Celebrating Sondheim

Are you getting ready for Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Space on Saturday, March 19 from 11am to 11pm? It should be a good time, graced with the presence of 16 Tony winners (Jason Robert Brown, Michael Cerveris, Joanna Gleason, Randy Graff, Debbie Gravitte, John Guare, Judy Kaye, James Lapine, Patti LuPone, Richard Maltby, Phyllis Newman, Michele Pawk, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, B.D. Wong, and Jerry Zaks) as well as plenty of other top-notch talent: Karen Akers, Barbara Barrie, Laura Benanti, Polly Bergen, Kate Burton, Liz Callaway, Mario Cantone, Carolee Carmello — and that’s only the first three letters of the alphabet.

It reminds me of a celebration that took place 32 years ago, on March 11, 1973, at the Shubert Theatre. Longtime theatergoers will calculate that A Little Night Music was then at that playhouse, and while that was a big success, it wasn’t “the” event of the season. Sondheim: A Musical Tribute was. It was a benefit for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and the National Hemophilia Foundation, and I doubt that anyone who was there didn’t consider it one of the greatest theatrical events of his lifetime.

Much of it was captured on a terrific two-disc set that was released not by cast album giants Columbia or RCA but by Warner Brothers, which seldom dipped its toe into the Broadway waters. But they did a handsome job preserving a lot of Sondheim: A Musical Tribute. Later, RCA Victor put the album on CD, restoring a section of the overture and also Pam Meyers’ rendition of “Another Hundred People.” But what else happened that night that wasn’t captured on either recording?

Jack Cassidy started the proceedings, saying that he’d never done a Sondheim show but was supposed to: Saturday Night, which — we didn’t know then — was still a quarter-century away from getting produced. (Later in the evening, Cassidy did “Class,” marking the first time that any of us had heard anything from Saturday Night.) Next, everyone was introduced in “Side by Side by Side,” as cast members named their peers. (“Chita Rivera!” “Larry Kert!”) Sheldon Harnick came on, reminiscing about going to a Saturday Night backers audition soon after he moved to town from Chicago and recalling that the quality of the work made him fear for his own career. Though Richard Rodgers wasn’t there, he sent a telegram saying how much he admired Sondheim’s lyrics. We wondered if he was making a statement about Sondheim’s music, or the man himself, by limiting his words to the worth of Sondheim’s words.

After Dorothy Collins did the title song from Do I Hear a Waltz? her then-husband Ron Holgate did “Take the Moment” from the same score. Then Jule Styne took the stage and was warmly received. We were a little taken aback when he flat out said that Sondheim had wanted to write the music for Gypsy, but he was good-natured about it. He did say “I hate you” but followed it with “You’re so young.” (Styne was then 67, which is younger than Sondheim, then 42, is now; he’s a little more than a week away from 75.)

Leonard Bernstein accompanied Larry Kert’s rendition of “Something’s Coming” before introducing Goddard Lieberson, whom he credited with “inventing the recording of shows.” Not quite; Jack Kapp of Decca gets that credit, but Lieberson had certainly been the dean of cast albums for the previous two decades. Lieberson introduced Justine Johnson and VIctoria Mallory, who did “One More Kiss.” This was a real thrill, for though the song had been recorded for the Follies cast album, it wasn’t included on the original LP release. Lieberson then introduced “Broadway Baby,” incorrectly saying that it was from Company; this was probably wishful thinking, for he did that album and didn’t do Follies, a mistake for which we’ve forever paid. From Follies, we later heard “You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow” and “Love Will See Us Through” with original casters Harvey Evans, Kurt Peterson, Marti Rolph, and Virginia Sandifur all in place.

Tony Perkins came on and mentioned that he wrote Evening Primrose with Sondheim. I would have expected that we would have applauded the title, given that we’d all recorded the program on our Webcor reel-to-reels nearly seven years earlier. Perkins mourned that more people didn’t know the songs from this score — but oh, that’s been rectified over the years, hasn’t it? When I go to the Museum of Television and Radio to see Evening Primrose and Charmian Carr begins singing “Take Me to the World,” I feel as if I’m hearing a standard.

Hal Prince came on and introduced Sondheim songs that he’d wished had made it to Broadway. He noted that Mark Lambert and Victoria Mallory learned “Two Fairy Tales” just for that evening; it hadn’t even reached the first day of rehearsals for A Little Night Music. Then came another real treat: Alice Playten did “There Won’t Be Trumpets,” which we never thought we’d hear, since we were unaware that Lee Remick had actually recorded it for the Whistle cast album. (It didn’t make the cut.) Bert Shevelove then came on to introduce the Forum cut-outs, saying that there were so many, he wished there could be an entire evening devoted to them. (Fine with me!) Len Cariou sang “Marry Me a Little,” and James Goldman came out to say that “Pleasant Little Kingdom” was the introduction to “Too Many Mornings.” Both were sung by the original Sally and Buddy, Dorothy Collins and John McMartin, bringing the first act to a close.

The second act would be even better. The first truly primal scream from the crowd came when Angela Lansbury sauntered on stage. “Nothing comes close to applause,” she responded appreciatively. Next, Pamela Hall and Harvey Evans did “Lovely,” and then most everyone joined in on a rousing chorus of “Comedy Tonight.” Mary Rodgers entered and introduced “We’re Gonna Be All Right.” Everyone had to be astonished that this throwaway from Do I Hear a Waltz? was included here, but who knew then that there was a long, intricately rhymed pair of verses and some other lyrics for the song that hadn’t shown up during Waltz‘s run at the 46th Street theater or on its cast album? While I already loved “Send In the Clowns” and would eventually adore “You Have Made Me Love” from Cyrano and “The Contract” from Gigi, for me, the Best Song of 1973 turned out to be “We’re Gonna Be All Right.”

As you know from the recording of Sondheim: A Musical Tribute, then came one of the great sequences of all-time, as “Beautiful Girls” presented (in this order) Alexis Smith, Angela Lansbury, Glynis Johns, Hermione Gingold, Dorothy Collins, and Nancy Walker. Hands must have bled from applauding so hard. Gingold then told us that she needed five hours of makeup to create the illusion that she was 80. She did “Liaisons,” one of two songs in this sequence that wasn’t included on either the LP or CD. Ironically, the other was “Send in the Clowns,” courtesy of Glynis Johns. No one would have then predicted the happy future of this song.

When the vamp for “I’m Still Here” started and Nancy Walker was ready to sing, many were surprised. Did Walker have the gravitas for this number? She should have gone to an acting school, that seems clear, to do this — right? Hardly. In my opinion, it remains the greatest-ever rendition of this song, and I daresay that it got the strongest applause of the night. I truly believe that this was the moment when many of us uncategorically fell in love with “I’m Still Here” as we never had before. (Those who only knew the song from its abridged version on the Follies LP found the new lyrics a revelation.)

Several of the notables mentioned above are still here, thank the Lord. But if anyone’s going to sing “I’m Still Here” in Wall to Wall Sondheim, I nominate Ted Chapin, who’ll be in attendance. In his terrific book Everything Was Possible, Chapin mentions how, as an errand boy on Follies, he was the first to see the lyrics during the show’s Boston tryout because Sondheim had given them to him to type. I’m also hoping that Becky Ann Baker sings “Maybe They’re Magic” from Into the Woods, for the former Becky Ann Gelke is indeed the Baker’s wife and has been for quite some time, ever since she married Dylan Baker. And whatever Charlie Prince comes out do to, his introductory music should be “He’s a very nice Prince.”

If I were running this event, I’d choose Barry Kleinbort to begin the proceedings with his devilishly clever “I Won’t Sing a Sondheim Song.” Since that won’t happen, you should all pick up the cast album of Big City Rhythm — the show in which it was sung — on your way to Wall to Wall Sondheim.

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@theatermania.com]