The Magic of Stephen Sondheim with Karl Middleman
Tuesday, June 7 at 7:00 pm in person at MLRT and online
Oy vey! We almost missed it: the 90th birthday in 2020 of America’s grand old man of the American musical stage, Stephen Sondheim. Most Sondheim celebrations were curtailed by the pandemic. Here’s our chance for a comeback! It seems only yesterday Sondheim was 25 and hailed as the wunderkind partner of Leonard Bernstein for his sharp lyrics to West Side Story. Of the greatest Broadway composers only Irving Berlin and Cole Porter matched Sondheim’s brilliance as both a composer and wordsmith. But Sondheim had it all over them as a complete man of the theater. With his ‘concept’ musicals, Company (1970) and Follies (1971) he totally revolutionized the American musical in captivating ways.
In this presentation, Maestro Karl Middleman will pay homage to the greatest master of modern musicals with spectacularly engaging videos from such great hits as Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, and much more. We’ll also review ways that Sondheim embodied traditional Jewish values.
