Thanks for the memories!

Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany
by Stephen Sondheim

The first volume of Stephen Sondheim’s collected lyrics and reflections was so spectacular, all I could hope for was that he could equal it—and that’s exactly what he’s done.  Look, I Made a Hat has all the strengths of the first volume.  It has the same gorgeous photographic spreads, and the book designer must have heard all the complaints about the difficult to read typeface of the lyrics in the last volume.  This book features black print that’s perfectly legible.

It should be no surprise to any reader that Stephen Sondheim is a master wordsmith.  His precise and slightly persnickety voice comes through loud and clear.  Sondheim’s “comments, amplifications, dogmas, harangues, digressions, anecdotes, and miscellany” are absolutely riveting, and his humor peeks through as he relates his stories.  And the man’s vocabulary is absolutely staggering!  I was delightedly looking up the occasional word as I read.  “Gallimaufry” anyone?  Steve, I’m happy to learn from you any day.

It could be argued that Mr. Sondheim’s most productive years were covered in Finishing the Hat.  Still, the five major musicals covered in this volume (Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins, Passion, and the many incarnations of Wise Guys) are some of his very finest.  In the first volume, I was so excited to read about the troubled production of Merrily We Roll Along.  In this volume is was the circuitous history of Wise Guys/Bounce/Road Show—a “saga in four acts, he calls it—that I was anxious to hear straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.

There’s one more thing about this second volume that, in some ways, tops the first book for me.  Mr. Sondheim wrote about many of his most famous and classic shows in the first book, but there are a lot of resources with which to learn about those celebrated productions.  In this volume, he speaks of the musicals that were never to be, the movies, the television work, and other miscellaneous projects.  A lot has been written about Company, not so much about the unproduced musical Muscle, or the amazing television musical Evening Primrose.  In short, this is the only place you can really read about these almost mythological productions.  Yes, I’m a huge geek, but I’m not alone.  It’s thrilling!

I came of age during the years covered by this book.  I must have been 18 or 19 when I took the train to NY for the first time to see a Broadway show.  I vividly remember the sight of the giant’s enormous legs hanging over the side of the (then) Walter Beck Theater.  It was my very first Sondheim production on Broadway.  It was the first of many, and it was life-altering.  All I can say at this point is:  Thanks for the music and thanks for the memories!

The mailbox was overflowing...

Happy Monday, y’all,

Well, I’m still struggling desperately to catch up after my two weeks on the East Coast. I feel like I finally got some good sleep this weekend! Meanwhile, things are as busy as ever out here, and life does not seem to be inclined to wait for me to catch up. I started writing some updates about the stuff going on this past week and in the immediate future, and the post became so ridiculously long, I decided to separate it from Mailbox Monday, which is itself ridiculously long. It’s the inventory of the boxes from BEA, and I’m still working on it. So, let this be the first part of my weekly check in:

• Just a reminder that the giveaway for Charlaine Harris’s Dead Reckoning is still going on here.  You have until Wednesday morning to post a comment.  The more of you who enter, the more copies I’ll give away.  So please post a comment today!
• My sister and baby Jonah are doing well! 
• I went out to catch the always entertaining Matt Richtel on tour for Devil’s Plaything the other night.
  He was so cute.  He was terrified of boring his audience (I assure you he wasn’t!) and stopped the reading portion of the evening after like the shortest reading ever for fear of going on too long.  But that’s okay; the Q&A portion was more fun anyway.  Most authors wait for the audience to come up with questions.  Matt takes a proactive approach and supplies questions that the audience may ask him.  I shot a few minutes of video before my battery died the other night.  If it’s any good, perhaps I’ll post it this week.  Oh, and this was sweet, HarperCollins messed up and forgot to include the acknowledgements page in the book, but Matt had insert copies cut to size on his signing table.  I did make the acknowledgements page, but Matt signed my book: To my favorite unacknowledged early editor.
• I also had the opportunity to hear Nick Mamatas and Lisa Goldstein read from Sensation and The Uncertain Places respectively, and then both authors had a discussion with moderator Terry Bisson.  This is all a part of the SF in SF author and film series, always an enjoyable night out, even if you’re not especially interested in the books or authors that month.  In this case, however, I was interested in Goldstein, ever since reading this review of her new book.  So, I picked up a copy at the event and of course had her sign it.  Afterwards, several people including Lisa; and her publisher, Jacob Weisman of Tachyon Books; and his wife, Rina, who runs the SF in SF series, just sat around kibbitzing for an hour.  I’d never met (or read) Lisa before, but Rina and Jacob are good friends.  It was a predictably fun evening, and I read a sizable chunk of The Uncertain Places yesterday.  This may sound like an odd compliment, but it’s very readable.  Reading it is pleasantly quick and easy, without being the slightest bit dumb or pandering.  It’s just effortless and delightful, and I’m finding myself carried away by the story.  It’s everything a good fairy tale should be.
• Of course, I would have finished The Uncertain Places in a day, had I not been primarily reading (Finally!) Ann Patchett’s completely wonderful State of Wonder.  This book could have been written specifically for me.  Of course, I’ll be reviewing all books mentioned in the near future.  But the reason I finally got around to the Patchett that I’ve been dying to read for at least a month is that she’s coming through SF on tour tomorrow.  Bookshop West Portal, here I come!  I’ve never met her or heard her speak before, so I’m really looking forward to this.
• Tonight, Jon and I are going to see a current Broadway show, The Importance of Being Earnest, on screen in a movie theater.  Do you know about this?  It will be the second time we’ve seen a theatrical production at the movies, the first time being a few weeks ago with last year’s Best Musical Tony winner, Memphis.  The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the few shows I didn’t see in NY, because as excellent as the production is rumored to be, I knew I could see it this way.  And with so many excellent shows to see, it was a compromise. 
• Also, we already have tickets to a Sunday matinee screening of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Patty LuPone, Stephen Colbert, Martha Plimpton, John Cryer, Christina Hendricks, and many others. This production, in conjunction with the New York Philharmonic, played for only one weekend back in April. This is the sort of special event that sends me running for the airline schedules, but tickets were impossible to get. How wonderful that the production was filmed live so that more than a handful of people would have the opportunity to see it!
• This leads me, of course, to last night’s Tony Awards telecast.  Did you watch it?  Best.  Tonys.  Ever.  Well, not so much having two shows sweep the awards in a forgone conclusion—I hate that—but the show itself was wildly entertaining.  I do love me some NPH, and having him do a number with Hugh Jackman just about sent me into orbit.  And even though The Book of Mormon and Warhorse swept the musical and play categories respectively, they didn’t sweep the acting awards.  Having seen so many of the productions, I was really delighted with most of the winners.  It was a great night honoring the best theater season in years, and I was delighted to spend the evening with good friends who love the theater as much as I do.  Thanks so much, Jon, for playing the consummate host, as always!
• Finally, Jon, Peter, and I went to see Midnight in Paris the other night.  I loved it so much!  But, I have enough to say about the film that I’ll try to do a separate blog post.  But this leads me to a recent epiphany…  I’ve decided not to feel guilty if I want to write about a film, a play, or even a television show here.  Yes, it’s a book blog first and foremost, but I do have other interests, and it’s my book blog.  Since I make the rule, I’ve decided to feel less constrained, or at least less guilty about occasionally veering off topic.  And usually not that far off topic, because these are all scripted forms.  They’re just a different type of written language.  So, it’s still a book blog, but a value added one, LOL.

That’s all for now, but I will be posting a Mailbox Monday post sometime later today.  Thanks for sticking with me as I ramble!