Recently Deceased II

[Deleted]

Stephen Sondheim has passed away age 91

Rest easy Sir.

[eveschmeve]

My absolute, hands down favorite Broadway composer. I’m gutted.

Sometimes people leave you
Halfway through the wood
Others may decieve you
You decide what's good
You decide alone
But no one is alone

Rest In Peace Stephen.

[ratscabies]

I was just starting out with my studio, and stumbled on a master class on Bravo TV, and this guy was extracting nuanced, emotional performances from the students. It was MAGNIFICENT how he communicated with the singers. I had NO idea who it was, but dropped everything for an hour to watch.

Of course, it was Sondheim.

I SO wanted to link the part when, during Send in the Clowns, he gently suggests the singer put a nearly imperceptible pause between “you’d want what I want” and “sorry, my dear” but after 7 minutes 28 seconds, the video cuts off right before she tries it, the true meaning of the song hits her, and she nearly breaks down.

God, I wish I could extract performances like that. A true giant.

RIP, sir.

[suekel]

Well I just went down a lovely YouTube rabbit hole based on your post ratscabies. Amazing. Thank you.

[divasahm]

Nov 26, 2021 18:30:16 GMT -4 eveschmeve said:

My absolute, hands down favorite Broadway composer. I’m gutted.

Sometimes people leave you
Halfway through the wood
Others may decieve you
You decide what's good
You decide alone
But no one is alone

Rest In Peace Stephen.

Thank you for sharing my favorite Sondheim lyric--my beloved junior-and high-school choir director was a huge fan of Company, and ds1 played the Baker's Wife in a production of Into the Woods, so our household is very familiar with his work. Definitely up there with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein and his partner, Richard Rodgers...RIP, sir...

[boxofrocks]

He was a genius. RIP.

He was unparalleled in creating works of fiendish lyrical, melodic, and harmonic complexity that still spoke to audiences. Among my favorites were his "simpler" songs "Being Alive" from "Company" and "Losing My Mind" from "Follies." They are like a punch to the gut.

Fun facts: Sondheim supposedly hated operatic singing but it IMO operatic training would sure be useful to learn and execute his songs. Jonathan Larson ("Rent") was his protege (more people probably know this since "Tick, Tick...BOOM!" has been available on Netflix). He once said that the only thing about Andrew Lloyd Webber that he envied was Lloyd Webber's bank account.

[ratscabies]

Nov 27, 2021 14:13:43 GMT -4 boxofrocks said:

Fun facts: Sondheim supposedly hated operatic singing but it IMO operatic training would sure be useful to learn and execute his songs. Jonathan Larson ("Rent") was his protege (more people probably know this since "Tick, Tick...BOOM!" has been available on Netflix). He once said that the only thing about Andrew Lloyd Webber that he envied was Lloyd Webber's bank account.

As someone who has to spend the evening enduring my wife and child doing ANOTHER production of Joseph and the Revolting Technicolor Acid Test, let me just say, I agree with Sondheim!

[boxofrocks]

Fashion designer Virgil Abloh dies of cancer at age 41

Abloh, who founded the haute street wear label Off-White and served as Kanye West’s longtime creative director, ascended to the prestigious role at Louis Vuitton in 2018, becoming the label’s first Black artistic director and one of the few Black designers atop a storied French design house.

[H]e battled a rare, aggressive form of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma for more than two years.

[garnet927]

Eddie Mekka, who played Carmine "The Big Ragu" on Laverne & Shirley died at age 69 on November 27th.

[PearlySweetcake]

Dec 2, 2021 17:27:43 GMT -4 garnet927 said:

Eddie Mekka, who played Carmine "The Big Ragu" on Laverne & Shirley died at age 69 on November 27th.

Lenny (Michael McKean) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) are the only ones left of the original cast. That's surprising for a series that ran until 1983.

Eddie Mekka also played the guy who danced with Madonna in A League of Their Own.