Sondheim News for August 2025

SONDHEIM’S BLOODY MUSICAL MASTERPIECE

My next dive into the world of Stephen Sondheim will be published by Bloomsbury on October 2. Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece is an in-depth study of every possible aspect of the show. I begin with the tale’s gruesome literary origins in the Penny Dreadfuls of the 1840s, consider the melodramas extracted from those early tales and continue with how the legend grew for more than a century. Then I dig into Sondheim’s fascination with the tale, the ways he and book writer Hugh Wheeler shaped it for the Broadway stage and how he and director Hal Prince put together the original Broadway production, crafting one the all-time great pieces of musical theater. I treat the original 1979 production in depth — considering all the performers and designers — and then go on with discussions of numerous revivals large and small, for theaters and opera companies around the world. If you’re fascinated with Sondheim’s music and lyrics and how he tailored them for this astonishing work, you’ll enjoy this comprehensive study. It’s now available for pre-order at: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/stephen-sondheims-sweeney-todd-9781538196441/

PLAYING GAMES

Barry Joseph’s intriguing and insightful book, Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend, will also be published soon by Bloomsbury. He explores a largely unmapped aspect of what Sondheim called his “puzzler’s mind.” His book offers a new way to think about Sondheim’s fascination with puzzles and how they provide insight into his creative output. Barry, a renowned gaming expert, interviewed dozens of Sondheim’s friends and acquaintances who played games and tried their hands at puzzles he developed. His book gives readers a chance to attempt to solve numerous challenges that Sondheim devised. These can be mind-bending, but they also reveal his genius with words, plots and more. For more information or to pre-order a copy before its September release date: https://matchingmindswithsondheim.com/

MERRILY AT THE MOVIES

The recent Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along won four Tonys in 2024 — Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard), Best Performance by an Actor in a featured Role in a Musical (Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas) and Best Orchestrations (the legendary Jonathan Tunick). It was a hard (and expensive) ticket to get during its run from October 10, 2023, to July 7, 2024. But as of December 5, 2025, you’ll be able to see a film of director Maria Friedman’s lavishly praised production at selected theaters via Sony Pictures Classics and Fathom Entertainment. (International dates are expected for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and beyond.) This “ProShot” was filmed toward the end of Merrily’s run at the Hudson Theatre last summer..

HERE WE ARE’S SCRIPT IS PUBLISHED

Sondheim’s final musical, Here We Are, had its European premiere at London’s National Theatre from May through June 2025. Featuring Sondheim’s score and lyrics and a book by playwright David Ives, the London production was directed by Joe Mantello, who also staged the show’s world premiere at Off-Broadway’s The Shed in New York City in 2023. The show, a satirical mashup of two surrealist films (from 1962 and 1972) by avantgarde director Luis Buñuel, was completed after Sondheim’s death in 2021. As of late May, Here We Are’s script is available from the London publisher, Nick Hern Books. It includes an essay by Ives about his collaboration with Sondheim. Orders: https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/here-we-are

A FUNNY GENIUS … WHO ADMIRED SONDHEIM

Musical satirist Tom Lehrer passed away on July 26 at the age of 97. Although he and Sondheim attended the same summer camp as kids (Lehrer was five years older), they didn’t get to know each other for 60 years. In a 1997 interview Lehrer called Sondheim “The greatest lyricist that the English language has ever produced,” adding “and that’s a fact, not an opinion.” Lehrer, like Sondheim, was precocious at a young age, skipping enough grades to enter Harvard University at age 15. He settled on the study of mathematics but began writing songs for the amusement of his classmates, performing occasionally at school shows and at local clubs. Recordings of his humorous, often political songs became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Like Sondheim, he was a wordsmith and a composer with a satirical bent; his songs often parodied popular musical forms, but he wrote original melodies. A mathematician by training, Lehrer spent much of his career teaching at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He retired in 2001.  

ERRICO ASPIRES TO PLAY MRS. LOVETT

Broadway and concertizing star Melissa Errico was interviewed in London in July by Jeremy Chapman for web-based Musical Theatre Review. He asked her if there are great parts in Follies, A Little Night Music, Company and Passion (in which she played Clara Off-Broadway) that she might aspire to perform in London. Here’s what she had to say: “The only thing that makes me happier than singing Sondheim is playing Sondheim, so yes, of course, I’d love to try any of those roles. Desirée in Night Music has always been a beacon for me, and I’d be beyond happy if someone made it happen soon.” She mentioned a concert she did recently at 54 Below in New York. “I brought on the great Len Cariou to support me … We did the original version of ‘Send in the Clowns,’ which of course he knew from the original production of Night Music, as a duet. I’ve never been more moved onstage than by sharing that song with Len. I think, honestly, that we stopped hearts in the audience with it.” She quipped, “On the other end of Sondheim, I think I could make a fine, surprising Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd – the ingenue gone deliciously evil.” Read more of her conversation here.

If you have Sondheim news to share or suggestions about this blog, please email me: pender.rick@gmail.com