Previn & The Pittsburgh: Stephen Sondheim (1977)

One in this series of music programs featuring the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andre Previn in an evening of music and interviews.

On this edition, Previn speaks with composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Interspersed throughout the conversation are performances of Sondheim songs by David Kernan, Millicent Martin, and Julia McKenzie, the original cast of the British Sondheim revue Side by Side by Sondheim.

After introductory remarks by Previn concerning the history of American musical theater and Sondheim's place in that history, Sondheim comments on the following: his composition of the lyrics, but not the music, for "Gypsy"; the confidence he gained from writing lyrics for "West Side Story," which inspired him to write his own musicals; the structure he borrows from opera; and his interest in expanding the role of lyrics in musical theater. After Sondheim outlines the plots of "Company" and "Follies," McKenzie and Kernan perform "Barcelona" and "Too Many Mornings."

Next, Sondheim details the ways in which he used the traditional musical comedy song structure to underline the selfish nature of the character of Cora Hoover Hooper in "Anyone Can Whistle." He sheds light on the double life of the character of Phyllis Rogers Stone in "Follies," and Millicent Martin sings the character's cut number "Uptown Downtown."

Sondheim goes on to discuss the ways in which a musical's emotional peaks create the need for a song; he also touches on plays that do not benefit from a musical treatment. He speaks about his work's exploration of ambivalent emotions and comments on the importance of subtext in all drama. Kernan then sings "Sorry-Grateful," a song from "Company" in which ambivalence is key.

Sondheim and Previn discuss language and the writing of prose, poetry, and lyrics, after which Martin sings "There Won't Be Trumpets." Next, McKenzie sings "The Miller's Son," and Sondheim comments on the following: the necessity for lyrical clarity in musical theater; the functions of rhyme and "inner rhyme"; his methods for composing lyrics and music simultaneously; the self-conscious style of his early songwriting and the growing maturity and fluidity of his work over time; the demands that his music places on musicians and actors; his satisfaction when a cast lives up to the music's potential; his reluctance to write a song independent of a dramatic context; and the experience of writing "Gypsy" specifically for Ethel Merman. Finally, Sondheim comments on "Send in the Clowns," a song he wrote for Glynis Johns, and Martin sings it.