He suddenly noticed me, and I said “Hello!” and he burst out, “Oh, hello! You were wonderful, most of the time.” That comma, that breadth of affirmation and doubt, is what makes him so astounding, and so wonderful to sing - most of the time. How I cherished his ambivalences! Once, after the final dress rehearsal for “Do I Hear a Waltz?” Sondheim stood in front of the entire company and crew. He was simply one of our greatest teachers.
Listen to it, sometimes listen more than once because the simplicity with which he expresses the most complicated human emotions - he’s able to do it in a way that once you hear it, it’s unforgettable. Walk in privacy, walk with a friend, put it on at different times in your life. Take a walk in the words and music that he left us. I always say, he gave me so much to sing about. He was like Shakespeare, and what a privilege to be able to say, “Steve, what did you mean when you wrote that?” You could get it right from the horse’s mouth. And I’m surely not alone in that feeling. What do you say when the ocean goes away, or when a mountain disappears? Steve was that elemental and irreplaceable a part of my career and my understanding of art and life. Which is appropriate, I guess, given that is exactly how his music always affected me.
Frozen song love is an open door lyrics full#
AUDRA McDONALDĮven in a time so full of loss, this news feels like a unique punch to the heart. He was a giant, he was a genius, he was a legend, he was wickedly funny, he was wildly supportive but bluntly honest, and he was one of the wisest, toughest, most profound mentor/teachers I’ve ever known. I can’t quite process what the world (especially the theatrical world) looks like without him. I’m weirdly numb and super-emotional all at the same time. (The pop tunesmith Jack Antonoff did, too.) And, given how often Sondheim songs traded in wistfulness and melancholy, the composer’s own lyrics were used to celebrate and remember him, too. Comparisons to Shakespeare were invoked more than once so was appreciation for his tough-love feedback to those who interpreted his songs.īecause the Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer of such beloved shows as “Sunday in the Park With George” and “Sweeney Todd” was known for his wit and wordplay, writers who stick to the page, not the stage, weighed in with admiration as well. Passionate tributes to Stephen Sondheim came quickly as the news of his death reached the theater world and beyond on Friday.