"Watching the Stephen Sondheim/Julia McKenzie compilation cabaret Putting It Together (is that a fair description of this hybrid?) in its latest incarnation – courtesy of producer/musical supervisor Alex Parker – one’s thoughts turn once more to the issue of 'context' in Sondheim. It is, of course, the reason why so few of his songs have an independent life outside of his shows and why, even if they do, something feels lacking – as if the life-blood of these numbers has been drained along with the surrounding drama."
Is this true?
On the contrary, it seems to me that Sondheim songs have been unusually successful out of context. Indeed Mr. Seckerson goes on to give an example of how one song in the show is actually improved by a different context:
"The interesting (and occasionally irritating) thing about Putting It Together is the way in which the character and subtext of a song subtly (or in some cases unsubtly) shifts in response to its new context, how a number like “Lovely” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is actually funnier and more ironic split between the bimbo and the world weary wife (in whose voice it becomes a bitchy cocktail party aside) than it ever was as merely a “dumb blonde” number."
OK, that's just one song. But let's look at the bigger picture. Here's a list of significant professional productions of compilation shows (according to this very handy online guide):
Marry Me a Little (5 productions)
Putting It Together (5 productions + one cast recording
Side by Side by Sondheim (9 productions + 3 [count 'em!] cast recordings)
Sondheim on Sondheim (1 production + cast recording)
Not to mention the compilation CDs. And all those Sondheim Songbook cabarets and recordings by various devoted performers. Has any other Broadway songwriter had so much success with compilations of their work? I'd be surprised.
For all the talk about how Sondheim songs are so wrapped up in the warp and the woof of the drama, it seems that fans are more than happy listening to them out of context.
So when Mr. Seckerson says that "so few of his [Sondheim's] songs have an independent life outside of his shows", I think he means that, although treasured by his fans anywhere they find them, his songs have rarely reached the wider public. And that's not because of lack of context. The wider public aren't particularly fussd about them in context either. On the whole, Sondheim just doesn't write hits.
Why is this?
I think there's a clue further into Mr. Seckerson's review:
"There’s one startlingly effective moment, musically speaking, where the 50s pop song parody from Assassins “Unworthy of Your Love” becomes a touching little sofa duet at the heart of the show. It’s startling because the music is so untypical of the composer and without the original context to explain why it sounds like it does, it’s as if another composer has infiltrated the party."
Again it's improved out of the original context. That's because in context that "touching little sofa duet" is sung by the obsessive nutjob John Hinckley who took a shot at Ronald Reagan in order to try and win the love of Hollywood actress Jodie Foster. Not so touching now. The problem is that lifted out of context, it doesn't sound much like Sondheim. It's just a really good parody. I think that's why he doesn't have hit songs. In context they're full of irony, cynicism and black humour. Out of context, they sound fake.
No doubt some will say that's because it's all too difficult and sophisticated for Mr. and Mrs. Joe Public slobbing around in their Les Miz t-shirts and drinking sentimentality from their Phantom souvenir gift mugs; Sondheim is just too good for the average man. Alternatively it could be that Sondheim songs simply don't chime with most people's reality; you pays your money and takes your choice. And most people don't choose Sondheim.
That is the context.
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