CABARET ACT SAYS: IF SONDHEIM BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON.Byline: Rick Mortensen Staff Writer The fervor with which devotees worship Broadway composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim Noun 1. Stephen Sondheim - United States composer of musicals (born in 1930) Sondheim is unique, even in the excitable excitable /ex·ci·ta·ble/ (ek-sit´ah-b'l) irritable (1). ex·cit·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of reacting to a stimulus. Used of a tissue, cell, or cell membrane. 2. world of the theater. His complicated music - which is coupled with his insightful, often biting and perfectly scanned lyrics lyrics npl [of song] → paroles fpl lyrics lyric npl [of song] → Text m - raises the level of craft in contemporary musicals. Although he hasn't hit Broadway since his show ``Passion'' opened in 1994, there is a magazine called the Sondheim Review dedicated to revivals and regional productions of Sondheim's shows. Cabaret cabaret Restaurant that serves liquor and offers light musical entertainment. The cabaret probably originated in France in the 1880s as a small club that presented amateur acts and satiric skits lampooning bourgeois conventions. singer Peisha McPhee and her musical director, Mel Dangcil, put Sondheim on the same level as William Shakespeare, which is the impetus behind their two Sondheim revues, ``To Be or Not to Be'' and ``Much Ado About Sondheim,'' which opened last week at Feinstein's. ``When we think of the undying genius of Shakespeare, there's always new contemporary insights,'' McPhee said. ``Sondheim has so much wonderful material for an actor, and the idea that the two of them are such creative geniuses works in a very entertaining way. Throughout the show, Will makes comments on the human condition that Steve is talking about.'' A regular on the L.A. cabaret scene Cabaret Scene (1922) is a painting by the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. This was a unique cubist experiment that came between Dalí’s early impressionist work and the classic surrealist technique he would later develop. Sources
A lazy, purely functional variant of ML designed by Thomas Johnson and Lennart Augustsson at the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden in 1984. LML is implemented on the G-machine, and was used to implement the first Haskell B compiler. Music called ``Out of the Blue'' and a teaching studio in Sherman Oaks. ``Much Ado About Sondheim'' is more faithful to Sondheim than to Shakespeare. While she sings full Sondheim songs - including one from the film ``Dick Tracy''- her Shakespeare quotes are taken from the ``Arden Dictionary of Shakespearean Quotations.'' She introduces ``Buddy's Eyes'' from ``Follies'' with the ``Romeo and Juliet'' line ``Young men's love lies not truly in their hearts but in their eyes.'' After singing ``Happiness'' from ``Passions,'' McPhee quotes Shakespeare as saying ``Happiness is a tale told by an idiot.'' The real quote, from ``Macbeth,'' is ``Life is a tale told by an idiot,'' but McPhee said the important thing is the emotional connection of the line and the song. ``It's things that are intertwined in an emotional reaction for the audience,'' McPhee said. ``People, when they come to the show, will get just a few famous Shakespeare quotes. ... It makes it more tangible than just a chronological revue revue, a stage presentation that originated in the early 19th cent. as a light, satirical commentary on current events. It was rapidly developed, particularly in England and the United States, into an amorphous musical entertainment, retaining a small amount of of Sondheim's shows.'' MUCH ADO ABOUT SONDHEIM What: Peisha McPhee combines Steven Sondheim musical numbers with quotes from William Shakespeare. Where: Feinstein's at the Cinegrill, inside the Roosevelt Hotel
When: 8:30 p.m. Monday and July 21. Tickets: $20 plus $15 food or drink purchase. Call (323)769-7269. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Singer Peisha McPhee says the works of both Sondheim andShakespeare continue to yield contemporary insights. |
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