GEORGE
White. A blank page or canvas.
The challenge: bring order to the whole.
Through design.
Composition.
Tension.
Balance.
Light.
And harmony.
(And of course this part works because of what you see and hear during this dialogue. If you haven’t seen this, you really must! And now I’ll stop with the Sondheim fun. Over and out.)
—–
KAYAMA
Rain glistening
On the silver birch,
Like my lady’s tears.
Your turn.
MANJIRO
Rain gathering,
Winding into streams,
Like the roads to Boston.
Your turn.
KAYAMA
Haze hovering,
Like the whisper of the silk,
As my lady kneels.
Your turn.
MANJIRO
Haze glittering,
Like an echo of the lamps
In the streets of Boston.
Your turn.
KAYAMA
Moon,
I love her like the moon,
Making jewels of the grass
Where my lady walks,
My lady wife.
MANJIRO
Moon,
I love her like the moon,
Washing yesterday away
As my lady does,
America.
Your turn.
KAYAMA
Wind murmuring.
Is she murmuring for me
Through her field of dreams?
Your turn.
MANJIRO
Wind muttering.
Is she quarreling with me?
Does she want me home?
Your turn.
KAYAMA
I am no nightingale,
But she hears the song
I can sing to her,
My lady wife.
MANJIRO
I am no nightingale,
But my song of her
Could outsing the sea.
America.
KAYAMA
Dawn flickering,
Tracing shadows of the pines
On my lady sleeping.
Your turn.
MANJIRO
Dawn brightening
As she opens up her eyes,
But it’s I who come awake.
Your turn.
KAYAMA
You go.
MANJIRO
Your turn.
BOTH
Leaves,
I love her like the leaves,
Changing green to pink to gold,
And the change is everything.
Sun,
I see her like the sun
In the center of a pool,
Sending ripples to the shore,
Till my journey’s end.
MANJIRO
Your turn.
KAYAMA
Rain.
MANJIRO
Haze.
KAYAMA
Moon.
MANJIRO
Wind.
KAYAMA
Nightingale.
MANJIRO
Dawn.
KAYAMA
Leaves.
MANJIRO
Sun.
BOTH
End.
From Pacific Overtures
—–
[A Man:]
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd
His skin was pale and his eye was odd
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again.
He trod a path that few have trod.
Did Sweeney Todd.
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
[Another Man:]
He kept a shop in London town
Of fancy clients and good renown.
And what if none of their souls was saved?
They went to their maker impeccably shaved
By Sweeney,
By Sweeney Todd.
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
[Company, variously:]
Swing your razor wide, Sweeney!
Hold it to the skies!
Freely flows the blood of those
Who moralize!
His needs were few, his room was bare.
A lavabo and a fancy chair.
A mug of suds and a leather strop,
An apron a towel a pail and a mop.
For neatness he deserved a nod,
Did Sweeney Todd,
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Inconspicuous Sweeney was,
Quick and quiet and clean ‘e was.
Back of his smile, under his word,
Sweeney heard music that nobody heard.
Sweeney pondered and Sweeney planned
Like a perfect machine ‘e planned.
Sweeney was smooth, Sweeney was subtle,
Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle.
Sweeney was smooth, Sweeney was subtle,
Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle.
Inconspicuous Sweeney was,
Quick and quiet and clean ‘e was.
Like a perfect machine ‘e was,
Was Sweeney!
Sweeney!
Sweeeeeeneeeeey!
[Todd appears from the grave]
[Todd and Company:]
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.
He served a dark and a vengeful god.
[Todd:]
What happened then – well that’s the play,
And he wouldn’t want us to give it away,
Not Sweeney.
[Company:]
Not Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!
-Stephen Sondheim
—–
San Francisco Classical Voice has a nice little write up about the upcoming production! The only thing I’d want to take issue with is Mr. Gereben’s negative comment about our lowest price seats. It’s true we don’t have those $28 seats that San Francisco may offer. But it’s also true that we don’t have seats so high and far away that you may as well skip paying $28 and listen to a CD. (Okay, maybe it’s not that bad there, but still, to complain about our ticket prices when every seat in the house is so spectacular. Geesh. Besides (and he does mention this) there are those hard to beat $10 student rush tickets!)
—–
Careful the things you say
Children will listen
Careful the things you do
Children will see and learn
Children may not obey, but children will listen
Children will look to you for which way to turn
To learn what to be
Careful before you say “Listen to me”
Children will listenSome lyrics from Children Will Listen from the musical Into the Woods
(I’ll put up Sondheim lyrics as I find the time. Just because.)
—–
My favorite musical/opera (you choose … no one quite knows what to do with him!) composer is having a birthday today. He is 75.
Let’s see. Favorite musical? Hmmm. Hard to say. I love the first act of Sunday in the Park with George but I think the second act could use tweaking. Into the Woods is great. I think A Little Night Music is wonderful.
But maybe as a whole … as a complete with nary a problem … would have to be that delightful, light, happy little number, Sweeney Todd.
Okay, so maybe I’m kidding about it being light and happy! But it works. It does what it should do.
And I wish I could play it again. It’s been an awfully long time.
Sondheim is a master with words. And he’s a master putting those words to music.
So I humbly wish him a very happy birthday.
(Tomorrow all my “classical colleagues”, my musical-hating pals, can return to this site. Today you may as well just ignore me. I know you wonder about my sanity for enjoying and, yes, even appreciating and admiring musical theater. What can I say? It works for me. So there.)
—–
