TheatreBoard Official: PART 2 Top Sondheim Recordings

To be honest, old Stevie's best work is how he's managed to string out a load of shows like the list above from just one tune.

Oh I jest of course Sondfans. To be fair to him, it's two tunes.

I voted for 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum' of course. I loved it when Frankie used to try to do "the prologue". Oh no, titter ye not missus.

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHOOSE. SEND HELP, CAST RECORDINGS/DVD's AND PROBABLY COOKIES.

It definitely wasn't me - I'd have never said such positive things about him

Sort these into your two tunes by typing A or B before each title, there’s a good chap, Ryan.

Hey, Old Friend — same same same up down down same same
Sunday — up down up down up up down down down down up
Children & Art — up down up down up up down up
Pretty Lady — same same down down down up same same up up up down
Last Midnight — up down down down down up down down (too much sherry, maybe that last down is an up)
Everybody Has The Right — up up up down up up up down up up
Green Finch — down down down down up down down up down down down up same same up
Broadway Baby — up down down up up up down down up down up same same
I Remember — same up up down down same up up down
Comedy Tonight — up down up up down up down down down
Send In The Clowns — up up same down up up same up up down up up same same same up down up
Everybody Says Don’t — same same same same up down same same same same up

Cheers x

Is this a typo or did Sondheim foresee the Iraq wars?

In which circumstances you only have to call on one of us to help!

corrected

Bumping this as voting closes in the morning and then its PART 2!

So, I've seen a good chunk of them over my relatively young years; West Side Story at Sadlers Wells, Gypsy at Chichester/Savoy, Company in Concert (Donmar version) at the Queen's for Sondheim's 80th, Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi, Merrily at the Harold Pinter, Into The Woods at Regent's Park, Assassins at the Menier, Side By Side By Sondhiem at the Brockley Jack and Putting It Together in Guildford (with Follies at the National coming up). In terms of productions - I reckon I'd rank Assassins at the Menier top of that list for me, it was just absolutely thrilling in every sense! I'd probably put Company up top but it was in concert as opposed to a full production.

But I had to choose Company as his greatest overall work, in my opinion. Most of his stuff is pretty emotional, yes, but his hits me in a way that some of the others don't. I don't even particularly relate to it at all, but I can relate to and empathise the emotions and for some reason it gets me deep down. I think the score is just beautiful and it's probably the one I could listen to in its entirety without skipping any tracks. I love the device of a series of vignettes strung together by revolving around this one constant and the various different interpretations this leads to. It's also tremendously funny and witty with a great set of characters who are at the same time completely recognisable yet realistically caricatured.

Anyway, above all that, the string section in 'Another Hundred People' on the Original Broadway Cast Recording was enough for Company to get my vote!

Anyone else's opinion you'd like to dismiss?

I voted WSS and not for that reason. I love Sweeney and Into The Woods aswell. But I did read the original post and based my vote on that. 

PART 2

The strength of this board comes from its participants being an active theatre goers. The excitement about each new production, is palpable. But what often gets ignored are the recordings available of older productions. This is in complete contrast to Classical Music Forums where the energy is all about the recorded history of performances and they live to compare Kielberth or Knappertsbusch, ‘52 or ‘57? When you think about it we spend more time away from the theatre than we do attending and until recently you only dreamed of hearing what the original performances were like. Today using Youtube, Spotify, iTunes etc. everyone can access a huge amount of material.

Now we have a Top 10 of Sondheim’s works, we need recommendations for the greatest recordings. In Part 2 the aim is to find out what you think are the best versions available on

Audio (CD/Vinyl/Download etc)
Video (DVD/Blu-ray/Web etc)

Hopefully you will have heard at least two versions before voting. This may mean you feel qualified to recommend e.g. an audio but not a video, but ideally if you can, recommend one of each.

Starting today until Sunday we’re taking votes for the favourite audio and videos of the TheatreBoard top 3

Sweeney Todd
A Little Night Music
Into The Woods


Please tell us the reasons for your choice. Perhaps it’s a particularly strong performance? The most complete version? Those who recall Robert Cushman’s excellent BBC shows Book, Music and Lyrics will know he always tended to favour the original cast recording, as it was closest to the authors conception. When I haven’t chosen the original, I’ve often gone for a souvenir of the cast I’ve seen and frankly there are times when neither choice has proved ideal. Also at least six of the top 10 have a Film version to compare with the more complete stage versions; a justification of your choice will be most interesting.

Let the fun begin.


NB there will be more added Sunday PM, please hold your horses until then. It will be great if we can get some debate going on the relative merits of different recordings.

Sweeney - OBC
NIght Music - NT
Woods - OLC

All three are definitive in multiple aspects. Quality sound and Singers

With NM and Woods I love the inclusion of Dinner Table and Our Little World which are often ignored on other recordings