Sondheim on The American Musical Theater

This one made me weep. So much gone--including the genre itself. But, fortunately, so much preserved.

Fascinating document. It’s amazing how consistent Sondheim was throughout his life in responding to similar questions

Just WOW. What a gem to get to see and experience. How I wish this kind of excellence was far more prevalent than what passes today for the art and craft of musical theater. I am so delighted to have been able to see this and hear the gorgeous voices, and the spectacular music conducted and played so brilliantly.

Can you believe Mr. S. took us so far? Salute Sir.

This is wonderful. I thank you too.

Wonderful to listen to Stephen talking about how he creates such supreme lyrics, and to have the song performed by such great singers. Thank You for a glorious upload.

Thanks for this - such a young Stephen and his views on his own work. And so interesting how the style of singing has changed over the years. ZT'l Stephen, you live one through your words and music.

RIP Stephen Sondheim a true musical legend

This was back when high school students dressed up (ties for the boys, necklaces for the girls) because they were going to be in the audience for a TV show.

This is a really fascinating historical document. Pre-Funny Thing where Sondheim is already tinkering with the form of musical theater before he would re-define it completely as his mentor had with Showboat and Oklahoma. He would hold his opinions about his lyrics in Gypsy and West Side Story for a long time when, many years later, he would repeat them in his two wonderful books about lyrics. Beyond Sondheim, the host talks about the "men" who create musical theater. And it was men mostly. And then there is the totally male orchestra, mostly white. This is surely a black-and-white document of a different time when musical theater in particular was at the cusp of major changes.

actually intelligent TV for the masses - amazing

Great to hear from the orchestrator, and very interesting to hear how he thought the craft of the composer was going downhill in his time

I can‘t believe how honest they are. A rare treat! ❤

Thank you so much for posting this! What an enriching and interesting testament of a great artist!

Thanks for the great posts John!

Great look at history here. I'm so sad that very few of these TV studios with orchestras/bands/grand pianos exist any more. But I'm also heartened that more women are involved in professional music making in orchestras and composing in the public sphere nowadays. It certainly was an era!

Great. Thank you for posting.

How wonderful to have documentation there was a time our culture was elegant

A raw WCBS video tape before it was edited for broadcast. Very, very rare

he's so cute 🥺🥺🥺