IT says a lot about Stephen Sondheim that Old Friends at the Gielgud is the third anthology to be compiled from his musicals. Side by Side by Sondheim was the first and was produced by a young Cameron Mackintosh in 1976. Sir Cameron has devised the new show, which was first staged in May 2022 as a tribute to the composer-lyricist shortly after his death. It proved so popular that it demanded revival and now offers one of the most exhilarating pieces of musical theatre you could hope to find.
Why does it work so well? One reason is that Sondheim never repeats himself: he was, as his biographer David Benedict says in the programme, a radical working in a form routinely seen as reactionary. All his musicals, from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum to Pacific Overtures (which doesn’t actually feature in this new collection), are distinctive in subject matter, style and idiom. His songs often have the quality of a oneact play. The Little Things You Do Together from Company, for instance, wittily encapsulates the qualities, including ‘The concerts you enjoy together/Neighbours you annoy together/Children you destroy together’, that keep marriage intact.
Denne historien er fra October 18, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra October 18, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
