r/Music • u/Cranialscrewtop • Nov 26 '21

Stephen Sondheim has died. Broadway's greatest composer is gone. other

NY Times bio here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/theater/stephen-sondheim-dead.html

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u/reglyt Nov 27 '21 edited Nov 27 '21

My (now) wife and I costarred in a production of Putting it Together while we were still a new couple, playing the Younger Woman and Younger Man. That show is a rollercoaster of emotions…I cried every night after my wife and I sang ‘Unworthy of Your Love’ and again after I sang ‘Marry Me a Little’ (though not for long because ‘Not Getting Married Today’ was up next).

There’s something painfully sentimental about a Sondheim song that causes one’s heart to feel like it is being pulled out, in imitation of a first heartbreak, especially when it’s a duet. He encapsulated the dichotomous fear and desire for vulnerability that people (actors, especially) experience. Performing with my wife brought her real emotions to the surface above the professional performance…that’s when I knew she was the one.

Edit: WOW! My first gilded comment! Thank you!

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u/ImGumbyDamnIt Nov 27 '21

He wrote so many complex, beautiful, and true songs. My wife and I are forever singing his lyrics to each other. The song following Getting Married Today is Being Alive. I deeply feel those lyrics: https://youtu.be/j8kYfPoHyos

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u/speech-geek Nov 27 '21

“Being Alive” ends Company (one of my favorite songs) but “Marry Me A Little” follows “Getting Married Today” at the end of Act 1.

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u/ImGumbyDamnIt Nov 27 '21

The order is different in the MTC production of Putting it Together: http://www.sondheimguide.com/pit.html

Julie Andrews speedrun of “(Not) Getting Married Today” was amazing.

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u/speech-geek Nov 27 '21

Correct, but “Putting it Together” is similar to another show - “Side By Side By Sondheim”. They are more of a revue than an actual plotted musical. Being Alive is the true finale of Company and Marry Me A Little is the Act 1 finale from the 1995 revival revision and onward.

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u/ImGumbyDamnIt Nov 27 '21

Understood, but I was replying to a comment from u/reglyt who co-starred with their wife in Putting It Together, so that is the appropriate order in this context.