Being Alive: A Celebration of Sondheim

Egan Snow

Today we celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 88th year of being alive.

The 2011 Lincoln Center production of Sondheim’s Company starring Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, and Stephen Colbert, et al., was the inspiration for the Filmed Live Musicals database. During an interview taped for the cinema screening, producer Ellen M. Krass claimed it had been difficult to get funding to film Company because investors had not heard of a filmed live musical.

Who were these people?! Had they not grown up watching the original Broadway production of Into the Woods on VHS or DVD? Were they oblivious to the taping of Sunday in the Park with George? Or Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd?

As a result of watching Company, I wrote my Masters Thesis on filmed live musicals. Several years later, not a day went by when I wasn’t thinking about it. The Filmed Live Musicals was database was born.

With 20 entries spanning 11 different musicals, Stephen Sondheim has more musicals in the Filmed Live Database than any other composer. For comparison’s sake, Gilbert and Sullivan have 8 entries, Dan Coggin has 6 entries for the Nunsense series, and Andrew Lloyd Webber (who is also celebrating his birthday today) has 4 entries.

In the extraordinary interview Face to Face: Stephen Sondheim (available to stream on BroadwayHD), Sondheim stated “I’m very into film technique and its application to the stage.” If I ever get the chance to meet Sondheim, when I’m done losing my mind, I would love to know about his involvement, or encouragement, in the live filming of his musicals.

To honor of Sondheim’s birthday, here are all the musicals he has written, or contributed to, that have legally filmed live for public distribution. Note that the dates refer to the year the production was filmed, not the year the musical was written. 

Candide (1986)

Candide (1988)

Candide (1989)

Candide (2004)

Company (1996)

Company (2007)

Company (2011)

Follies (2017)

Follies (2013)

Into the Woods (1991)

Into the Woods (2010)

Merrily We Roll Along (2013)

Pacific Overtures (1976)

Passion (2005)

Sunday in the Park with George (1985)

Sunday in the Park with George (2013)

Putting it Together (2000)

Sweeney Todd (1982)

Sweeney Todd (2001)

Sweeney Todd (2014)

Candide 

• 1986 New York City Opera production
• 1988 Scottish Opera production
• 1989 Barbican Theatre production
• 2004 Lincoln Center concert production

Company

• 1996 Donmar Warehouse production
• 2007 Broadway actor-musician production
• 2011 Lincoln Center concert

Follies

• The 1986 concert version documentary features extensive footage of the show, but is not a capture of the full musical. 
• 2013 Opera de Toulon production 
• 2017 National Theatre production

Gypsy

• 2015 West End production

Into the Woods

• 1991 Original Broadway production
• 2010 Regent's Park Open Air Theatre 

Merrily We Roll Along

• 2013 West End production

Pacific Overtures

• 1976 Original Broadway production 

Passion

• The original Broadway production was adapted into a TV version, but not filmed in front of a live audience.
• 2005 Lincoln Center production 

Putting it Together

• 2000 Original Broadway production

Sunday in the Park with George

• 1986 Original Broadway production 
• 2013 Theatre du Chatelet production 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

• 1982 National Tour production
• 2001 San Francisco Symphony Orchestra concert version
• 2014 New York Philharmonic Concert version 

Happy birthday Sondheim. May your day be filled with color and light.