Sondheim on video

[Meldince]

While wandering merrily, merrily around the vast realms of YouTube this evening without any particular fixed agenda, I found two little gems which I had not known were recorded in any shape or form whatsoever. Which put me in mind that there must be a vast array of such gems out there which I simply couldn't get to or find, even if I had nothing to do for days or weeks except explore YouTube and the various other video posting sites out there, including libraries, archives, publicly available personal collections etc.

And so, my fellow Sondheimians, here I create the Sondheim video thread. Please feel free to post any and all Sondheim-related videos. I personally can never have enough of them. From the tiniest snippets to the full on 'Sweeney Todd' or 'Company - The Making Of The OBCR'  (capitals at your discretion), this is where to pt those links.

Obviously be aware of copyright - I personally am not terribly sure of exactly how this works but I'm going to go on the assumption that, given the vigilance generally shown by copyright holders and enforcers in policing online content, if it's out there, it's ok for us to put it in here.

Oh and those two gems I spoke of earlier...an audio recording (not great quality but still far better than no recording at all) of Dean Jones performing 'Happily ever after' (in Boston, I think) in the original production of 'Company' before it got to Broadway, and the original cast of 'Company' performing the opening number in a 1993 concert performance.


Dean Jones

And that revival performance

[Chris L]

RE: Copyrighted materials

As someone who has posted potentially actionable materials on YouTube (i.e., videos of concerts that I've been to, though never plays or musicals), I know that YouTube catches copyrighted materials and informs the rights holders that they've been uploaded. They then give the rights holders the option of monetizing the videos by having ads placed in them or having them taken down.

I've had, I think, two videos taken down (out of hundreds), though some others have had ads placed in them. Both of the ones that were taken down were by Steely Dan and even in their case I think they didn't touch incomplete pieces of a song performance, just the complete ones. Ergo, we can safely assume that if a video's on YouTube, it's there with the implicit blessings of whoever holds the copyright and if something should lose their implicit blessing, it will go away.

All of which is a long way of saying that it's fine to link to YouTube videos here, copyrighted or not. If they're taken down, the link will simply go to a page saying that the video is no longer available.

[Chris L]

In the spirit of Kevin's post, here's one of my favorite Sondheim performances on YouTube, though not a live one, a version of "Marry Me a Little" recorded by Harry Nilsson for Hal Prince so he could give it to his wife Judy (a huge Nilsson fan) as a Christmas present.

"Marry Me a Little" by Harry Nilsson

[Meldince]

In the spirit of Kevin's post, here's one of my favorite Sondheim performances on YouTube, a version of "Marry Me a Little" recorded by Harry Nilsson for Hal Prince so he could give it to his wife Daisy (a huge Nilsson fan) as a birthday present.

"Marry Me a Little" by Harry Nilsson

Instant result!

[scenicdesign71]

Harold Prince's wife is Judy (Daisy is their daughter), and it was a Christmas present; at the end, Nilsson sings, "Merry Christmas, Judy! / And a happy New Year, too...".

http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2012/12/17/was-sondheims-marry-me-a-little-first-recorded-only-as-a-christmas-present/

[/pendantry]

[Bobster]

Thank God there was no poll question "How many bootlegs do you have?" !!!   

Herewith is what I and others feel is THE Musical Theatre number.  Ever.
Lovingly put together by Deester (remember him?) with some help from yours truly, you already should know what this piece is for your enjoyment.

          

"Who's That Woman"

[Chris L]

Harold Prince's wife is Judy (Daisy is their daughter), and it was a Christmas present; at the end, Nilsson sings, "Merry Christmas, Judy! / And a happy New Year, too...".

http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2012/12/17/was-sondheims-marry-me-a-little-first-recorded-only-as-a-christmas-present/

[/pendantry]

Thank you, pedant Dave. Once again, I really oughta do research before I post these things.

[Leighton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RvmHu3bxAY

I rather love this ... Caroline O'Connor doing The Story of Lucy and Jessie

[Bobster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RvmHu3bxAY

I rather love this ... Caroline O'Connor doing The Story of Lucy and Jessie

Just as wonderful in person.

[Leighton]

Has anyone seen The Seventh Floor episode of Madam Secretary?  The episode opens with most of the opening number from Company - it's lovely!

[Chris L]

To test out our new video embedding feature, here's the entire 2013 HBO documentary Six by Sondheim from YouTube.

[Gordonb]

Has anyone seen The Seventh Floor episode of Madam Secretary?  The episode opens with most of the opening number from Company - it's lovely!

Yes - unexpected indeed and the best part of a sadly flagging series .... used to love it but now I watch it and mostly nod off half way through, when I wake I ask Rey if it is worth watching again and he usually says "nah".

[Leighton]

Has anyone seen The Seventh Floor episode of Madam Secretary?  The episode opens with most of the opening number from Company - it's lovely!

Yes - unexpected indeed and the best part of a sadly flagging series .... used to love it but now I watch it and mostly nod off half way through, when I wake I ask Rey if it is worth watching again and he usually says "nah".

I quite enjoyed the trio of staffers singing on MSec's behalf last season.

It is definitely fairly mindless; I tend to half-watch whilst marking, or checking the internet

[scenicdesign71]

Multitask through it if you must, but for the sake of my job security -- keep tuning in!!     

I had heard through the grapevine, sometime in March when we began work on Ep. 321, that Blake would awaken to the strains of Company at the top of the episode.  But when it aired in May, I tuned in just a hair late -- less than a minute! -- by which time he'd already finished his morning routine, gone for a run, fed the cat and arrived at the bakery (now free of underscoring) to pick up breakfast goodies for MSec and the staff.

Apparently that all happened while I was fumbling with the remote.  So I didn't realize until just now, finally catching those opening 45 seconds for the first time (on Netflix) that they'd apparently eighty-sixed the original idea of giving Blake and his cat matching big-and-little breakfast bowls, both of which I had "lightly aged" for the prop department.  I guess the opening shot, panning across his meticulously-laid-out clothes and shoes (before settling on the clock on his nightstand), accomplishes the same thing in a somewhat less cutesy manner.

In any case, the face he makes at his 4:30am alarm certainly struck a chord; mine goes off at the same time, without even allowing for a jog (or a pet).  Going into S4, I still marvel at how this job has managed to make me keep almost abnormally-normal grownup hours.

[Gordonb]

Multitask through it if you must, but for the sake of my job security -- keep tuning in!!    

I had heard through the grapevine, sometime in March when we began work on Ep. 321, that Blake would awaken to the strains of Company at the top of the episode.  But when it aired in May, I tuned in just a hair late -- less than a minute! -- by which time he'd already finished his morning routine, gone for a run, fed the cat and arrived at the bakery (now free of underscoring) to pick up breakfast goodies for MSec and the staff.

Apparently that all happened while I was fumbling with the remote.  So I didn't realize until just now, finally catching those opening 45 seconds for the first time (on Netflix) that they'd apparently eighty-sixed the original idea of giving Blake and his cat matching big-and-little breakfast bowls, both of which I had "lightly aged" for the prop department.  I guess the opening shot, panning across his meticulously-laid-out clothes and shoes (before settling on the clock on his nightstand), accomplishes the same thing in a somewhat less cutesy manner.

In any case, the face he makes at his 4:30am alarm certainly struck a chord; mine goes off at the same time, without even allowing for a jog (or a pet).  Going into S4, I still marvel at how this job has managed to make me keep almost abnormally-normal grownup hours.

I had missed/forgotten that you work on MSec - I will now watch with much greater interest. Do you get a credit? It's on tonight so I'll check anyhow.