Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes
Book by Stephen Sondheim
DETAILS
Publisher : Knopf; Illustrated edition (October 26, 2010) Language : English Hardcover : 480 pages ISBN-10 : 0679439072 ISBN-13 : 978-0679439073 Item Weight : 3.22 pounds Dimensions : 8.3 x 1.15 x 11.2 inches Best Sellers Rank: #44,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #15 in Songwriting #17 in Musicals (Books) #22 in Broadway & Musicals (Books) , ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • Titled after perhaps Stephen Sondheim's most autobiographical song, from Sunday in the Park with George — Finishing the Hat not only collects his lyrics for the first time, it offers readers a rare personal look into his life as well as his remarkable productions. Stephen Sondheim’s career spanned more than half a century; his lyrics are synonymous with musical theater and popular culture. Sondheim—the winner of seven Tonys, an Academy Award, seven Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and more—treats us to never-before-published songs from each show, songs that were cut or discarded before seeing the light of day, along with the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to 1981, including West Side Story, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd . He discusses his relationship with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, and his collaborations with extraordinary talents such as Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Ethel Merman, Richard Rodgers, Angela Lansbury, Harold Prince and a panoply of others. The anecdotes—filled with history, pointed observations and intimate details—transport us back to a time when theater was a major pillar of American culture. Best of all, Sondheim appraises his work and dissects his lyrics, as well as those of others, offering unparalleled insights into songwriting that will be studied by fans and aspiring songwriters for years to come. Accompanying Sondheim’s sparkling writing are behind-the-scenes photographs from each production, along with handwritten music and lyrics from the songwriter’s personal collection. Penetrating and surprising, poignant, funny and sometimes provocative, Finishing the Hat is not only an informative look at the art and craft of lyric writing, it is a history of the theater that belongs on the same literary shelf as Moss Hart’s Act One and Arthur Miller’s Timebends . It is also a book that will leave you humming the final bars of Merrily We Roll Along, while eagerly anticipating the next volume. Read more
REVIEW
As a man who has spent his life working in theatre, teaching music and studying the scores of Stephen Sondheim, I am thrilled to say that "Finishing The Hat" brought a new wealth of information even to me. (I can play "Please Hello" from memory and it comes from one of the few shows I have never done)At first, my thought was that this is a book that is best directed toward songwriters: people who write lyrics; people who write both music and lyrics. But as one reads through and reads EVERYTHING we begin to see that this is also a book for lovers of Sondheim. Then anyone who has an interest in music. By the time one reads the section on the 1974 production of "The Frogs" (complete with a photo of swimming singers, Meryl Streep dead center) we also see that this book is for anyone at all who works in or appreciates musical theatre. As one reads through "Sweeney Todd" and then what I consider his most brillianmt "flop", "Merrily we Roll Along" we see that this is a book about history. Not just the history of musical theatre, but the history of America as told by the most observant and detail oriented artist to have lived over the past 80 years. In short, "Finishing The Hat" unfolds in the same manner as one of Sondheim's songs and thus, one of his musicals. The difference: Writing a book is lonely work. Writing a musical is collaborative work. People considewr "Sunday in The Park With George" to be Sondheim's masterpiece without regard to the fact that Jim Lapine gets at least half the credit. Sondheim writes this frequently in his book. Stephen Sondheim is an American Prize. More so than Copland or CAge. Certainly more than any of his idols. Sondheim is in a ctagory with W.A. Mozart and Giacommo Puccini. He has the math and the technical skills of J.S. Bach and like these composers will go down in history and the words we write of him now will long be forgotten.I've been saying this and teaching it since I was in college myself. I am lucky to have lived through the original productions of his best work-though I only became aware of him in time for "Sweeney Todd" and "Side By Side by Sondheim." I did not see "Merrily We Roll Along"- damned few did. (No pun intended) but I was one of the ones who waited with grave anticipation for the arrival of "Sunday In the Park With George"- a musical that change theatre more so than "Oklahoma!" or "Company." The work that followed was just as brilliant: "Into The Woods" which requires intensive study to see that there's no more brilliance in anything written for theatre or film in history. And the work-all the way up to the beautiful love story, "Road Show". Sondheim says that there's a huge amount of pressure upon him to top what he's done before.This is his own pressure. As he says, "God is in the details." All he need do is follow his heart and it works. Stephen Sondheim has given more to our culture than any other human being to pre-exist him. This book is briliantly written. He is painfully honest, but works very hard to say nothing bad about anyone (save a few critics into whose mouths Sondheim's foot couldn't fit as their own foot is already there) and he kindly writes only of those composers and lyricists who are already dead and therefore cannot be hurt. He is equally hard on himself; much harder than I or anyone else would be. Yes, "West Side Story" contains a mass of lyrical errors but Sondheim was 23 years old and working with the three biggest legends on Broadway. His vote weighed the least and Bernstein was a man who loved etheral floating lyrics. We learn the little tid-bits. The story behgind "Send In The Clowns" (which many of us knew was wreitten at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, just down the street from the Colonial theatre, but Sondheim's genius is clear: He wrote the song for the 11 o'clock number in "Night Music"; for the character of Desiree, then played by the English actess, Glynis Johns. She was unable to sustain long notes. So he knew that the song had toi be elongated lines without extended notes at the end of a phrase. Only Sondheim could have solcved this problem by creating a song that was filled with questions. As far as the fame this song hit (In 1975 it won Grammy Award as Best Song of the year- a SHOW SONG. It was the last time to happen) and has been recorded by over 500 pop singers. The only re-wrirting he's done was when Streisand called him and voiced her question about how the first half was solid but something was missing from the second half. This was, of course, a dialogue betwewen Frederick and Desiree in which he takes his coat and leaves her. Sondheim did not write the new quatrain ("What a surprise...") for a "Diva" but for a singer who studies her lyrics so closely that the entire song is one coherent piece.As a result, any time that "Send n The Clowns" is performed, it will make far more sense with this new section he wrote for "The Broadway Album" in 1985. Suddenly we're singing a song that is about something rather than a song that is about the singer. I've always seen this since directing "Night Music" in 2000.(We did not require the new lyrics as the spoken scene was there and beautifully acted) In 2002 I was coerced into playing the piano for the 40th anniversary of the Weston Drama Workshop- a summer educational program in Weston Ma"sachusetts that has produced MANY succesful and famous performers- and the woman who sang "Memory" on Broadway came back to sing "Send In The CLowns". She said she was a "purist" and refused to add the new lyrics. I aquiesed. She handed me a score in the key of Eb and told me she would do it in D major. I played in in E Major. Not because she refused to listen to what I had to say but because she treated me as though I were an inept servant- something all piano players feel from time to time. And there's nothing quite like playing with a Mezzo's passagio when they give you a hard time. Sondheim would find my behavior reprehensible. Perhaps. My reasoning would cause him to smile. So if you have ANY interest in the history of America as seen from the stage (including The Follies and the "death of theatre") this is the best book ever written on the subject. If you are a student of performance, writing or a student of human condition (anthropologists would find this fascinated) you should buy this book. Buy it as a gift. Buy it for yourself. Domnate it to the public library and the local middle school and high school library. We wondered what would follow "Road Show"- and I pray there will be more music, but "Finishing The Hat" is something that simply can't be topped. This is the best book written on theatre or the history of the 20th century to date.
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