Sondheim!
The Birthday Concert
(2010/Image Blu-ray + DVD) + Evening
Primrose (1967/eOne DVD)
Picture:
B-/C+/C Sound: B+/B-/C+ Extras: C/B- Concert: B Musical: B-
Taped in
March of 2010, some of the biggest stars in Broadway history still with us gathered
to pay tribute to the great music writer, storytelling and lyricist Stephen
Sondheim. Sondheim! The Birthday Concert (2010) is an amazing celebration
that is also a rare event. Now on
Blu-ray and DVD from Image Entertainment, here is a list of the performances
including who sang what and which work the given song comes from:
"America"
(Dancers, West Side Story)
"Something’s
Coming" (Alexander Gemingnani, West
Side Story)
"We’re
Gonna Be Alright" (Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Do I Hear A Waltz?)
"Don’t
Laugh" (Victoria Clark, Hot Spot)
"Johanna"(Nathan
Gunn, Sweeney Todd)
"You’re
Gonna Love Tomorrow" and "Love Will See Us Through" (Matt
Cavenaugh, Jenn Colella, Laura Osnes, Bobby Steggert, Follies)
"Too
Many Mornings" (Nathan Gunn, Audra McDonald, Follies)
"The
Road You Didn’t Take" (John McMartin, Follies)
"It
Takes Two" (Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Into the Woods)
"Growing
Up" (Jim Walton, Merrily We Roll
Along)
"Finishing
the Hat" (Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In
The Park With George)
"Move
On" (Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Sunday In The Park With George)
"Pretty
Women" (Michael Cerveris, George Hearn, Sweeney Todd)
“A Little
Priest" (Michael Cerveris, George Hearn, Patti LuPone, Sweeney Todd)
“Theme
from ‘Reds’” with Pas De Deux (NY Philharmonic,
ABT Dancers Maria Riccetto and Blaine
Hoven)
"So
Many People" (Laura Benanti, Saturday
Night)
"Beautiful
Girls" (David Hyde Pierce, Follies)
"Ladies
Who Lunch" (Patti LuPone, Company)
"Losing
My Mind" (Marin Mazzie, Follies)
"The
Glamorous Life" (Audra McDonald, A
Little Night Music)
"Could
I Leave You" (Donna Murphy, Follies)
"Not
a Day Goes By" (Bernadette Peters, Merrily
We Roll Along)
"I’m
Still Here" (Elaine Stritch, Follies)
"Sunday"
(Broadway Chorus, Sunday in the Park
with
George)
"Happy
Birthday" (entire cast)
David
Hyde Pierce hosted this event and it is probably one of the most important in
years, bringing this community together at a time it needed it as things have
not been as good as they could be in the country and in New York City. Paul Gemignani conducts the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra and the nearly two-hour show is loaded with energy,
classics, great performances by some of the greatest stars musical history and
some new up and coming names we hope become bigger names.
The other
twist is that most of the Sondheim shows have never been made into home video
releases and it is very rare they are even taped, let alone filmed. I liked this tribute very much and it is one
of the best of late to date in any of the arts we have seen.
One
program Sondheim contributed to not represented here is Evening Primrose, a Twilight
Zone type tale of a poet who discovers that when the doors of a department
store closes, the mannequins come to life.
Sondheim wrote four songs for the piece, including When?, If You Can Find Me,
I’m Here, I Remember and Take Me To The World. The 1966 TV version ABC broadcast as part of
their ABC Stage 67 series has been uncovered and it is a real find. Anthony Perkins is the poet, Charmian Carr
his love interest he discovers there and a solid supporting cast in this black
and white version produced by the legendary John Houseman.
Paul
Bogart directed and it is amazing what a great piece this is, lost in a vault
for far too long, even to the point it was forgotten in the Birthday show. James Goldman wrote the teleplay and to see
something of this quality come from a major network today would be extremely
unlikely, but that was the golden age of TV then, when even the major networks
cared. Now, you are lucky if something
like this shows up on PBS or cable.
The 1080i
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Birthday
has good color and is well shot, but some motion blur and a little more that I
would have liked, while the anamorphically enhanced DVD is a little softer and
less defined, but watchable The DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is the biggest surprise,
richly recorded, with an exceptional soundfield that is one of the best of any
love stage Blu-ray we have covered to date and that in the face of dozens of
classical and opera titles. It puts the
live into live and though the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD is weaker, the
soundmaster is the same for both and impressive. The only extra on both versions is a paper
pullout with an essay by Lonny Price on Sondheim and his legacy.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image on Primrose
was shot on black and white reel to reel videotape (with some 16mm inserts) and
shows its age with haloing and limited definition, yet looks like one of the
six Season Two episodes of Twilight Zone (1960 – 61, reviewed on
Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) with its somewhat dark lighting. The result is style winning out over some
flaws. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is a
little better, cleaned up without being overly compressed. Extras include a 28-page booklet loaded with
information about the production, a letter from Sondheim himself, lyrics and
other technical information including how it was uncovered, while the DVD adds
Director Bogart’s full color test footage (filmed) with Perkins, new video
interview with Bogart and new audio interview with Carr.
All in
all, these releases continue the nice amount of quality Sondheim product for
the home. We also recommend these
releases:
Company (Blu-ray)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7080/Company:+A+Musical+Comedy+(Imag
Putting It Together (Import PAL DVD, also available
on US DVD)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9416/Stephen+Sondheim%E2%80%99s+Put
- Nicholas Sheffo
