[NEohioPAL] Sondheim disses South Pacific

[Tom Kerr]

sorry, disagree with you about Frank Rich...his Sunday New York Times columns (mostly political) are intelligent, thorough, and usually spot on the money.  
T.


--- On Tue, 1/20/09, Christopher Fortunato <learnedhand at live.com> wrote:

> From: Christopher Fortunato <learnedhand at live.com>
> Subject: [NEohioPAL] Sondheim disses South Pacific
> To: neohiopal at listserve.com
> Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 2:49 PM
> Interesting he would diss his benefactor Oscar Hammerstein
> who taught him everything about writing lyrics.
> The occasion seemed weird and self-congratulatory what with
> horrible critic Frank Rich leading the conversation.
>  
> Sondheim Calls Critics ‘Ignoramuses,’ Disses ‘South
> Pacific’ 
> 
> Email | Print | A A A 
> By Philip Boroff
> Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Since Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
> “South Pacific” opened at New York’s Lincoln Center
> Theater in April, it’s been a favorite of critics and
> audiences and has won seven Tony Awards, the most of any
> Broadway musical revival. 
> On Sunday, Stephen Sondheim tore it apart. 
> Interviewed at Avery Fisher Hall by New York Times
> columnist Frank Rich, the 78-year-old composer-lyricist
> explained why he’s no fan of the 1949 classic. 
> “I think it’s personal taste,” he said. “I find it,
> um, obvious.” 
> “South Pacific” was adapted from the James Michener
> book “Tales of the South Pacific.” It’s set on two
> islands during World War II and tells intertwining stories
> of two romances obstructed by prejudice and a secret mission
> to gain intelligence about Japanese troop movements. 
> Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the
> book, was weak with contemporary language, Sondheim said.
> And his characters are unrealistic, particularly a cheery
> battalion of U.S. Navy Seabees who build aviation bases. 
> “I don’t believe for two seconds that those are
> Seabees,” Sondheim said. “It’s the happiest war I’ve
> ever seen.” 
> Rare Dig 
> Seldom does Sondheim, the most revered living composer-
> lyricist in musical theater, publicly criticize a
> contemporary. But he’s free with opinions when the artist
> is dead, even when it’s Hammerstein, a mentor and father
> figure. 
> (The musical was key in Sondheim’s life: At the opening,
> on April 7, 1949, 19-year-old Sondheim was introduced to
> 20-year-old Hal Prince, who would go on to produce and
> direct on Broadway. The two would collaborate on some of
> Sondheim’s biggest successes, including “Company,”
> “Sweeney Todd,” and “A Little Night Music.”) 
> On Sunday, Sondheim singled out the last line of “There
> is Nothing Like a Dame” from “South Pacific” for
> ridicule: “There ain’t a thing that’s wrong with any
> man here/That can’t be cured by puttin’ him near/A
> girly, womanly, female feminine dame.” 
> “The whole lyric of ‘There’s Nothing Like a Dame’
> drives me crazy,” he said. “It doesn’t sound to me
> like what the character is trying to convey. Where he
> (Hammerstein) is at his best is in the romantic stuff.” 
> Sondheim rarely gives extended interviews and Avery Fisher
> Hall, with some 2,700 seats, was packed. The audience
> included fans, producers, critics, collaborators such as
> John Weidman and performers such as Bernadette Peters -- the
> original Dot in “Sunday in the Park With George.” 
> ‘Reviewed By Ignoramuses’ 
> Other nuggets from the 90 minutes: Sondheim showed his
> contempt for critics, many of whom were slow to embrace his
> shows. 
> “Musicals are the only public art form reviewed by
> ignoramuses,” he said. “There are very few of them, I
> can guarantee it, who know anything about music at all.” 
> (“I know what I like,” Rich, a former Times chief drama
> critic, said in his defense.) 
> The composer-lyricist was asked about the public’s
> increased appetite for his work the second time around. Last
> season, the Roundabout Theatre Co. staged a lauded revival
> of “Sunday in the Park.” Next season, it’s planning to
> revive his 1981 flop “Merrily We Roll Along.” 
> “Tastes get more sophisticated as time goes on,” he
> said. “Sometimes a show grows into its own clothes.” 
> Sondheim disclosed that a CD of “Road Show,” which
> wrapped up a run at the Public Theater last month, is
> likely. 
> “It looks like we will be recording it in February,” he
> said. 
> As previously reported, he’s compiling a collection of
> his lyrics for a book, with essays by him about writing. And
> he’s “nibbling” with “Road Show” collaborator
> Weidman about another piece. 
> “I should be getting back to the piano,” he said.
> “I’ve got to start writing music again.” 
> “There isn’t anything in particular. There will be.” 
> To contact the writer on this story: Philip Boroff in New
> York at pboroff at bloomberg.net. Last Updated: January 20,
> 2009 11:32 EST 
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