his left eye.

[@1101grayzer]

How did you end up watching this clip? It’s really worth your while finding out and getting to know his work.