The Sond of Music
Back in 1973, there was a legendary, charity tribute done on Broadway for Stephen Sondheim. It was originally planned to be just a small dinner, but grew into an extravaganza with performers from his shows flying in and having a now-famous album released, “Sondheim: a Musical Tribute.”
A short documentary was just released in early March about that evening, hosted by Kurt Peterson who produced the event. That 1973 show was directed by Burt Shevelove, who first met Sondheim when co-writing with Larry Gelbart the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The documentary is about putting the evening together and how it grew, as well as including speeches and some performances that weren’t included on the album. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, there’s no video of the night (though some brief footage of rehearsals), but instead it’s a mix of audio and a lot of photographs. That said, the audio is wonderful.
What’s remarkable is that this glittering tribute honoring Sondheim was done half a century ago, when his career was far-closer to its birth than how it would grow over the next 50 years. Such now-classic musicals as A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and many other shows were still to come. However, Forum, Company, Follies, Anyone Can Whistle and other works had already been produced, along with West Side Story, Gypsy and Do I Hear a Waltz which he had written lyrics for with other composers.
Here's the documentary, which runs 41 minutes.
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