Where to Watch: Sondheim

In the month of March, Filmed Live Musicals is celebrating Stephen Sondheim! On the podcast, we have a three-part series with musical theatre historian Margaret Hall. Part 1 (Feb 28) is an overview of filmed live Sondheim musicals, part 2 (March 14) will be a deep dive into Pacific Overtures, and part 3 is a deep dive into the 2011 New York Philharmonic production of Company, the musical that inspired this very website! 

To accompany this week's episode on filmed live Sondheim musicals, here’s a list of where you can watch those musicals! 

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Candide

• 1986 New York City Opera: not officially available
• 1988 Scottish Opera: not officially available
• 1989 Barbican Theatre (conducted by Bernstein): DVD
• 2004 Lincoln Center concert: DVD

Company

• 1996 Donmar Warehouse production: was released on DVD, but now appears to be out of print.
• 2007 Broadway revival: DVD and Blu-Ray
• 2011 New York Philharmonic concert: DVD

Follies

• 1985 concert version documentary: DVD
• 2013 Opera de Toulon production: DVD (Region 2 only)
• 2017 National Theatre production: Not available beyond its initial cinema release, though Symphony Space in NYC is holding encore cinema screenings March 30 - 31, 2022. 

Gypsy

• 2015 West End revival: Apple TV, Amazon, DVD

Into the Woods

• Original Broadway production: Amazon, Blu-Ray, DVD
• 2010 Regent's Park Open Air Theatre production: Digital Theatre, Apple TV

Merrily We Roll Along

• 2013 Menier Chocolate Factory production: Digital Theatre (UK only)

Pacific Overtures

• Original Broadway production: YouTube

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

• Original Broadway production filmed live on tour in Los Angeles in 1982: Apple TV, Amazon, DVD, BroadwayHD
• Concert version with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (2001): DVD and Blu-Ray
• Concert version with the New York Philharmonic (2014): Not officially available

Passion

• Original Broadway production filmed for American Playhouse: DVD
• Lincoln Center concert version: not officially available

Putting it Together

• Original Broadway production: Apple TV, DVD, BroadwayHD

Sunday in the Park with George

• Original Broadway production: Apple TV, DVD,
• Theatre du Chatelet (2013): not officially available

In 2015 Image Entertainment released the Stephen Sondheim Collection, a 6-disc DVD collection of Sondheim’s work including Into the Woods (1990), Company (2011), Sunday in the Park with George (1986), Follies in Concert (1985), Sweeney Todd (2001), and Sondheim: The Birthday (2010), though it appears to currently be out of print.

You can learn more about all of the above musicals in the Filmed Live Musicals database. There are more to be added, including the 1994 National Theatre and 1995 Barcelona productions of Sweeney Todd. Know of other filmed live Sondheim recordings? Send us an email! Remember, to be included in the database, a musical must have been legally filmed in front of a live audience, and made available to the general public. 

Happy watching!