Sondheim on Sondheim

The headliners are excellent. Cook has lost some range and control over the years, but proves she's still one of the great Sondheim voices of any generation with her "Send in the Clowns." Wopat, best known as a TV actor before embarking on a Broadway career, is up to the subtle intricacies of "Finishing the Hat," and Williams, who played the Witch in the 2002 Into the Woods revival, shines on ballads such as "Losing My Mind" (which Cook memorably recorded in the 1980s) and ""Good Thing Going." The unsung stars are the lesser-known singers, Leslie Kritzer, Norm Lewis, Euan Morton, Erin Mackey, and Matthew Scott, who cover the tight harmonies and elaborate counterpoint of the ensemble numbers and also sing strong solos and duets. One almost wishes there had been no headliners with distractingly distinctive voices, thereby giving the sole spotlight to the songs and to Sondheim, who talks about himself in ways that he probably abhors, including deeply personal moments about his mother and his relationship with Oscar Hammerstein II. The stories have probably been told before, but here, in context with the songs he's written, they become even more moving. For a composer often criticized as being cold and unemotional, there can be no better response. --David Horiuchi

Product Description
Hailed by the Associated Press as a: revelatory revue full of wonderful moments, and by USA Today as a: funny, affectionate and revealing tribute to musical theater's greatest living composer and lyricist, SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM is an intimate portrait of the famed songwriter in his own words...and music. An all-star cast headed by Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams and Tom Wopat takes on new arrangements of over two-dozen Sondheim tunes, ranging from the beloved to the obscure, interspersed with audio commentary by the composer himself, who reveals fascinating details about his life and his art. Stephen Sondheim's final word on his unparalleled body of work has been preserved by PS Classics in this lavish release.