Broadway has bid adieu to a great, incomparable talent.
Composer Stephen Sondheim sadly passed away early Friday morning, November 26 at his Roxbury, Conn. home. The news was confirmed by F. Richard Pappas, his lawyer and friend, who described his passing as “sudden.” He was 91 years old.
On Sunday (November 28), many of Broadway’s biggest stars gathered in Times Square to pay tribute to Mr. Sondheim.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Josh Groban, Laura Benanti, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Sara Bareilles and boyfriend Joe Tippett and many more gathered on Duffy Square’s iconic red steps to perform the song “Sunday” in honor of Mr. Sondheim’s life and legacy. The song is from the Sondheim music titles Sunday In The Park With George.
More participants who paid tribute to Mr. Sondheim included Raul Esparza, Wilson Cruz, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Brandon Uranowitz, Judy Kuhn, Jagged Little Pill stars Kathryn Gallagher, Morgan Dudley, Heidi Blickenstaff, and Lauren Patten, Hadestown stars Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney, Gossip Girl’s Tavi Gevinson and Adam Chanler-Berat (both currently part of the off-Broadway revival of Assasins), Six’s Abby Mueller, and Diana’s Roe Hartrampf and Erin Davie.
The tribute event was produced by Erich Bergen and conducted by Michael J. Moritz.
Mr. Sondheim had recently recorded and rewritten the voicemail on Netflix’s new film tick, tick…Boom!
Lin-Manuel, who directed the movie, revealed that Mr. Sondheim was very involved in how that significant voicemail came to be. In the film, Mr. Sondheim is portrayed by Bradley Whitford.
Sharing that Mr. Sondheim found the original voicemail as written to be too “cliche,” Lin-Manuel said:
“When I screened the movie for Sondheim, he emailed me and said, ‘You treated me very gently and royally, for which I am grateful.’ But he said, ‘One thing: The last voicemail message to Jon, it sounds a little cliché. ‘I have a feeling you’re going to have a very bright future.’ I would never say that.
Can I please rewrite what Sondheim says in the voicemail? I’ll record it if you can’t get the actor back.’”
Lin-Manuel stated that he wasn’t going to “turn down a Sondheim rewrite!”
The voicemail, re-written by Sondheim, now concluded as such:
“It’s first-rate work and has a future, and so do you. I’ll call you later with some thoughts, if that’s OK. Meanwhile, be proud.”
Thank you for the music, Mr. Stephen Sondheim.
