"Stephen Sondheim: A Life in the Theater"

Last night, upon entering the Harris Theater, there were signs asking "Do you have a question for Stephen Sondheim?" and we were handed little blue cards, upon which we could inscribe questions for Mr. Sondheim in the alleged Q&A section (more on this later). Of course there are a million questions that one could ask this man, the Master of the Musical, but I couldn't think of a good one to ask, so the blue card is still in my jacket pocket. But c'est la vie (la vie!) I went there to enjoy, to listen to this man speak of his career and his music, to bask in the warm glow of his presence and that was enough for me.

Anyway. We had seats in Row Z which were actually pretty good. The woman next to me had some kind of old school camera and kept clicking pictures on it (loudly) the entire time he spoke. Annoying! I wanted to like glare at her or tell her to knock it off, but she was SCARY. I was afraid she would beat me with her camera or something, so I stayed quiet.

The stage was bare except for a grand piano, two comfy looking chairs, a table with glasses of water, and microphones. Mr. Sondheim was greeted by a standing ovation. At last, at last, I found a group of people who understood what it meant to be sitting in that theater! For a while, there was hearty applause after every.word.he.said. Especially if he mentioned Chicago - which he did several times, confessing that if he could live anywhere else aside from NYC where he was born, it would be Chicago. He likes our vibe, man. That comment got the usual ecstatic "YAY!! Chicago!! That's us!!! He LIKES US!!! WHEEE!" applause. I was worried that if we went on like that much longer, the man would not be able to get a word in edgewise.

Fortunately, everyone settled down after that. The conversation was guided by director Gary Griffin who was a capable, if not very insightful, interviewer. He seemed as awestruck as I felt, honestly, which I suppose is natural. Still. Mr. Sondheim was intelligent and funny - what a fascinating man. He spoke of his collaborations with theater legends like Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Robbins (whom he referred to as a genius), Hal Prince, Ethel Merman, Zero Mostel and tons of others. I think the word "wow" just about sums it up.

I could have listened to him telling theater stories all night. The theater geek nerd girl in my soul was turning happy cartwheels. The "Q&A" section, with audience questions was at the end, and only maybe 2 of those blue cards were brought out for Mr. Griffin to ask Mr. Sondheim. I am not sure why that was - if we were running out of time or if the questions were either too lame or had already been answered or what. For the record the questions that got asked were: "Are you working on anything new?" (Mr. Sondheim is finishing his books of his lyrical analysis along with anecdotes and essays about everything he's ever written - aside from that, he said he has been "nibbling" on a few new ideas...) and also something like "Which of your musicals that have not been made in to movies would you like to see made into movies?" (answer - "Follies" and "Into the Woods" and he noted that there had been a concept for "Into the Woods" that included a collaboration with Jim Henson. When Mr. Henson died, unfortunately the idea went with him. Too bad!) There were a few cell phone-style interruptions. Both times, Mr. Sondheim heard the rings and identified the pitch of the tones. "E flat - don't do that!" It was over way too soon. I could have sat there for many hours more.

The Harris Theater is never ever going to be my favorite place. That lobby is so cold and ugly, it was like a bucket of cold water onto the warm glow of my mood. There is a hallway leading to a set of bathrooms with PADDED WALL HANGINGS. Ugh. Just ugh. Moving on... As we returned into the night (dizzy from the height...), we ran into a group of Niles West English teachers who were as happy to be there as I was. "We had wondered," said one of them, "Which of our colleagues would understand what it meant to be here?" echoing my thoughts exactly. I am a newcomer to the works of Mr. Sondheim - the first show of his I ever saw (I am not counting West Side Story, here) was Sweeney Todd in 2006. So thank you, Sarah, for taking me there and introducing me to this man (and creating this monster!) - since then I've seen and heard many many more of his works and they have meant so much.

Thank you, thank you, Mr. Sondheim.