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Follies, A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures

Donald Macleod explores the music of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, focusing on three musicals: one without a plot, one in waltz time and one based on kabuki.

Continuing our series in which Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim talks to Donald Macleod. This programme features three shows that in typical Sondheim fashion expanded the notion of what the musical could be, with razor-sharp language and cracking tunes to boot: Follies, in which a reunion of Ziegfield-style Follies stars in a derelict theatre becomes a metaphor for the death of the American dream; A Little Night Music, a musical about relationships written almost entirely in waltz-time, that spawned Sondheim's most famous song, 'Send in the Clowns'; and Pacific Overtures, a 'kabuki musical' with an all-Japanese cast - an exploration of the 19th-century westernization of Japan, seen from the Japanese perspective.

Produced by Chris Barstow.

1 hour

Music Played

  • Stephen Sondheim

    Every Day a Little Death

    Performer: Patricia Hodge (Countess Charlotte Malcolm) Performer: Joanna Riding (Anne Egerman)

    • Tring 001.
    • 11.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Waiting for the Girls Upstairs

    Performer: Mandy Patinkin (Buddy Plummer) Performer: Jim Walton (Young Buddy) Performer: George Hearn (Benjamin Stone) Performer: Howard McGillin (Young Ben) Performer: Lee Remick (Phyllis Rogers Stone) Performer: Daisy Prince (Young Phyllis) Performer: Barbara Cook (Sally Durant Plummer) Performer: Liz Callaway (Young Sally) Performer: New York Philharmonic Conductor: Paul Gemignani

    • RCA RCD2-7128.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Could I Leave You?

    Performer: Lee Remick (Phyllis Rogers Stone) Performer: New York Philharmonic Conductor: Paul Gemignani

    • RCA RCD2-7128.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Live, Laugh, Love

    Performer: George Hearn (Benjamin Stone) Performer: Ronn Carroll (chorus) Performer: Susan Cellav Performer: Robert Hendersen (chorus) Performer: Frank Kopyc (chorus) Performer: Marti Morris (chorus) Performer: Ted Sperling (chorus) Performer: Susan Terry (chorus) Performer: Sandra Wheeler (chorus) Performer: New York Philharmonic Conductor: Paul Gemignani

    • RCA RCD2-7128.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Now

    Performer: Laurence Guittard (Fredrik Egerman) Musical Director: Paddy Cunneen

    • Tring 001.
    • 3.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Later

    Performer: Brendan O’Hea (Henrik Egerman) Musical Director: Paddy Cunneen

    • Tring 001.
    • 4.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Soon

    Performer: Joanna Riding (Anne Egerman) Performer: Brendan O’Hea (Henrik Egerman) Performer: Laurence Guittard (Fredrik Egerman) Musical Director: Paddy Cunneen

    • Tring 001.
    • 5.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Someone in a Tree

    Performer: Mako Iwamatsu (Reciter) Performer: James Dybas (Old Man) Performer: Gedde Watanabe (Boy) Performer: Mark Hsu Syers (Warrior) Musical Director: Paul Gemignani

    • RCA RCD1-4407.
    • 7.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Please Hello

    Performer: Yuki Shimoda (Abe) Performer: Mako Iwamatsu (Reciter) Performer: Alvin Ing (American Admiral) Performer: Ernest Harada (British Admiral) Performer: Patrick Kinser-Lau (Dutch Admiral) Performer: Mark Hsu Syers (Russian Admiral) Performer: James Dybas (French Admiral) Musical Director: Paul Gemignani

    • RCA RCD1-4407.
    • 8.

Broadcasts

  • Tue 23 Mar 2010 12:00
  • Tue 23 Mar 2010 22:00
  • Tue 27 Jul 2010 12:00

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