Sondheim's Newest and Last Musical "Here We Are", and why there are no songs in Act 2
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- Опубликовано: 19 май 2024
- We have been gifted with one final glorious work from legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. I'll discuss how Sondheim's philosophy "Content Dictates Form" informed the decision to not have very few songs in Act 2.
I'll be releasing more videos on the matter later.
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Vulture Article with a fantastic interview: www.vulture.com/article/steph...
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I'm always surprised when people criticize Sondheim and his collaborators for doing something new. Isn't that part of why we love him so much? The criticisms of the second acts of both Sunday and Into the Woods baffled me because the point of both shows is in the second act. You may not like them, but to dismiss them as if they are not needed is weird. The same on the second act of Here We Are. It's called trying something new because the content dictated it.
I saw it live, and it was one of the most emotional experiences for me, not least because it was the last Sondheim, but that sudden stopping of singing just felt so symbolic and seemed to work with the narrative of the piece. Once the singing finishes, we do end up with a little bit of underscoring here and there (which is beautiful), and that's all on the soundtrack release. The show felt as Sondheim as Sondheim could be, and a fascinating bookend to his wonderful career. The final sung line in the show completely destroyed me... "Let it stay just this way ... forever"… now THAT’S Sondheim! 🙌❤
Glad to hear of your emotional experience!
Beautifully stated!
@@RichBiev thank you. It’s a wonderful piece! I just wish that Mr Sondheim was here to see it happen!
It was a damn brilliant show. Was lucky enough to o catch it twice at the Shed. I knew about the lack of songs in Act II in advance, but it never felt like anything was missing. The show just made sense.
100% agree. Of course, the show will not be to everyone's taste. But given most of the current musical theatre, I'd take this show any day.
The point is that it’s surreal. The folks who didn’t get it missed that point. I loved it in the theatre and I’m so glad to have a CD to relive the score.
I flew all the way to NYC from Israel last October to see Merrily, Sweeney and HWA
The night I saw HWA was October 7th. I have seen this Musical which I have been waiting to see for years while my family at home were massacred and locked at home while some sort of ‘end of the world’ was going on outside. Having no songs in act two left me a room to think about my family, about life and about that legacy I want to leave behind knowing this show was my own teacher’s last show.
I saw the show. As you've probably read, soon into Act 2 the Bishop discovers that the piano he's been playing no longer makes any sound. He looks heavenward and crosses himself. It's clear that his Creator (be it God or Sondheim) has decided that music has ended. And the lack of music, as part of the bizarre situation of the characters being unable to leave, then fits right in.
I saw the show, and it was one of the finest theater experiences I've enjoyed in my life. Worth remembering that people first hated Merrily. It might take 25 years, but this show will enjoy a resurgence and be staged as one of his most important shows, I predict, in the future.
This pithy video really whetted my appetite to check out the musical and witness how its form captures the content.
I saw it. The sudden lack of music in the second act was jarring…which is precisely what the characters were experiencing. Brilliant
From reading the title of the video I assumed that there was music, but not adhering to song forms, like some kind of Wagnerian through-composed blob.
My friend saw it, and she said she liked Act II better than Act I!
Sondheim clearly has the last laugh here by creating musical theatre somehow once again ahead of its time for some... this time with a second act that has hardly any music. Personally I think that not only does it work, but that the jarring nature of it is exactly what they were going for. If Sondheim were still here for it's run I have a feeling that whilst other music may or may not have been adjusted or even added, I'm almost sure the sparseness of music in act 2 would have stayed. I think it's a brilliant show, and definitely stands up to the rest of his work.