Tumgik
#gypsy the musical
crafted-oubliette · 8 months
Text
Tuesday Jewsday: Stephen Sondheim
Tumblr media
There's a place for us / Somewhere a place for us / Peace and quiet and open air / Wait for us somewhere
There's a time for us / Someday a time for us / Time together and time to spare / Time to look, time to care
Someday / Somewhere / We'll find a new way of living / We'll find a way of forgiving / Somewhere Currently, if you Google "the most famous musical," Google will tell you without a doubt that it is West Side Story. While West Side Story isn't my favorite musical, I can objectively agree that yeah, it is probably the most famous musical that I know of. I say that because I am a musical theater nerd, and many of my non-musical theater nerd friends absolutely adore West Side Story.
It's not hard to understand why people enjoy West Side Story. The story of two cultures coming together and clashing, a story about immigration and assimilation, a story about community, a story about love and ultimately, a story about loss. With lyrics that range from heart breakingly poetic in "There's A Place for Us" to absolutely fun and silly in "Gee, Officer Krupke," West Side Story is relateable to just about everyone that sees it. It has universally understood themes in it, which is why it stays strong in the public eye.
There is a certain staying power that runs through all of Stephen Sondheim's musicals. Sure, West Side Story is his most famous. But any Theatra-cat worth their beans will be able to easily belt out a song from any of Sondheim's other masterpieces like Gypsy (Everything's Comin' Up Roses), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (A COMEDY TONIGHT!), and my personal favorite of the Sondheim works, Into the Woods (I'm The Witch!). That's because Stephen Sondheim is credited with changing the very face of musical theater in America. And for me, when you look at the staggering body of his work, it is easy to see why. The man knew humanity and displayed that in his writing.
Just so you can have a direct comparison here, prior to Sondheim's (meteoric?) rise on Broadway, the most famous musicals that came before him include such numbers as Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon, Carousel, Finian's Rainbow, Pal Joey, On the Town, and South Pacific. While I can say as the theater nerd I am that all of these musicals are good, they are, for me, not as good as a Sondheim and many of them just have not aged as well. In direct comparison, Sondheim uses more universal theming in his body of work than do the writers of the previous age. But that's just like...my opinion man.
Tumblr media
Four large, long paragraphs later, let's also get to talking about Sondheim's life and legacy outside of his changing the geography of Broadway.
Sometime in the 90s (I can't find a clear date on this, not even on the website for the society?!), Sondheim set up the Sondheim Society with the goal of "encouraging young and up-and-coming talent." The society offers work shops and awards for those that participate.
In an article found in the New York Times, Sondheim left all of his body of work, including unfinished plays, to a trust. That trust also benefits a number of cultural and artistic causes: "the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Irish Repertory Theater and the Dramatists Guild Fund".
My previous entries in this series have had more traditional roles in the public eye and the politics for which they stood. We're going to deviate from that a pinch here. As far as I can find, Sondheim never really stood on a stage and/or gave an interview that was specifically in regards to his politics (please correct me if I am wrong!). But that did not mean he wasn't political. I don't have to explain to a Tumblrina that all art is inherently political in the voice of its creator, whether that art questions or maintains the status quo.
The politics can clearly be seen in West Side Story. The major theme through out the show is racial tensions between the white neighborhoods of New York and Puerto Rican immigrants, interwoven with a modern take of Romeo and Juliet. Interestingly, West Side Story originated as a story was set to take place on New York's East Side, and be a societal clash between Jews and Gentiles. So any way you spin this one, it is dripping with political commentary from beginning to end.
In my own personal favorite of his, Into the Woods, there has been and continues to be, a ton of though put into the over all metaphor for the show. If you have read anything I have written here you will know that I think that not all bodies of artistic work need to be dripping with metaphor. Interestingly, there are people that think that Into the Woods is about nuclear arms?! Someone walk me through that!
I personally do not think the thematic thread here is anything more than "let's talk about how we treat our children." Fairy tales are notorious for their repeated themes of putting children through situations that no child should ever find themselves in. But in that story some important lesson is learned that the child character can reflect on in the end. Sondheim takes these fairy tales and pushes the narrative of them even further to make us ask why we treat our children the way we do, and why we make them central to our own dreams when we can just go out and pursue our own dreams without saddling our children with our own trauma. But maybe that is just me.
My long-winded point here is: It is not hard to see that Sondheim took a hard political stance in all of his musicals. Sweeny Todd is very much a question of classism, and don't even get me started on how political Assassins gets!
While Sondheim's achievements aren't as inherently political or world changing as some entries to this series, his touch of Broadway has left a lasting and heavy impression on our society to this day. Sondheim is iconic.
39 notes · View notes
oppreciate · 2 months
Text
I need parental controls but they stop me from starting to YouTube Gypsy after 11pm.
1 note · View note
carneirinha · 10 months
Text
rose's turn is such a caroline song. sorry
3 notes · View notes
alwaysnfk · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
88/365
21 notes · View notes
inthedarktrees · 4 months
Photo
Tumblr media
Natalie Wood in her dressing room after shooting a scene in Gypsy, the musical of the life of stripper Louise "Gypsy Rose Lee" Hovick, 1962
2K notes · View notes
cobbbvanth · 4 months
Text
hey rb and tell me the LAST song on your Spotify wrapped playlist
922 notes · View notes
resident-dumb-fuck · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media
every stephen sondheim musical ranked by number of ao3 hits it has
464 notes · View notes
vintage-tigre · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media
Stevie Nicks, 1978
176 notes · View notes
spirits-having-flown · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Stevie Nicks photographed by Peter Noble, 1981
322 notes · View notes
beautyvaliant · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
200 notes · View notes
thewildbelladonna · 10 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
“What you did was You saved my life I won't forget it"
Happy birthday, my ethereal witch queen 🌙♥
☾ Stephanie Lynn Nicks - May 26th, 1948 ☽
279 notes · View notes
Text
Slizzy Appreciation Day
Part III
'... What Izzy played was the simple heart of the songs, no matter who wrote them; if everything else was taken off one of our songs, you'd hear the grace of Izzy's simple scratch rhythms.'
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Slizzy
Appreciation Day Post
Part III
That old man - he's a real mother fucker - gonna kick 'em on down the line.
I love these guys.
75 notes · View notes
haveyouheardthisband · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
52 notes · View notes
love-ziggy621 · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
Stevie Nicks
Source:/pinterest
77 notes · View notes
midnight-moon-gypsy · 2 months
Text
Pure emotion, let it burn.
°•.🤍.•°
45 notes · View notes
owlpuddle · 20 days
Text
i was reflecting on how people sometimes start counting Sondheim's 'real' career from Company or whatever. anyway here's a poll.
28 notes · View notes