Arts & Culture

The first volume of Stephen Sondheim's complete lyrics Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes is charming, intimate and extremely entertaining.

Highlights include his memories of writing and staging West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Company and Sweeny Todd. Also fascinating are his frank appraisals of other 20th century lyricists and songwriters: Cole Porter, Noel Coward, Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin.

To give you some idea of the flavour of the book here's Madeline Kahn in "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1992)" singing "(Not) Getting Married Today" from the show Company, followed by some of Sondheim's comments on the song's lyrics.

Sondheim says, "The patter sections may seem difficult to sing in one breath as they ought to be sung, but in fact they're calculated to alternate vowel and consomant sounds in such a way as to make them easy for the tongue, teeth and breath to articulate…"

And, even more interesting, "If I had rhymed the lines in the patter, it would have implied an organized control of Amy's thought processes, when in fact disorder is the essence of hysteria."

But, "a completely unrhymed song would have been monotonous and shapeless, which is why Amy suddenly starts to rhyme with a vengeance in short, sharp, machine-gun rapidity, bespeaking another kind of dementia."

Put your name in now for the next volume:

Look, I Made a Hat. Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Wafflings, Diversions and Anecdotes featuring Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and  Assassins.