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A Cult-Classic Sondheim Flop Gets An Essential New Recording
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NPR
@NPR
Stephen Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle" was a flop when it originally premiered in 1964.
But an updated recording of the cult classic has some surprises, even for the completist.
A Cult-Classic Sondheim Flop Gets An Essential New Recording
An updated recording of Anyone Can Whistle, a now-celebrated musical by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, has some surprises, even for the completist.
npr.org
2:55 PM · Mar 22, 2021
NPR
@NPR
Stephen Sondheim's "Anyone Can Whistle" was a flop when it originally premiered in 1964.
But an updated recording of the cult classic has some surprises, even for the completist.
A Cult-Classic Sondheim Flop Gets An Essential New Recording
An updated recording of Anyone Can Whistle, a now-celebrated musical by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, has some surprises, even for the completist.
npr.org
2:55 PM · Mar 22, 2021
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/22/979959291/a-cult-classic-sondheim-flop-gets-an-essential-new-recording
It's been just over a year since anyone has seen a "live" Broadway musical – but ever since I got hold of a lovingly crafted new-slash-old cast-album recording, I've been thinking about a show once left for dead.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but in April of 1964, Anyone Can Whistle was a flop. It came into Manhattan with a great pedigree, headed by two movie stars making their musical debuts — Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick, each an Oscar nominee just a year earlier for Manchurian Candidate and Days of Wine and Roses, respectively.
It had music and lyrics by a new kid, Stephen Sondheim, whose first stint as a Broadway composer, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, was still packing in crowds in its third smash-year. The book and direction were by Arthur Laurents, who'd earlier collaborated as librettist on two shows for which Sondheim contributed lyrics, West Side Story and Gypsy.
Everything seemed promising. But Anyone Can Whistle, which centers on a town faking a Lourdes-like miracle water, was zany and satirical but also absurdist, scattershot, and — some thought — off-putting in its amusement at its own cleverness.
*snip*
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