It was nearing show time. The stage was tinted with deep blue light, a red ribbon border snaking around the walls of the stage like a present, tied with a gigantic bow. The musicians’ seats were still empty. I wanted them to file in and start playing. My foot twitched. My hands stuck to the Playbill. I glanced around the theatre – Avery Fisher Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, was filled to the brim.

And then I saw the birthday boy walk down the aisle and sit down in our row.

“Oh my God,” I said a little too loudly.

“What?” my sister asked.

“Stephen Sondheim just sat down in our row.”

“What?! You’re kidding,” she said. She leaned over me and the look on her face confirmed what I already knew. We gripped each other’s hands to keep from squealing.

My dad looked at us like we were nuts, which admittedly we were.

I didn’t care. For the rest of the show I glanced back and forth from the performers on stage to the man sitting a few seats away from me on the right. I couldn’t see his face because of the people sitting between us, but I could see his hands folded in his lap – the hands that tapped out the piano notes that gave rise to modern American musical theatre.

Sondheim:The Birthday Concert was performed on March 15th and 16th 2010 at Lincoln Center, to celebrate the composer’s 80th birthday on Monday March 22nd. It was truly a Sondheim love-fest, with over 25 well-known Broadway actors giving their performances as a birthday gift to the composer.

Mr. Sondheim began his career as a lyricist for West Side Story and Gypsy, and went on to create over 25 musicals and scores for films. He has won eight Tony Awards, one Academy Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His musicals are famous for being dark, witty, realistic in their portrayal of the spectrum of human emotion, for possessing musical innovation and brilliantly clever lyrics, and being less commercially-minded than many American Broadway musicals.

What made The Birthday Concert, directed by Lonny Price, unique was that it brought together so many historic combinations of performers and musical numbers. Most of the performers had previously worked with Mr. Sondheim, and many of them even originated the roles in the plays that they sang songs from:

Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason recreated their roles in a song from Into the Woods; Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin sang “Move On” from Sunday in the Park with George, and John McMartin sang “The Road You Didn’t Take” from Follies. Almost four decades have passed since they originated these roles, and I found myself wondering what the experience must have been like for the actors to recreate something so special.

Jim Walton, from the original cast of Merrily We Roll Along – a musical which was not given much time on Broadway before it closed to mixed reviews – sat alone at a piano and sang “Growing Up,” a cut song from the original production.

Act one ended with a trio version of “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd, sung by one Mrs. Lovett (Patti LuPone) and two Sweeneys (George Hearn and Michael Cerveris).

During the second act, six Broadway actresses – Ms. LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Bernadette Peters, and the notorious Elaine Stritch – sat in chairs in a semi-circle and watched one another sing some of the most powerful ballads musical theatre has known. Ms. LuPone gave her rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch” from Company, a song that was first performed in the original production by Ms. Stritch. Ms. Stritch gave her a standing ovation. Ms. Stritch, an octogenarian herself, gave the 11th hour performance of the song “I’m Still Here,” with a wink to Mr. Sondheim.

The most poignant moment of the night came just after Ms. Stritch’s ballad. David Hyde Pierce said a few words about Mr. Sondheim’s contribution to the theatre community, but he didn’t need to say much. A musical underscore began, and performers of all ages, dressed in black, began to file into the auditorium through the side and back doors, walking slowly through the aisles. On Monday night there were 278 of them, and on Tuesday there were 124. These performers were cast members from various Broadway and off-Broadway shows who had given up their time to celebrate Mr. Sondheim. Their song, “Sunday” from Sunday in the Park with George, began soft, building to a staggering crescendo as the auditorium filled with sound.

At that moment I was filled with total gratitude for the music that Mr. Sondheim has given me – yes, it does feel like his music and lyrics were written just for me; they give life to the things I do not know how to say. Yet the Sunday chorus felt a bit too much like a preemptive requiem. While the evening was definitely a celebration of the composer’s work, it also made me sad – the world is one year closer to losing one of its most brilliant living artists. I wasn’t ready to think about that, especially not after such a joyful evening.

I could console myself with a lyric from Into the Woods: “Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood. Do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good.” It’s true: Mr. Sondheim will never leave. His legacy in the American musical theatre canon is timeless.

After the bows, my sister dragged my dad and me to the stage door so she could get as many autographs as possible. I hung back as Kate edged her way through the throng to get her moment with the celebrities. I didn’t want to make the effort. I didn’t want to do anything to disrupt the memory of the Sunday chorus as it repeated itself in my head. I wanted to hold on to that crescendo for as long as I could, until the last person ran out of breath.


About the Author
Emily Herzlin is a writer living in New York City. She graduated from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Literature and Creative Writing and has been published in Sentient City Magazine and writes weekly for the One City Blog.

She is also a playwright, winner of the Young Playwrights Inc. National Playwrighting Competition for her one-act play "Assemblage." Her writing is influenced by art, artists, psychology and spirituality. Emily has run drama and arts workshops in schools in NYC and Long Island, and is currently working as a teacher for autistic children.