Sondheim's work as a composer-lyricist over the past four decades has set the standard for modern American musical theater. He has won a record seven Tony Awards for his songwriting, and received a Pulitzer Prize for Sunday in the Park with George. Sondheim was an unpaid and uncredited clapper boy on _Beat the Devil (1953)_ (qv). He tried out as a contestant on _"The $64,000 Question" (1955)_ (qv) in 1955. While not chosen, he did correctly identify 19 of the 21 films 'John Ford (I)' (qv) had directed up to that point.
name | Stephen Sondheim |
---|---|
background | non_performing_personnel |
birth name | Stephen Joshua Sondheim |
birht date | March 22, 1930 |
birth place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
genre | Musical theatre |
occupation | Composer, lyricist |
years active | 1954–present }} |
In addition to theatre, he has contributed to movies as well, including the 1981 Warren Beatty film ''Reds'', contributing the song "Goodbye For Now". He also wrote five songs for the 1990 movie ''Dick Tracy'', including ''Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)'', which won the Academy Award for Best Song.
He was also president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981. On September 15, 2010, in honor of his 80th birthday, the Henry Miller's Theatre was renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in his honor. He is also the only living composer with a quarterly journal published in his name.
Sondheim traces his interest in theatre to ''Very Warm for May'', a Broadway musical he saw at age nine. "The curtain went up and revealed a piano," Sondheim recalled. "A butler took a duster and brushed it up, tinkling the keys. I thought that was thrilling."
When Stephen was ten, his father, a distant figure, abandoned him and his mother. His father sought custody of Stephen, but because he had left Fox for another woman (Alicia), his efforts failed. Herbert and Alicia had two sons together.
Stephen famously despised his mother; he once wrote a thank-you note to close friend Mary Rodgers that read, "Dear Mary and Hank, Thanks for the plate, but where was my mother's head? Love, Steve." When his mother died in the spring of 1992, he did not attend her funeral. His mother was allegedly psychologically abusive and distant, using Sondheim as a form of replacement for his father. Sondheim recalls "She would hold my hand in theatres." Sondheim said, "My mother was very angry at my father for leaving her, and she used me as a whipping boy. And she also had a set of values that even at that age I knew were suspect, in that she liked celebrities and money a lot. And, in a way, it was lucky for me, because I never would have met the Hammersteins if she hadn't liked celebrities. They had a son my age, Jamie, and we became fast friends, and that's how I sort of got adopted by them."
Thus began one of the most famous apprenticeships in the musical theatre, as Hammerstein designed a kind of course for Sondheim on the construction of a musical. This training primarily involved having Sondheim write four musicals, each with one of the following preconditions:
None of these "assignment" musicals were ever produced professionally. ''High Tor'' and ''Mary Poppins'' have never been produced at all; the rights holder for the original ''High Tor'' refused permission and his musical ''Mary Poppins'' was not finished.
In 1950, Sondheim graduated magna cum laude from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. His first teacher at Williams was Robert Barrow, and according to Sondheim
...everybody hated him because he was very dry, and I thought he was wonderful because he was very dry. And Barrow made me realize that all my romantic views of art were nonsense. I had always thought an angel came down and sat on your shoulder and whispered in your ear 'dah-dah-dah-DUM.' Never occurred to me that art was something worked out. And suddenly it was skies opening up. As soon as you find out what a leading tone is, you think, Oh my God. What a diatonic scale is—Oh my God! The logic of it. And, of course, what that meant to me was: Well, I can do that. Because you just don't know. You think it's a talent, you think you're born with this thing. What I've found out and what I believed is that everybody is talented. It's just that some people get it developed and some don't.He went on to study composition with the composer Milton Babbitt. Sondheim told biographer Meryle Secrest, "I just wanted to study composition, theory, and harmony without the attendant musicology that comes in graduate school. But I knew I wanted to write for the theatre, so I wanted someone who did not disdain theatre music. Milton, who was a frustrated show composer, was a perfect combination." Babbitt and Sondheim were both fascinated with mathematics and together they studied songs by various composers, especially Jerome Kern. Sondheim told Secrest that Kern had the ability "to develop a single motif through tiny variations into a long and never boring line and his maximum development of the minimum of material." Sondheim then said of Babbitt, "I am his maverick, his one student who went into the popular arts with all his serious artillery."
Sondheim says that when he asked Babbitt if he could study atonality, Babbitt replied "You haven’t exhausted tonal resources for yourself yet, so I’m not going to teach you atonal." Sondheim agreed, and despite frequent dissonance and a highly chromatic style, his music remains resolutely tonal.
In 1954, Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics for ''Saturday Night'', which was never produced on Broadway and was shelved until a 1997 production at London's Bridewell Theatre. In 1998 ''Saturday Night'' received a professional recording, followed by a revised version with two new songs and an Off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre in 2000 and a full British premiere with the new songs due in 2009 at London's Jermyn Street Theatre. The new songs were ''Montana Chem'' (a patter song that the characters nervously sing following the stock prices of Montana Chemical Corp, in which they have invested all their savings) and ''Delighted, I'm Sure'' (whose lyrics were written with the rest of the score in the 1950s but not the music).
Sondheim's big break came when he wrote the lyrics to ''West Side Story'', lyricizing Leonard Bernstein's music and Arthur Laurents's book. When he was 25, Sondheim was introduced to Bernstein, who had heard ''Saturday Night'' and quickly hired him to write the lyrics to ''West Side Story''. The 1957 show, directed by Jerome Robbins, ran for 732 performances. While this may be the best-known show Sondheim ever worked on, he has expressed dissatisfaction with his lyrics, stating they do not always fit the characters and are sometimes too consciously poetic. It has been rumored that while Bernstein was off trying to fix the musical ''Candide'', Sondheim wrote some of the music for ''West Side Story'', and that Bernstein’s co-lyricist billing credit mysteriously disappeared from the credits of ''West Side Story'' during the tryout, presumably as a trade-off.
In 1959, he wrote the lyrics for the musical, ''Gypsy''. Sondheim would have liked to write the music as well, but Ethel Merman, the star, insisted on a composer with a track record. Thus, Jule Styne was hired. Sondheim questioned if he should write only the lyrics for another show, but Hammerstein told him writing for a star would be valuable experience. Sondheim worked closely with book writer Arthur Laurents to create the show. It ran 702 performances.
Eventually Sondheim wrote both the music and lyrics, for ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''. It opened in 1962 and ran 964 performances. The book, based on the farces of Plautus, was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Sondheim's score was not especially well received at the time. Even though the show won several Tony Awards, including best musical, Sondheim did not even receive a nomination. In addition, some critics felt the songs were not properly integrated into the farcical action.
At this point, Sondheim had participated in three straight hits. His next show ended the streak. ''Anyone Can Whistle'' (1964) was a 9-performance flop, although it introduced Angela Lansbury to musical theatre and has developed a cult following.
In 1965 he wrote the lyrics only for ''Do I Hear a Waltz?'', with music by Richard Rodgers. He has said that this is the one project he has regretted. In 1966, he semi-anonymously provided the lyric for "The Boy From...", a parody of "The Girl from Ipanema", a highlight of the off-Broadway revue ''The Mad Show''. (The official songwriting credit went to the linguistically minded pseudonym "Esteban Rio Nido", which translates from the Spanish to "Stephen River Nest". In the show's playbill, the lyrics are credited to "Nom De Plume".) In 1968, he wrote the lyrics for ''The Race to Urga'', with Bernstein.
Sondheim's work is notable for his use of complex polyphony in the vocal parts, such as the chorus of five minor characters who function as a sort of Greek chorus in 1973's ''A Little Night Music''. He also displays a penchant for angular harmonies and intricate melodies reminiscent of Bach (Sondheim has claimed that he "loves Bach" but his favorite period is Brahms to Stravinsky). To fans, Sondheim's musical sophistication is considered to be greater than that of many of his musical theatre peers, and his lyrics are likewise renowned for their ambiguity, wit, and urbanity.
Sondheim collaborated with producer/director Harold Prince on six musicals between 1970 and 1981. ''Company'' (1970) centered on a set of characters and themes rather than a straightforward plot. ''Follies'' (1971) was similarly structured, filled with pastiche songs echoing styles of earlier composers. ''A Little Night Music'' (1973), a more traditionally plotted show based on the film ''Smiles of a Summer Night'' by Ingmar Bergman, was one of his greatest successes. ''Time'' magazine called it "Sondheim's most brilliant accomplishment to date." Notably, the score was mostly composed in waltz time (either ¾ time, or multiples thereof.) Further success was accorded to ''A Little Night Music'' when "Send in the Clowns" became a hit single for Judy Collins. Although it was Sondheim's only Top 40 hit, his songs are frequently performed and recorded by cabaret artists and theatre singers in their solo careers.
''By Bernstein'' premiered at the off-Broadway Westside Theatre on November 23, 1975 and closed on December 7, 1975. It ran for 40 previews and 17 performances. The lyrics and music were by Leonard Bernstein, with additional lyrics from other lyricists, including Sondheim. It was conceived and written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and Norman L. Berman. The production was directed by Michael Bawtree with a cast of Jack Bittner, Margery Cohen, Jim Corti, Ed Dixon, Patricia Elliott, Kurt Peterson, and Janie Sell. The two known songs that had Sondheim contributions are "In There" from the adaption of ''The Exception and the Rule'' (which would later be named ''The Race to Urga'') and a cut song from ''West Side Story'' "Kids Ain't (Like Everybody Else)".
''Pacific Overtures'' (1976) was the most non-traditional of the Sondheim—Prince collaborations, an intellectual exploration of the westernization of Japan. ''Sweeney Todd'' (1979), Sondheim's most operatic score and libretto (which, along with ''A Little Night Music'', has been seen in opera houses), once again explores an unlikely topic, this time murderous revenge and cannibalism. The book, by Hugh Wheeler, is based on Christopher Bond's 1973 stage version of the Victorian original.
''Merrily We Roll Along'' (1981), with a book by George Furth, is one of Sondheim's more "traditional" scores and was thought to hold potential to generate some hit songs (Frank Sinatra and Carly Simon each recorded a different song from the show). Sondheim's music director, Paul Gemignani, said, “Part of Steve’s ability is this extraordinary versatility.” ''Merrily'', however, was a 16-performance flop. "''Merrily'' did not succeed, but its score endures thanks to subsequent productions and recordings. According to Martin Gottfried, "Sondheim had set out to write traditional songs... But [despite] that there is nothing ordinary about the music." Sondheim and Furth have extensively revised the show since its initial opening.
In the late nineties, Sondheim reunited with Hal Prince for the musical comedy ''Wise Guys'', a project that took a long time to complete that follows brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner. Though a Broadway production starring Nathan Lane and Victor Garber and directed by Sam Mendes was announced for Spring 2000, the New York debut of the musical was delayed. Rechristened ''Bounce'' in 2003, the show was mounted at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. ''Bounce'' received disappointing reviews and never reached Broadway. A revised version of ''Bounce'' premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater under the new name ''Road Show'' from October 28, 2008 through December 28, 2008, under the direction of John Doyle.
''Assassins'' (1990) with music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by Weidman. The show opened off-Broadway at the Playwrights Horizons on December 18, 1990, and closed on February 16, 1991 after 73 performances. The idea came from when Sondheim was a panelist at producer Stuart Ostrow's Musical Theater Lab, and he read a script by playwright Charles Gilbert. Sondheim asked Gilbert for permission to use his idea. Gilbert consented and offered to write the book; but Sondheim declined, having already had collaborator John Weidman in mind.
Weidman would also write the book for ''Road Show'', with music and lyrics by Sondheim.
However, instead of quitting the theatre following the failure of ''Merrily'', Sondheim decided "that there are better places to start a show", and found a new collaborator in the "artsy" James Lapine. Lapine has a taste "for the avant-garde and for visually oriented theatre in particular." Their first collaboration was ''Sunday in the Park with George'' (1984), in which Sondheim's music evoked the pointillist painting technique of its subject, Georges Seurat. In 1985, he and Lapine won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for ''Sunday in the Park with George''. It is one of only nine musicals to receive this prestigious award. The show had its first revival on Broadway in 2008.
The Sondheim–Lapine collaboration also produced a musical reimagining classic fairy-tales, ''Into the Woods'' (1987), and the rhapsodic ''Passion'' (1994).
Lapine created a "multimedia revue", formerly titled ''Sondheim: a Musical Revue'', which had been scheduled to premiere in April 2009 at the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia. However, that production was canceled, due to "difficulties encountered by the commercial producers attached to the project...in raising the necessary funds". A revised version, ''Sondheim on Sondheim'', was produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company and premiered on Broadway at Studio 54 in a limited engagement from March 19, 2010 in previews, opening April 22 through June 13. The cast featured Barbara Cook, Vanessa L. Williams, Tom Wopat, Norm Lewis and Leslie Kritzer.
Sondheim had an additional "conversation with" Sean Patrick Flahaven (associate editor of ''The Sondheim Review'') at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on February 4, 2009, during which he spoke of many of his songs and shows. "On the perennial struggles of Broadway: 'I don’t see any solution for Broadway's problems except subsidized theatre, as in most civilized countries of the world.'"
On February 1, 2011, Sondheim sat down with The Salt Lake Tribune's former theatre critic Nancy Melich in front of an audience of 1200 at the Kingsbury Hall. Melich said of the night
He was visibly taken by the university choir, who sang two songs during the evening, 'Children Will Listen' and 'Sunday', and then returned to reprise 'Sunday'. During that final moment, Sondheim and I were standing, facing the choir of students from the University of Utah's opera program, our backs to the audience, and I could see tears welling in his eyes as the voices rang out. Then, all of a sudden, he raised his arms and began conducting, urging the student singers to go full out, which they did, the crescendo building, their eyes locked with his, until the final 'on an ordinary Sunday' was sung. It was thrilling, and a perfect conclusion to a remarkable evening—nothing ordinary about it.
An avid fan of games, in 1968 and 1969 Sondheim published a series of cryptic crossword puzzles in ''New York'' magazine. In 1987, ''Time'' referred to his love of puzzlemaking as "legendary in theater circles," adding that the central character in Anthony Shaffer's hit play ''Sleuth'' was inspired by Sondheim. (There was a rumor that ''Sleuth'' was given the working title ''Who's Afraid of Stephen Sondheim?'', but in a ''New York Times'' interview on March 10, 1996, Shaffer denied ever using the title.) Sondheim's love of puzzles and mysteries can also be seen in the intricate "whodunit" he co-wrote with longtime friend Anthony Perkins, ''The Last of Sheila''. This 1973 film, directed by Herbert Ross, starred Dyan Cannon, Raquel Welch, James Mason, James Coburn and Richard Benjamin.
He tried his hand at playwriting one more time - in 1996 he collaborated with ''Company'' librettist George Furth on a play called ''Getting Away with Murder''. It was not a success, and the Broadway production closed after 29 previews and 17 performances.
His compositional efforts have included a number of film scores, notably a set of songs written for Warren Beatty's 1990 film version of ''Dick Tracy''; one song, "Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)" (as performed by Madonna), won Sondheim an Academy Award.
Sondheim worked with William Goldman on ''Singing Out Loud'', a movie musical, in 1992. Sondheim stated that Goldman wrote one or two drafts of the script and Sondheim wrote six and a half songs, only to have director Rob Reiner lose interest in the project. The songs ''Dawn'' and ''Sand'' from the project were recorded for the albums ''Sondheim at the Movies'' and ''Unsung Sondheim''. Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein wrote ''The Race to Urga'', scheduled to play at the Lincoln Center in 1969, but when Jerome Robbins left the project, it went unproduced. Sondheim also wrote some new songs for a proposed ''Into the Woods'' film, including one entitled ''Rainbows'', which Sondheim said will be in his second book. (to be published in October 2011). The project never got further than a readthrough.
Sondheim, in 1991, was working with Terrence McNally on a musical entitled ''All Together Now''. McNally said, "Steve was interested in telling the story of a relationship from the present back to the moment when the couple first met. We worked together a while, but we were both involved with so many other projects that this one fell through". The script, with concept notes by McNally and Sondheim, is archived in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The story follows Arden Scott, a 30-something female sculptor and Daniel Nevin, a slightly younger, sexually charismatic restaurateur.
The follow-up book will be titled ''Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Wafflings, Diversions and Anecdotes'' and is to be published in October 2011. The book will begin with ''Sunday in the Park With George'', where ''Finishing the Hat'' stopped.
Sondheim's work is also featured in ''The Madwoman of Central Park West'', including the songs "Pretty Women" and "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid".
The Roundabout Theatre Company benefit ''Sondheim 80'' was held on March 22, 2010. The evening included a performance of ''Sondheim on Sondheim'', plus dinner and a show at the New York Sheraton. There was "a very personal star-studded musical tribute" with new songs by contemporary musical theatre writers. The composers, who sang their own songs, included Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Michael John LaChiusa, Andrew Lippa, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Lin-Manuel Miranda (accompanied by Rita Moreno), Duncan Sheik, and Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire. Bernadette Peters performed a song (unnamed) that was dropped from a Sondheim show.
The New York City Center birthday celebration and benefit concert on April 26, 2010 featured (in order of appearance): Michael Cerveris, Alexander Gemignani, Donna Murphy, Debra Monk, Joanna Gleason, Maria Friedman, Mark Jacoby, Len Cariou, B.D. Wong, Claybourne Elder, Alexander Hanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Raul Esparza, Sutton Foster, Nathan Lane, Michele Pawk, the original cast of Into the Woods; Kim Crosby, Chip Zien, Danielle Ferland, & Ben Wright, Angela Lansbury, and Jim Walton. This concert was directed by John Doyle and co-hosted by Mia Farrow. During the concert, greetings were read. These greetings were written by: Sheila Hancock, Julia McKenzie, Milton Babbitt, Judi Dench, and Glynis Johns. After Catherine Zeta-Jones performed "Send in the Clowns," a recorded greeting from Julie Andrews was played. During her greeting, she sang a little of "Not a Day Goes By." Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook, Bernadette Peters, Tom Aldredge and Victor Garber were originally scheduled to perform, but withdrew from the concert. One of the beneficiaries of the concert was Young Playwrights Inc.
On 31 July 2010, a BBC Proms concert was held to celebrate Sondheim's 80th Birthday at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It featured songs from many of his musicals, including a performance of "Send in the Clowns" from ''A Little Night Music'' by Dame Judi Dench (reprising her role as Desirée from the 1995 production of that musical), and performances from many other stars of opera, Broadway, stage and screen, including Bryn Terfel and Maria Friedman.
On November 19, 2010, The New York Pops performed at Carnegie Hall to celebrate Sondheim's 80th birthday, led by Steven Reineke. Kate Baldwin, Aaron Lazar, Christiane Noll, Paul Betz, Renee Rakelle, Marilyn Maye (singing "I’m Still Here"), and Alexander Gemignani were all on hand to sing songs including "I Remember", "Another Hundred People", "Children Will Listen", and "Getting Married Today". Sondheim made an on-stage appearance during the concert's encore of his song "Old Friends".
;Honors Sondheim has received the following honors:
;Awards He has won these awards:
;The Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts The Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts opened December 7–9, 2007, and is located at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center in Fairfield, Iowa. The Center opened with performances from seven Broadway performers, including Len Cariou, Liz Callaway, and Richard Kind, all of whom had taken part in the musicals of Sondheim. The center is the first one in the world named after him, with a Broadway theatre the second.
;The Stephen Sondheim Society In 1993 the Stephen Sondheim Society was set up to promote and provide information about the works of Stephen Sondheim. ''The Sondheim Review'' is a quarterly magazine devoted to Sondheim's work. The Society aims to create a greater interest and appreciation of them by means of circulating information and providing a focal point where those interested can share such interests. It issues news, provides education, maintains a database of information, organizes productions, meetings, outings, and other events, assists with publicity and promotion, publishes articles, and performs other tasks. ;The Stephen Sondheim Society's Student Performer of the Year Competition An annual event, the competition gives 12 young musical theatre students from top U.K. drama schools the opportunity to compete for a prize of £1,000. Per Sondheim's request, a prize is also offered for a new song by a young composer, judged by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Each contestant performs one Sondheim song and one new song. The 2010 event was judged by Maureen Lipman, Sally Ann Triplett and others who awarded Alex Young the winner. She sang ''Sunday in the Park with George'' and ''I Clean Up Around Here'' by Christopher Hamilton and Susannah Pearse. Second place went to Lewis Oatley, who sang ''Not While I'm Around'' and ''What Kind of Life Is This, Masha?'' by Conor Mitchell. The latter song won joint first place in the new song competition with Gwenyth Herbert's ''Lovely London Town''.
;Media Most of the episode titles from the television series ''Desperate Housewives'' reference his work in some way, through the use of either song titles or lyrics.
;Musical Theatre Development In 1990, Sondheim took the Cameron Mackintosh chair in musical theatre at Oxford, and in this capacity ran workshops with promising writers of musicals, such as George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Andrew Peggie, Paul James, Stephen Keeling and others. These writers jointly set up the Mercury Workshop in 1992, which eventually merged with the New Musicals Alliance to become MMD, a UK-based organisation developing new musical theatre, of which Sondheim continues to be patron.
;The Sondheim Award The Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia, established a new award, "The Sondheim Award", "as a tribute to America's most influential contemporary musical theatre composer." The first award was presented at a gala fund-raiser on April 27, 2009, with help from performers Bernadette Peters, Michael Cerveris, Will Gartshore and Eleasha Gamble. Sondheim himself was the first recipient of the award, which also includes a $5000 honorarium for the recipients' choice of a nonprofit organization. The 2010 honoree was Angela Lansbury, with Peters and Catherine Zeta-Jones as honorary hosts for the Gala Benefit held on April 12, 2010. The 2011 honoree was Bernadette Peters.
;The Stephen Sondheim Theatre A Broadway theatre at West 43rd Street in New York City, The Henry Miller's Theatre, was renamed The Stephen Sondheim Theatre on September 15, 2010, in honor of his 80th birthday. In attendance were Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, and John Weidman. Sondheim said of the naming, "I'm deeply embarrassed. Thrilled, but deeply embarrassed. I've always hated my last name. It just doesn't sing. I mean, it's not Belasco. And it's not Rodgers and it's not Simon. And it's not Wilson. It just doesn't sing. It sings better than Schoenfeld and Jacobs. But it just doesn't sing." Lane said of the day, "We love our corporate sponsors and we love their money, but there's something sacred about naming a theatre, and there's something about this that is right and just."
The new theatre's first shows were ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'' and the 2011 Broadway revival of Cole Porter's ''Anything Goes'' starring Tony Award-winner, Sutton Foster. The theatre is operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company.
Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American musical theatre lyricists Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Edgar Award winners Category:Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT composers Category:American Jews Category:LGBT Jews Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Category:New York Military Academy alumni Category:People from New York City Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Category:Puzzle designers Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:Williams College alumni Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music
ca:Stephen Sondheim cy:Stephen Sondheim de:Stephen Sondheim es:Stephen Sondheim fr:Stephen Sondheim it:Stephen Sondheim he:סטיבן סונדהיים la:Stephanus Sondheim nl:Stephen Sondheim ja:スティーヴン・ソンドハイム no:Stephen Sondheim pl:Stephen Sondheim pt:Stephen Sondheim simple:Steven Sondheim fi:Stephen Sondheim sv:Stephen Sondheim zh:史蒂芬·桑坦This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Sweeney Todd |
---|---|
creator | James Malcolm Rymer Thomas Peckett Prest |
portrayer | Tod Slaughter (1936 film) Len Cariou (original 1979 Broadway cast) Denis Quilley (1980 London cast) George Hearn (1982 tour) Bob Gunton (1989 Broadway revival) Alun Armstrong (1993 London revival) Ben Kingsley (1998 TV film) George Hearn (2001 concert) Brian Stokes Mitchell (2002 production) Paul Hegarty (2004 West End revival) Michael Cerveris (2005 Broadway revival) David Hess (2007-2008 Canada and U.S. national tour) Ray Winstone (2006 film) Johnny Depp (2007 film) Saulo Vasconcelos (2007 musical) Evan Daves (PPAS 2010 production) |
debut | Penny dreadful serial titled ''The String of Pearls'' (1846-1847) |
alias | The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd, (originally known as Benjamin Barker in some adaptations) |
gender | Male |
occupation | Barber/Serial killer |
spouse | None in original version. Lucy Barker (in musical version) |
child(ren) | None in original version. Johanna Barker (in musical version) |
sibling(s) | }} |
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful ''The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are strongly disputed by scholars, although there are possible legendary prototypes, arguably making the story of Sweeney Todd an early example of an urban legend.
In the original version of the tale, Todd is a barber who dispatches his victims by pulling a lever while they are in his barber chair, which makes them fall backward down a revolving trapdoor into the basement of his shop, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls. Just in case they are alive, he goes to the basement and "polishes them off" (slitting their throats with his straight razor). In some adaptations, the murdering process is reversed, with Todd slitting the throats of his customers before they are dispatched into the basement via the revolving trapdoor. After Todd has robbed his dead victims of their goods, Mrs. Lovett, his partner in crime (in some later versions, his friend and/or lover), assists him in disposing of the bodies by baking their flesh into meat pies, and selling them to the unsuspecting customers of her pie shop. Todd's barber shop is situated at 186 Fleet Street, London, next to St. Dunstan's church, and is connected to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop in nearby Bell Yard by means of an underground passage. In most versions of the story, he and Mrs. Lovett hire an unwitting orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, to serve the pies to customers.
The tale surrounding the character became a staple of Victorian melodrama. Later it was the subject of a 1959 ballet by English composer Sir Malcolm Arnold and, in 1979, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim. Sweeney Todd has also been featured in several films, the most recent being 2007's ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'', directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, based on the 1979 musical.
:Ladies and Gentlemen — I fear that what I am going to say will spoil your appetites; but the truth is beautiful at all times, and I have to state that Mrs Lovett's pies are made of human flesh!
Todd then poisons Mrs. Lovett before being apprehended and hanged. For her part, Johanna marries Mark and lives happily ever after.
The musical establishes that Todd was once Benjamin Barker, a middle class barber, married to Lucy Barker with whom he had an infant daughter, Johanna. The villainous Judge Turpin wanted Lucy for himself, and had Barker arrested on false charges and transported for life to Australia. The play begins 15 years later, when the barber has returned to London, seeking news of his wife and child. Mrs. Lovett, a widow, owns the spectacularly unsuccessful meat pie shop below Todd’s old barbershop. She recognizes her former neighbor, and tells Todd that Lucy poisoned herself after Turpin raped her, and that the man adopted baby Johanna as his ward. By the time Todd has returned to London, Johanna has become a young woman and fallen in love with a sailor, Anthony Hope, with whom she plans to elope.
In the Sondheim musical, Mrs. Lovett takes in an orphan boy, Tobias Ragg, called Toby, after Todd kills his previous master, Adolfo Pirelli, a former assistant of Todd's who tries to blackmail him by threatening to reveal the man's true identity. After Turpin narrowly escapes his grasp, Todd swears revenge upon the entire world, resolving to kill as many people as he can. Mrs. Lovett then suggests they turn his victims' remains into pies. Subsequently, Mrs. Lovett's pie shop becomes incredibly successful.
In the musical's climactic scene, Todd finally kills Judge Turpin, as well as a deranged beggar woman who turns out to be none other than Lucy, Todd's long-lost wife, who had been driven insane. When Mrs. Lovett confesses that she kept Lucy a secret because she loves him, he waltzes her around the room before throwing her into the bakehouse oven. As Todd grieves over his wife's body, Toby, gone mad after discovering the secret of the meat pies and Sweeney's murder of Mrs. Lovett, whom he loved like a mother, sneaks up behind him and slashes Todd's throat with the man's own razor. Todd dies with his wife's body in his arms. Anthony and Johanna, having accidentally witnessed Turpin's murder, return with two policemen, only to find the bakehouse floor littered with dead bodies. The only living soul is Toby, now a raving lunatic, his hair white from shock.
Another, lengthier, penny part serial was published by Lloyd from 1847/8, with 92 episodes and published in book form in 1850 as ''The String of Pearls'' with the subtitle "The Barber of Fleet Street. A Domestic Romance". This expanded version of the story was 732 pages long. A plagiarised version of this appeared in America c. 1852–53 as ''Sweeney Todd: or the Ruffian Barber. A Tale of Terror of the Seas and the Mysteries of the City'' by "Captain Merry" (a pseudonym for American author Harry Hazel (1814–89)).
In 1875, Frederick Hazleton's c. 1865 dramatic adaptation ''Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street: or the String of Pearls'' (see below) was published as Vol 102 of ''Lacy's Acting Edition of Plays''.
A scholarly, annotated edition of the original 1846–47 serial was published in volume form in 2007 by the Oxford University Press under the title of ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'', edited by Robert Mack.
Claims that Sweeney Todd was a real person were first made in the introduction to the 1850 (expanded) edition of ''The String of Pearls'' and have persisted to the present day. In two books, Peter Haining argued that Sweeney Todd was a historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800. Nevertheless, other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back Haining's claims. A check of the website Old Bailey at for "Associated Records 1674-1834" for an alleged trial in December 1801 and hanging of Sweeney Todd for January 1802 show no reference; the only murder trial for this period is that of a Governor/Lt Col. Joseph Wall who was hanged 28 January 1802 for killing a Benjamin Armstrong on 10 July 1782 on the isle of Gorée, West Africa, and the discharge of a Humphrey White in January 1802.
A late (1890s) reference to the urban legend of the murdering barber can be found in the poem by the Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson - ''The Man from Ironbark''.
Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli were to have created a Sweeney Todd adaptation for Taboo, published by Steve Bissette and Tundra, but only completed a prologue.
Category:Characters in Sweeney Todd Category:Fictional hairdressers Category:Fictional people from London Category:Fictional serial killers Category:Cannibalism in fiction Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1846 ca:Sweeney Todd de:Sweeney Todd es:Sweeney Todd fr:Sweeney Todd ko:스위니 토드 it:Sweeney Todd (personaggio) nl:Sweeney Todd ja:スウィーニー・トッド pl:Sweeney Todd (postać) ru:Суини Тодд sv:Sweeney Todd
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | The Lord Lloyd-Webber |
---|---|
birth name | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
birth date | March 22, 1948 |
birth place | Kensington, London, England |
nationality | British |
education | Westminster School |
alma mater | Magdalen College, OxfordRoyal College of Music |
occupation | |
years active | 1965–present |
spouse | (divorced)(divorced) |
notable works | |
awards | |
networth | £750 million (estimated). |
parents | |
relatives | Julian Lloyd Webber (Brother) |
children | |
website | AndrewLloydWebber.com }} |
Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre, and has been referred to as "the most commercially successful composer in history." Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006. Several of his songs, notably "The Music of the Night" from ''The Phantom of the Opera'', "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "You Must Love Me" from ''Evita'', "Any Dream Will Do" from ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' and "Memory" from ''Cats'' have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals.
His company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, of the Lloyd Webber musicals under licence from the Really Useful Group.
Lloyd Webber started writing his own music at a young age, a suite of six pieces at the age of nine. He also put on "productions" with Julian and his Aunt Viola in his toy theatre (which he built at the suggestion of Viola, of whom he was fond). Later, he would be the owner of a number of West End theatres, including the Palace. His aunt Viola, an actress, took him to see many of her shows and through the stage door into the world of the theatre. He also claims that he had originally set music to Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats at the age of fifteen.
Lloyd Webber was a Queen's Scholar at Westminster School and studied history for a time at Magdalen College, Oxford, although he abandoned the course to study at the Royal College of Music and pursue his interest in musical theatre.
Around this time, Rice and Lloyd Webber wrote a number of individual pop songs that were recorded as singles for record labels. Wes Sands, Ross Hannaman, Paul Raven, and Gary Bond are among the many artists to have recorded early Lloyd Webber/Rice tunes. A selection of these early recordings were re-released on the 5-CD compilation, ''Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now and Forever'' (2003).
In 1968, Rice and Lloyd Webber were commissioned to write a piece for the Colet Court preparatory school which resulted in ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', a retelling of the biblical story of Joseph in which Lloyd Webber and Rice humorously pastiche a number of musical styles such as Elvis-style rock'n'roll, Calypso and country music. ''Joseph'' began life as a short cantata that gained some recognition on its second staging with a favourable review in ''The Times''. For its subsequent performances, Rice and Lloyd Webber revised the show and added new songs to expand it to a more substantial length. This culminated in a two-hour long production being staged in the West End on the back of the success of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''.
In 1969 Rice and Lloyd Webber wrote a song for the Eurovision Song Contest called "Try It and See", which was not selected. The Demo version, sung by Rita Pavone (sounding remarkably like Lulu, for whom the song was written) is available on, 'Now and Forever' – The 5 CD box set. With rewritten lyrics it became "King Herod's Song" in their third musical, ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' (1970).
The planned follow up to ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' was a musical comedy based on the Jeeves and Wooster novels by P. G. Wodehouse. Tim Rice was uncertain about this venture, partly because of his concern that he might not be able to do justice to the novels that he and Lloyd Webber so admired. After doing some initial work on the lyrics, he pulled out of the project and Lloyd Webber subsequently wrote the musical with Alan Ayckbourn who provided the book and lyrics. ''Jeeves'' failed to make any impact at the box office and closed after a short run of only three weeks. Many years later, Lloyd Webber and Ayckbourn revisited this project, producing a thoroughly reworked and more successful version entitled ''By Jeeves'' (1996). Only two of the songs from the original production remained ("Half a Moment" and "Banjo Boy").
Patti LuPone created the role of Eva on Broadway for which she won a Tony. ''Evita'' was a highly successful show that ran for ten years in the West End. It transferred to Broadway in 1979. Rice and Lloyd Webber parted ways soon after ''Evita''.
In 1978, Lloyd Webber embarked on a solo project, the "Variations", with his cellist brother Julian based on the 24th Caprice by Paganini, which reached number two in the pop album chart in the United Kingdom. The main theme was used as the theme tune for ITV1's long-running ''South Bank Show'' throughout its 32-year run.
''Starlight Express'' (1984) was a commercial hit but received negative reviews from the critics. It enjoyed a record run in the West End, but ran for less than two years on Broadway. The show has also seen two tours of the US, as well as an Australian/Japanese production, a three-year UK touring production, which transferred to New Zealand later in 2009. The show also runs full-time in a custom-built theatre in Bochum, Germany, where it has been running since 1988.
Lloyd Webber wrote a Requiem Mass dedicated to his father, William, who had died in 1982. It premiered at St. Thomas Church in New York on 24 February 1985. Church music had been a part of the composer's upbringing and the composition was inspired by an article he had read about the plight of Cambodian orphans. Lloyd Webber had on a number of occasions written sacred music for the annual Sydmonton Festival. Lloyd Webber received a Grammy Award in 1986 for ''Requiem'' in the category of best classical composition. ''Pie Jesu'' from Requiem achieved a high placing on the UK pop charts.
''Cricket'' (1986), also called ''Cricket (Hearts and Wickets)'', reunited Lloyd Webber with Tim Rice to create this short musical for Queen Elizabeth's 60th birthday, first performed at Windsor Castle. Several of the tunes were later used for ''Aspects of Love'' and ''Sunset Boulevard''.
Lloyd Webber also premiered ''The Phantom of the Opera'' in 1986, inspired by the 1911 Gaston Leroux novel. He wrote the part of Christine for his then-wife, Sarah Brightman, who played the role in the original London and Broadway productions alongside Michael Crawford as the Phantom. The production was directed by Harold Prince, who had also earlier directed ''Evita.'' Charles Hart wrote the lyrics for ''Phantom'' with some additional material provided by Richard Stilgoe, with whom Lloyd-Webber co-wrote the book of the musical. It became a hit and is still running in both the West End and on Broadway; in January 2006 it overtook ''Cats'' as the longest-running musical on Broadway.
''Aspects of Love'' followed in 1989, a musical based on the story by David Garnett. The lyrics were by Don Black and Charles Hart and the original production was directed by Trevor Nunn. ''Aspects'' had a run of four years in London but closed after less than a year on Broadway. It has since gone on a tour of the UK, and is beginning to enjoy more acclaim than its original production.
Lloyd Webber had toyed with the idea of writing a musical based on Billy Wilder's critically acclaimed movie, ''Sunset Boulevard'', since the early 1970s when he saw the film, but the project didn't come to fruition until after the completion of ''Aspects of Love'' when the composer finally managed to secure the rights from Paramount Pictures The composer worked with two collaborators, as he had done on ''Aspects of Love''; this time Christopher Hampton and Don Black shared equal credit for the book and lyrics. The show opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 12 July 1993, and ran for 1,529 performances. In spite of the show's popularity and extensive run in London's West End, it lost money due to the sheer expense of the production.
In 1994, ''Sunset Boulevard'' became a successful Broadway show, opening with the largest advance in Broadway history, and winning seven Tony Awards that year. Even so, by its closing in 1997, "it had not recouped its reported $13 million investment."
In 1998, Lloyd Webber released a film version of Cats, which was filmed at the Adelphi Theatre in London. David Mallet directed the film, and Gillian Lynne choreographed the film. The cast consisted of performers who had been in the show before, including Ken Page (Original Old Deuteronomy on Broadway) as Old Deuteronomy, Elaine Paige (Original Grizabella in London) and Sir John Mills as Gus: the Theatre Cat.
In 1998 ''Whistle Down the Wind'' made its debut, a musical written with lyrics supplied by rock legend Jim Steinman. Originally opening in Washington, Lloyd Webber was reportedly not happy with the casting or Harold Prince's production and the show was subsequently revised for a London staging directed by Gale Edwards, the production is probably most notable for the Number One hit from Boyzone "No Matter What" which only left the UK charts when the price of the CD single was changed to drop it out of the official top ten. His ''The Beautiful Game'' opened in London and has never been seen on Broadway. The show had a respectable run at The Cambridge Theatre in London. The show has been re-worked into a new musical ''The Boys in the Photograph'' which had its world première at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in April 2008.
Lloyd Webber produced a staging of ''The Sound of Music'', which débuted November 2006. He made the controversial decision to choose an unknown to play leading lady Maria, who was found through the reality television show ''How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'', in which he was a judge. The winner of the show was Connie Fisher.
It was announced on 25 August 2006, on his personal website that his next project would be ''The Master and Margarita'' (Lloyd Webber has stated that the project will most likely be an opera rather than a musical), however it was announced in late March 2007 that he had abandoned the project (http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2007/03/27/andrew_lloyd_webber_abandons_the_master_).
In September 2006, Lloyd Webber was named to be a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors with Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton, Steven Spielberg, and Smokey Robinson. He was recognised for his outstanding contribution to American performing arts. He attended the ceremony on 3 December 2006; it aired on 26 December 2006. On 11 February 2007, Lloyd Webber was featured as a guest judge on the reality television show ''Grease: You're the One that I Want!'' The contestants all sang "The Phantom of the Opera".
Between April and June 2007, he appeared in BBC One's ''Any Dream Will Do!'', which followed the same format as ''How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?''. Its aim was to find a new Joseph for his revival of ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat''. Lee Mead won the contest after quitting his part in the ensemble – and as understudy in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' to compete for the role. Viewers' telephone voting during the series raised more than £500,000 for the BBC's annual ''Children in Need'' charity appeal, according to host Graham Norton on air during the final. On 1 July 2007, Lloyd Webber presented excerpts from his musicals as part of the Concert for Diana organised to celebrate the life of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The BBC Radio 2 broadcast a concert of music from the Lloyd-Webber musicals on 24 August 2007. Denise Van Outen introduced songs from ''Whistle Down the Wind'', ''The Beautiful Game'', ''Tell Me on a Sunday'', ''The Woman in White'', ''Evita'' and ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' – as well as Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''The Sound of Music'', which Webber revived in 2006 at the London Palladium and 2002's Lloyd Webber-produced ''Bollywood''-style musical ''Bombay Dreams'' by A. R. Rahman and Don Black.
In April 2008, Lloyd Webber reprised his role as judge, this time in the BBC musical talent show, I'd Do Anything. The show followed a similar format to its 'Maria' and 'Joseph' predecessors, this time involving a search for an actress to play the role of Nancy in an upcoming West End production of the Lionel Bart musical ''Oliver!'' The show also featured a search for three young actors to play and share the title character's role, the show's main focus was on the search for Nancy. The role was won by Jodie Prenger despite Lloyd Webber's stated preference for one of the other contestants; the winners of the Oliver role were Harry Stott, Gwion Wyn-Jones and Laurence Jeffcoate. Also in April 2008 he was featured on the U.S. talent show American Idol, acting as a mentor when the 6 finalists had to select one of Lloyd Webber's songs to perform for the judges that week. Lloyd Webber accepted the challenge of managing the UK's entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Moscow. In early 2009 a series, called ''Eurovision: Your Country Needs You'', was broadcast to find a performer for a song that he would compose for the competition. Jade Ewen won the right to represent Britain, winning with It's My Time, by Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren. At the contest, Lloyd Webber accompanied her on the piano during the performance. Great Britain finished 5th in the contest.
On 8 October 2009, Lloyd Webber launched the musical ''Love Never Dies'' at a press conference held at Her Majesty's Theatre, where the original ''Phantom'' has been running since 1986. Also present were Sierra Boggess, who has been cast as Christine Daaé, and Ramin Karimloo, who portated Phantom, a role he most recently played in the West End.
On 26 February 2010, he appeared on BBC's ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' to promote ''Love Never Dies''.
On 7 March 2011, ''The Wizard of Oz'' opened at The Palladium Theatre, starring Danielle Hope as Dorothy and Michael Crawford as the Wizard.
"...brings a new dramatic tension to Mendelssohn's original melody through the confused emotions of Mary Magdalene. The opening theme may be Mendelssohn, but the rhythmic and harmonic treatment along with new lines of highly effective melodic development are Lloyd Webber's. The song works in its own right as its many performers and audiences can witness."
In interviews promoting ''Amused to Death'', Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd, claimed that Lloyd Webber had plagiarised short chromatic riffs from the 1971 song "Echoes" for sections of ''The Phantom of the Opera'', released in 1986; nevertheless, he decided not to file a lawsuit regarding the matter. The songwriter Ray Repp made a similar claim about the same song, but insisted that Lloyd Webber stole the idea from him. Unlike Roger Waters, Ray Repp did decide to file a lawsuit, but the court eventually ruled in Lloyd Webber's favour. Rick Wakeman, on his Grumpy Old Rockstar tour of 2008, accused Lloyd Webber of borrowing the main riff for the Phantom of the Opera tune from a section of his 1977 work "Judas Iscariot" from Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record album.
Lloyd Webber has also been accused of plagiarising Puccini, most notably in ''Requiem'' and ''The Phantom of the Opera''. In the Program Guide for the San Francisco Opera's performance (2009–2010 season) of Puccini's ''Girl of the Golden West'', on page 42, it states:
:"The climactic phrase in Dick Johnson'a aria, "Quello che taceta," bears a strong resemblance to a similar phrase in the Phantom's song, "Music of the Night," in Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical ''The Phantom of the Opera''. Following the musical's success, the Puccini estate filed suit against Lloyd Webber accusing him of plagiarism and the suit was settled out of court."
A curious and likely unintentional coincidence of melodic progression (though with very different rhythm and tempo) exists among the main tune of the song "There's Me" from ''Starlight Express'', and a central phrase of the opening theme of the cartoon ''Around the World with Willy Fog''.
Lloyd Webber has also been accused of plagiarism by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, who described him as "yet to think up a single note; in fact, the poor guy's never invented one note by himself."
He then married singer/dancer Sarah Brightman on 22 March 1984 in Hampshire. He cast Brightman in the lead role in his musical ''The Phantom of the Opera''. This marriage did not produce any children, and they divorced on 3 January 1990.
Thirdly, he married Madeleine Gurdon in Westminster on 9 February 1991. They have three children, two sons and one daughter, all of whom were born in Westminster:
The Sunday Times Rich List 2006 ranked him the 87th-richest man in Britain with an estimated fortune of £700 million. His wealth increased to £750 million in 2007, but the publication ranked him 101st in 2008. He lives at Sydmonton Court, near Kingsclere in Hampshire, and also owns much of Watership Down. Lloyd Webber is an art collector, with a passion for Victorian art. An exhibition of works from his collection was presented at the Royal Academy in 2003 under the title ''Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters – The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection''. He is also a devoted supporter of Leyton Orient Football Club.
Politically, Lloyd Webber has supported the UK's Conservative Party, allowing his song "Take That Look Off Your Face" to be used on a party promotional film seen by an estimated 1 million people in 80 cinemas before the 2005 UK General Election to accompany pictures of Prime Minister Tony Blair allegedly "smirking", the party said. In 2009, he publicly criticised the Labour government's introduction of a new 50 per cent rate of income tax on Britain's top earners, claiming it would damage the country by encouraging talented people to leave.
In late 2009 Lloyd Webber had surgery for early-stage prostate cancer, but had to be readmitted to hospital with post-operative infection in November. In January 2010, he declared he was cancer-free.
As of March 2010, Lloyd Webber decided to sell Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto by Pablo Picasso art to benefit the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. In 2006, he withdrew the painting from auction after a claim that the previous owner was forced to sell it under duress in Nazi Germany. An out-of-court settlement was reached, where the foundation retained ownership rights. On 23 June 2010, the painting was sold at auction for £34.7 million to an anonymous telephone bidder.
In 1997, Elizabeth II created him a life peer as Baron Lloyd-Webber, of Sydmonton in the County of Hampshire. He sits as a Conservative member of the House of Lords.
One nomination for Best Original Song: "Learn to Be Lonely" from the 2004 motion picture ''The Phantom of the Opera'' .
Lloyd Webber produced ''Bombay Dreams'' with Indian composer A. R. Rahman in 2002.
Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:British racehorse owners and breeders Category:Cancer survivors Lloyd-Webber Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English art collectors Category:English Christians Category:English composers Category:English television personalities Category:British businesspeople Category:British billionaires Category:English musical theatre composers Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:English theatre managers and producers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Old Westminsters Category:Olivier Award winners Category:People from Hampshire Category:Reality television judges Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Tony Award winners Category:Cats (musical)
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name | Bernadette Peters |
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birth name | Bernadette Lazzara |
birth date | February 28, 1948 |
birth place | Ozone Park, Queens, New York, United States |
spouse | Michael Wittenberg (1996-2005) (his death) |
occupation | Actress, singer, author, comedienne |
years active | 1958–present |
website | }} |
Peters first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenage actor in the 1960s, and in film and television in the 1970s. She was praised for this early work and for appearances on ''The Muppet Show'', ''The Carol Burnett Show'' and in other television work, and for her roles in films like ''Silent Movie'', ''The Jerk'', ''Pennies from Heaven'' and ''Annie''. In the 1980s, she returned to the theatre, where she became one of the best-known Broadway stars over the next three decades. She also has recorded six solo albums and several singles, as well as many cast albums, and performs regularly in her own solo concert act. Peters also continues to act in films and on television, where she has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, winning once.
Peters is particularly noted for her starring roles in stage musicals, including ''Sunday in the Park with George'', ''Into the Woods'', ''Song and Dance'', ''Annie Get Your Gun'', ''Gypsy'', ''A Little Night Music'' and ''Follies'', becoming closely associated with composer Stephen Sondheim. She had a four-year romantic relationship with comedian Steve Martin and was married to investment adviser Michael Wittenberg for over nine years until he was killed in a helicopter crash on September 26, 2005. Peters is known for her charitable work, including as a founder of the Broadway Barks animal charity.
In January 1958, at age nine, she obtained her Actors Equity Card in the name of Bernadette Peters to avoid ethnic stereotyping, with the stage name taken from her father's first name. She made her professional stage debut the same month in ''This is Goggle'', a comedy directed by Otto Preminger that closed during out-of-town tryouts before reaching New York. She then appeared on NBC television as Anna Stieman in ''A Boy Called Ciske'', a Kraft Mystery Theatre production, in May 1958, and in a vignette entitled "Miracle in the Orphanage", part of "The Christmas Tree", a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, in December 1958 with fellow child actor Richard Thomas and veteran actors Jessica Tandy and Margaret Hamilton. She first appeared on the New York stage at age 10 as Tessie in the New York City Center revival of ''The Most Happy Fella'' (1959). In her teen years, she attended the Quintano's School for Young Professionals, a now defunct private school that several famous people, such as Steven Tyler, attended.
At age 13, Peters appeared as one of the "Hollywood Blondes" and was an understudy for "Dainty June" in the second national tour of ''Gypsy''. During this tour, Peters first met her long-time accompanist, conductor and arranger Marvin Laird, who was the assistant conductor for the tour. Laird recalled, "I heard her sing an odd phrase or two and thought, 'God that's a big voice out of that little girl,'" The next summer, she played Dainty June in summer stock, and in 1962 she recorded her first single. In 1964, she played Leisl in ''The Sound of Music'' and Jenny in ''Riverwind'' in summer stock at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse (Pennsylvania), and ''Riverwind'' again at the Bucks County Playhouse in 1966. Upon graduation from high school, she started working steadily, appearing Off-Broadway in the musicals ''The Penny Friend'' (1966) and ''Curley McDimple'' (1967) and as a standby on Broadway in ''The Girl in the Freudian Slip'' (1967). She made her Broadway debut in ''Johnny No-Trump'' in 1967, and next appeared as George M. Cohan's sister opposite Joel Grey in ''George M!'' (1968), winning the Theatre World Award.
It was Peters' performance as "Ruby" in the 1968 Off-Broadway production of ''Dames at Sea'', a parody of 1930s musicals, that brought her critical acclaim and her first Drama Desk Award. She had appeared in an earlier 1966 version of ''Dames at Sea'' at the Off-Off-Broadway performance club Caffe Cino. Peters had starring roles in her next Broadway vehicles—Gelsomina in ''La Strada'' (1969) and Hildy in ''On the Town'' (1971), for which she received her first Tony Award nomination. She played Mabel Normand in ''Mack and Mabel'' (1974), receiving another Tony nomination. Clive Barnes wrote: "With the splashy ''Mack & Mabel'' ... diminutive and contralto Bernadette Peters found herself as a major Broadway star." Although these had short runs, Peters was singled out for praise by the critics, and the ''Mack and Mabel'' cast album became popular among musical theatre fans. She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to concentrate on television and film work.
Peters starred opposite Steve Martin in ''The Jerk'' (1979), in a role that he wrote for her, and ''Pennies From Heaven'' (1981), for which she won the Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy or Musical. In ''Pennies from Heaven'', she played Eileen Everson, a schoolteacher turned prostitute. Of her performance in ''Pennies From Heaven'', John DiLeo wrote that she "is not only poignant as you'd expect but has a surprising inner strength." Pauline Kael wrote in ''The New Yorker'': "Peters is mysteriously right in every nuance." Kael further noted that "The dance numbers are funny, amazing, and beautiful all at once; several of them are just about perfection." A review of the DVD reissue noted, "Peters brought a cocky attitude and a sexy exuberance to the musical numbers."
Peters and Martin had begun a romantic relationship in 1977 that lasted approximately four years. By 1981, her popularity had led to Peters appearing on the cover and in a spread in the December 1981 issue of ''Playboy Magazine'', in which she posed in lingerie designed by Bob Mackie.
Peters appeared with three generations of the Kirk Douglas family in the 2003 film ''It Runs in the Family'', in which she played the wife of Michael Douglas's character. In May 2006, she appeared in the movie ''Come le formiche'' (''Wine and Kisses'') with F. Murray Abraham, filmed in Italy, playing a rich American who becomes involved with an Italian family that owns a vineyard. The DVD was released in 2007 in Italy. She starred in a film titled ''Coming Up Roses'', playing a former musical-comedy actress with two daughters. The movie, produced by Bullet Pictures, Inc. and directed by Lisa Albright was filmed in March 2010.
She then created the role of the Witch in Sondheim-Lapine's ''Into the Woods'' (1987). Peters is "considered by many to be the premier interpreter of [Sondheim's] work," according to writer Alex Witchel. Raymond Knapp wrote that Peters "achieved her definitive stardom" in ''Sunday in the Park With George'' and ''Into the Woods''. Sondheim has said of Peters, "Like very few others, she sings and acts at the same time," he says. "Most performers act and then sing, act and then sing ... Bernadette is flawless as far as I'm concerned. I can't think of anything negative." Peters continued her association with Sondheim with a 1995 benefit concert of ''Anyone Can Whistle''. Additionally, she appeared in several concerts featuring Sondheim's work, and performed for him at his 1993 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.
She next starred in the musical adaptation of Neil Simon's ''The Goodbye Girl'' with music by Marvin Hamlisch (1993). Peters won her second Tony for her performance as Annie Oakley in the 1999 revival of ''Annie Get Your Gun'' opposite Tom Wopat. Among many glowing notices for this role, critic Lloyd Rose of the ''Washington Post'' commented: "[Peters] banishes all thoughts of Ethel Merman about two bars into her first number, 'Doin' What Comes Natur'lly.' Partly this is because Merman's Annie was a hearty, boisterous gal, while Peters plays an adorable, slightly goofy gamine... For anyone who cares about the American musical theater, the chance to see Peters in this role is reason enough to see the show." ''Playbill'' went even further: "Arguably the most talented comedienne in the musical theatre today, Peters manages to extract a laugh from most every line she delivers."
In 2003, Peters took on the role of Mama Rose in the Broadway revival of ''Gypsy'', earning another Tony nomination. Ben Brantley in his ''New York Times'' review wrote, "Working against type and expectation under the direction of Sam Mendes, Ms. Peters has created the most complex and compelling portrait of her long career, and she has done this in ways that deviate radically from the Merman blueprint." Arthur Laurents said: "But in 2003 there was a new Rose on Broadway: Bernadette Peters! Brilliant, original, totally unlike any of the others." In February 2006, she participated in a reading of the Sondheim-Weidman musical ''Bounce''. On September 24, 2007, Peters participated in a one-time only charity reading of the play ''Love Letters'' with her former ''Gypsy'' co-star, John Dossett.
After an absence from the Broadway stage of six years (''Gypsy'' closed in 2004), she starred in the Broadway revival of Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music'', as Desiree Armfeldt from July 13, 2010 to January 9, 2011. She replaced Catherine Zeta-Jones in the role. ''The New York Times'' reviewer wrote of her performance, "for theater lovers there can be no greater current pleasure than to witness Bernadette Peters perform the show’s signature number, "Send In the Clowns," with an emotional transparency and musical delicacy that turns this celebrated song into an occasion of transporting artistry. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced with such palpable force – or such prominent goose bumps – the sense of being present at an indelible moment in the history of musical theater."
Peters appeared in the role of Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production of the Sondheim musical, ''Follies'' in May and June 2011. Of her performance, one critic wrote: "Peters may not be the most traditional casting for Sally, now an ultraneurotic housewife in Phoenix, but she exquisitely captures the character's unfathomable sadness and longing. It's a star turn, for sure, but one that brings attention to itself because of its truthfulness. Not surprisingly, her rendition of 'Losing My Mind' is simply shattering." She is reprising her role of Sally in the Broadway limited engagement of ''Follies'', which starts in previews on August 7, 2011 at the Marquis Theatre.
She has appeared in many variety shows with stars such as Sonny and Cher and George Burns. She has both performed and presented on the Academy Awards broadcasts in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1987 and 1994. Peters has been a presenter at the annual Tony Awards ceremony and co-hosted the ceremony with Gregory Hines in June 2002. She also hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' in November 1981. She made 12 guest appearances on ''The Carol Burnett Show'' as well as appearing with Burnett in the made-for-television version of ''Once Upon a Mattress'' and the 1982 film ''Annie''. She also performed at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony for Burnett in 2003. Peters often appeared on the ''Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' and on the day-time talk show ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', both as a co-host and a guest. Peters voiced Rita the stray cat in the "Rita and Runt" segments of the animated series ''Animaniacs''. Peters, as Rita, sang both original songs written for the show and parodies of Broadway musical numbers. She appeared on ''Inside the Actor's Studio'' in November 2000, discussing her career and craft.
Peters has co-starred in a number of television movies, including ''The Last Best Year'' (1990) with Mary Tyler Moore, ''Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella'' (1997) with Brandy (receiving a nomination for the "Golden Satellite Award" for her role), and ''Prince Charming'' (2003) with Martin Short. She co-starred in her own television series, ''All's Fair'', with Richard Crenna in 1976–77, for which Peters was nominated for a Golden Globe award as Best TV Actress — Musical/Comedy. In March 2005, she made a pilot for an ABC situation comedy series titled ''Adopted'', co-starring with Christine Baranski, but it was not picked up. Peters appeared in the Lifetime television movie ''Living Proof'', which was first broadcast on October 18, 2008. She played the role of Barbara, an art teacher with breast cancer, who is initially reluctant to participate in the study for the cancer drug Herceptin. Andrew Gans of ''Playbill'' wrote, "Peters is able to choose from an expansive emotional palette to color the character, and her performance... is moving, humorous and ultimately spirit-raising".
Peters' television work in recent years also includes guest appearances on several television series. She appeared as the sharp-tongued sister of Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) on the penultimate episode of the NBC series ''Will & Grace'', "Whatever Happened to Baby Gin?" (May 2006); as a defense attorney on the NBC series, ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (November 2006); as a judge on the ABC series ''Boston Legal'' (May 2007); and as an accident victim in ''Grey's Anatomy'' (September 2008). Of her role in ''Grey's Anatomy'', ''TV Guide'' wrote: "Peters is especially fine as she confronts a life spinning out of control. I'd make her an early contender for a guest-actor Emmy nomination." In January, February and May 2009, she appeared in the ABC series ''Ugly Betty'' in five episodes as Jodie Papadakis, a magazine mogul running the YETI (Young Editors Training Initiative) program that Betty and Marc are in.
Peters' appearance at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June 2009 was filmed and broadcast in Australia later that month.
Peters' debut album in 1980 (an LP), entitled ''Bernadette Peters'' contained 10 songs, including "If You Were The Only Boy", "Gee Whiz", "Heartquake", "Should've Never Let Him Go", "Chico's Girl", "Pearl's a Singer", "Other Lady", "Only Wounded", "I Never Thought I'd Break" and "You'll Never Know". The original cover painting by Alberto Vargas, pictured at left, was one of his last works, created at the age of 84. According to ''The New York Daily News'', Peters "persuaded him to do one last 'Vargas Girls' portrait... She just went to his California retreat, asked him to do one more, he looked at her and said, 'You ARE a Vargas girl!'" She kept the original painting. The original title planned for the album was ''Decades''. ''Rolling Stone'' wrote of her debut album:
Her next solo album, ''Now Playing'' (1981), featured songs by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Carole Bayer Sager and Marvin Hamlisch, and Stephen Sondheim (for example, "Broadway Baby"). ''Bernadette Peters'' was re-released on CD in 1992 as ''Bernadette'', with the 1980 Vargas cover art, and included some of the songs from ''Now Playing''. In 1996, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for her best-selling album, ''I'll Be Your Baby Tonight'', which includes popular songs by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Lyle Lovett, Hank Williams, Sam Cooke, and Billy Joel, as well as Broadway classics by Leonard Bernstein and Rodgers and Hammerstein. The live recording of her 1996 Carnegie Hall concert, ''Sondheim, Etc. - Bernadette Peters Live At Carnegie Hall'', also was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Peters' next studio album, in 2002, ''Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein'', consisted entirely of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, including two that she often sings in her concerts, "Some Enchanted Evening" and "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame". This album, which reached position 14 in the "Top Internet Charts", was her third album in a row nominated for a Grammy Award. It formed the basis of her Radio City Music Hall solo concert debut in June 2002. Her last solo album, titled ''Sondheim Etc., Etc. Live At Carnegie Hall: The Rest of It'', was released in 2005. It consists of all of the songs (and patter) from her 1996 Carnegie Hall concert that were not included in the earlier recording.
Additionally, Peters has recorded songs on other albums, such as "Dublin Lady" on John Whelan's ''Flirting with the Edge'' (Narada, 1998). On the Mandy Patinkin ''Dress Casual'' 1990 album, Patinkin and Peters recorded the songs from Stephen Sondheim's 1966 television play, ''Evening Primrose''. On the tribute album ''Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins'' Peters sings "Trust Your Heart".
In a review of her 2002 Radio City Music Hall concert, Stephen Holden of ''The New York Times'' described Peters as "the peaches-and-cream embodiment of an ageless storybook princess... inside a giant soap bubble floating toward heaven. A belief in the power of the dreams behind Rodgers and Hammerstein's songs, if not in their reality, was possible." Peters made her solo concert debut at Lincoln Center in New York City on May 1, 2006. Holden, reviewing this concert, noted, "Even while swiveling across the stage of Avery Fisher Hall like a voluptuous Botticelli Venus in Bob Mackie spangles... she radiated a preternatural innocence.... For the eternal child in all of us, she evokes a surrogate childhood playmate". In June 2009, Peters was the headliner at the 2009 Adelaide Cabaret Festival in Adelaide, Australia. The ''Sunday Mail'' felt that Peters showed "the verve, vigour and voice of someone half her age."
Peters' concert performances often benefit arts organizations or help them to mark special occasions, such as her performance on an overnight cruise on the Seabourn Odyssey in a benefit for the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami in November 2009. She was one of the performers to help celebrate the Center's grand opening, in October 2006. She headlined The Alliance of The Arts Black Tie Anniversary Gala at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, California, on November 21, 2009. She had helped to celebrate the opening of the Arts Plaza with concerts fifteen years earlier.
Her second children's book is the story of a pit bull, Stella, named after Peters' pit bull. The character would rather be a pig ballerina, but she learns to accept herself. Titled ''Stella is a Star'', the book includes a CD with an original song written and performed by Peters and was released in April 2010 by Blue Apple Books. According to ''Publisher's Weekly'', "Turning the pages to Peters' spirited narration, which is provided in an accompanying CD, makes for a more rewarding reading experience. The story and disc end with a sneakily affecting self-esteem anthem, which, like the familiar tale itself, is buoyed by the author's lovely vocals." Peters introduced the book at a reading and signing where she also sang part of the song, at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles, California, on April 24, 2010.
Peters sings four songs on the CD accompanying the 2005 children's picture book ''Dewey Doo-it Helps Owlie Fly Again'', the proceeds of which benefit the Christopher Reeve Foundation. Her co-star from ''Sunday in the Park With George'', Mandy Patinkin, also sings on the CD.
;Other Peters serves on the Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and participates in the organization's events, such as the annual Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction, and the "Gypsy of the Year" competition. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Standing Tall, a non-profit educational program offering an innovative program for children with multiple disabilities, based in New York City. Her late husband was the Director and Treasurer of Standing Tall. Peters' 1995 ''Anyone Can Whistle'' concert and her "Carnegie Hall" 1996 concert were benefits for the Gay Men's Health Crisis. She also has supported the Christopher Reeve Foundation.
In 2007, Peters helped the Broadway community celebrate the end of the stagehand strike in a "Broadway's Back" concert at the Marquis Theatre. In 2008, she was one of the participants in a fund-raiser for the Westport Country Playhouse, and in the opening ceremony and dedication of the renovated TKTS discount ticket booth in Times Square. That year, she also presented Mayor Michael Bloomberg with the Humanitarian Award at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation awards. On March 8, 2009, she helped celebrate the last birthday of Senator Ted Kennedy (singing "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame") in a private concert and ceremony held at the Kennedy Center, hosted by Bill Cosby, with many Senators, Representatives, and President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance. On November 19, 2009, she helped to celebrate the opening of The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center.
On February 8, 2010, Peters was one of the many to honor Angela Lansbury at the annual Drama League of New York benefit, singing "Not While I'm Around". In March 2010, Peters helped Stephen Sondheim celebrate his 80th birthday in the Roundabout Theatre Company "Sondheim 80" benefit. She was one of the Honorary Chairs. She had been part of the Roundabout Theatre's Sondheim gala for his 75th birthday.
Peters has two dogs, a mixed-breed dog named Kramer and an American pit bull terrier named Stella, both adopted from shelters. Peters' goddaughter Isabelle and Kramer were the inspirations for the characters in her first children's book, ''Broadway Barks'', and Stella inspired the title character of her second children's book, ''Stella is a Star''.
;Other notable concerts
;Cast recordings
;Other recordings ''Dress Casual'' – ''Evening Primrose'' suite with Mandy Patinkin – CBS Records (1990)
Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Actors from New York City Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:People from New York City Category:People from Queens Category:Tony Award winners Category:1948 births Category:Living people
ar:بيرناديت بيترس de:Bernadette Peters es:Bernadette Peters fr:Bernadette Peters it:Bernadette Peters nl:Bernadette Peters ja:バーナデット・ピーターズ pl:Bernadette Peters pt:Bernadette Peters ru:Питерс, Бернадетт simple:Bernadette Peters sr:Бернадет Питерс fi:Bernadette Peters sv:Bernadette Peters tl:Bernadette PetersThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Jan Maxwell |
---|---|
birth place | Fargo, North Dakota, U.S. |
occupation | Actress |
yearsactive | 1989–present |
awards | }} |
Jan Maxwell (born November 20, 1956) is an American stage and television actress. She is a four-time Tony Award nominee.
She appeared in Brian Friel's ''Dancing at Lughnasa'', which won the Tony Award for Best Play. She replaced original cast member Brid Brennan in the role of Agnes. She appeared in ''A Doll's House'' in 1997 opposite Janet McTeer; Neil Simon's ''The Dinner Party'' in 2000 opposite John Ritter and Henry Winkler and ''Sixteen Wounded'' in 2004 with Judd Hirsch and Martha Plimpton.
In 1998, she played Elsa Schraeder in the first Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''The Sound of Music''.
In 2005, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, for the stage production of ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' in the role of Baroness Bomburst. She won the Drama Desk Award for this role.
In 2006, she starred in Roundabout Theatre Company's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton's ''Entertaining Mr. Sloane'' for which she received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. In 2006, she also reunited with her ''Sound of Music'' co-star Richard Chamberlain in Hawaii Opera Theatre's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''The King and I'' in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2007, she starred in the Broadway production of ''Coram Boy'', for which she received her second Tony Award nomination, for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
She has made numerous guest appearances, mostly in different roles, in the long-running NBC crime drama ''Law & Order''.
Her off-Broadway and regional credits include performances in ''The Seagull'' at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1985, in ''House & Garden'' at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2002, in ''A Bad Friend'' at the Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center in 2003; and at Carnegie Hall in the Stephen Sondheim concert, ''Opening Doors'' in 2004.
In 2008 she appeared Off-Broadway with the Potomac Theatre Project/NYC in Howard Barker's ''Scenes from an Execution'' and was nominated for a Drama Desk and NYITT award. In 2008, Maxwell appeared on Broadway in the Manhattan Theater Club production of ''To Be or Not to Be'' in the role of Maria Tura at the Friedman Theatre. ''To Be or Not To Be'' was adapted for the stage by Nick Whitby and was directed by Casey Nicholaw.
She appeared as Julie Cavendish in the Broadway revival of ''The Royal Family'' at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in late 2009. For this role she won the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. Maxwell most recently starred as Maria in the Broadway revival of ''Lend Me a Tenor'', which began performances at the Music Box Theatre on March 11, 2010. She won the Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for this role.
Maxwell received two 2010 Tony Award nominations: one for her leading role in ''The Royal Family'' in 2009 and another for her featured role in ''Lend Me a Tenor'' in 2010. She is only the fourth actress to receive double nominations in a single year.
Maxwell played the role of Phyllis in the Kennedy Center production of the Stephen Sondheim musical ''Follies'', running from May 7, 2011 through June 19, 2011 at the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC. Her co-stars were Bernadette Peters, Elaine Paige, Ron Raines and Danny Burstein. She is expected to reprise her role in the Broadway limited engagement, which starts in previews in August 2011 at the Marquis Theatre.
She is next schedlued to appear in the PTP/NYC (The Potomac Theatre Project) Off-Broadway production of the Howard Barker play ''Victory: Choices in Reaction'', in a limited engagement in July 2011.
She is also a voice actress and has read several audio books, including Mary Higgins Clark's ''Two Little Girls in Blue'' and ''No Place Like Home''.
Category:1956 births Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Actors from North Dakota Category:People from Fargo, North Dakota
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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