By Web Behrens
Like any theater pro, Rob Lindley remembers exactly where he was when he heard Stephen Sondheim died. It was the day after Thanksgiving 2021, and fortunate for him, Lindley was out for a meal with good friend Bethany Thomas, another Chicago performing artist with an illustrious musical career.
“We were sitting at the bar of a restaurant in Lincoln Square, and one of us looked at our phone, and then we saw the news,” Lindley recalls. “We said, ‘All right, let’s Elaine Stritch about it and order another round of drinks.’ We raised a glass to Steve.”
Three months before his 75th birthday, Stephen Sondheim came to Ravinia to participate in a pre-show discussion with then Ravinia CEO Welz Kauffman. The festival had begun staging one musical with music and lyrics by Sondheim per year in 2001 in celebration of the milestone.
The story doesn’t end there. No, it comes with a tag that probably would’ve given the legend himself a good chuckle. While it might sound like apostasy to card-carrying musical theater fans, plenty of people in the English-speaking world have no idea who Sondheim is, despite his slew of honors that includes multiple Tonys, Grammys, an Oscar, and a Pulitzer Prize. (And that’s just the start of the list.)
As fate would have it, Lindley and Thomas found themselves sitting near two folks who were curious about the person they were toasting. “I remember that the couple around the corner at the bar, they were like, ‘Who died?’ ” Lindley continues. “We found ourselves having to do an impromptu Wikipedia [entry on] Stephen Sondheim. [At one point we] just kept saying song titles until one of them hit. I thought: I’m going to wait until the last possible moment to say ‘Send in the Clowns.’ ’’
Sondheim checks production notes backstage at Ravinia’s 2005 staging of one of his earliest musicals, 1964’s Anyone Can Whistle.
Flash forward to the present day: Now the two friends are working together on “Yours, Stephen Sondheim,” a tribute concert conceived and directed by Lindley and produced by Ravinia. Of course, back on that somber night in late November, “we had no idea that we would end up doing this concert together,” Lindley says. “But I remember being really grateful that I was with someone who understood, because his work had had such a profound impact on both our careers.”
In addition to Thomas, the vocalists for the August 7 program with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra include Tony winners Brian Stokes Mitchell and Heather Headley, plus Alexandra Billings, Susan Moniz, Devin DeSantis, and Chicago Artists Chorale. (Performed in the Pavilion, “Yours” is the biggest program of the Sondheim-saluting month at Ravinia. Two matinees featuring the composer’s songs happen August 20 and August 27 in Bennett Gordon Hall.)
Sondheim joined the company bow at Ravinia’s 2001 staging of Sweeney Todd featuring (from left) Hollis Resnik, Sherrill Milnes, Patti LuPone, conductor Andrew Litton, George Hearn, and Neil Patrick Harris, among other stars.
But this won’t be just another revue collecting the Broadway titan’s songs, which has been done endlessly ever since Side by Side by Sondheim in the mid-’70s. Sure, the music is the draw, and the evening will even feature some new arrangements. But audience members will also experience a new element, tying all the songs together: excerpts from the legion letters Sondheim wrote. Over the decades, he corresponded with everyone from established performers to up-and-coming composers to school kids. This glimpse into his role as “encourager-in-chief” (as the New York Times dubbed him less than a week after his death) provides a new lens for looking at his accomplished life.
Lindley himself is the first to admit, when he first began planning a tribute, that it started out simply as a retrospective concert. Although Sondheim left a massive oeuvre to choose from, Lindley found himself looking for something more. “Like with anything, I tried to follow the advice Dot gives George,” he says, referencing the star-crossed couple at the heart of Sunday in the Park with George. “I thought, ‘Well, what hasn’t been said about Sondheim already? He’s had so many tribute concerts.’ And then I remembered: ‘Anything you do, let it come from you, then it will be new. Give us more to see.’
A letter from Sondheim
“Around that same time, I found letters on Twitter and on an Instagram account called Sondheim’s Letters. Just everyone—including stars like Lin-Manuel [Miranda] and Trey Parker from South Park and the Jonathan Larson estate—all of them are posting these letters Sondheim had written to them, encouraging them, or vouching for them when they needed a grant.
“And then I started seeing friends of mine with letters! I have a friend who teaches a Sondheim course at Northwestern, and his letter was there. I have another friend who did an 85th birthday concert [honoring Sondheim] at the Auditorium, and she has a letter. A great music director here in town has a letter of Sondheim just saying, ‘Hey, I didn’t get to talk to you, but your playing was impeccable.’ Just a thank-you note for playing a show well!”
Like countless others touched by Sondheim’s incredible art, in the days after the composer’s death, Lindley found himself deeply moved all over again, this time because of Sondheim’s generosity: “He’s not just at the top of the game. He’s defined what the game is! And he’s incredibly human. This guy showed up for everybody. That became my ‘in’ to the concert.
Stephen Sondheim
“What I love about these letters is: There’s a whole spectrum of them,” Lindley observes. From short thank-you notes to long letters looking for donations to a charitable cause, Sondheim covered it all, typically with his trusty typewriter and personalized stationery. Often he was self-effacing; sometimes, Lindley notes with a smile, “he wasn’t all sunshine and roses. There’s some really funny, snarky ones. I love that too.”
The underlying impetus behind “Yours, Stephen Sondheim” is not to mourn but to celebrate the man—and to find inspiration in how he treated others, mostly people who were complete strangers. Take, for example, one particular letter that stood out to Lindley: “He wrote to an elementary school teacher saying, ‘Hey, thank you so much for the drawings from your students, and thank you for exposing them to musical theater. It’s the encouragement I needed today.’
“There’s something so beautiful and delightfully human about it all.”
Between the casts of “Yours, Stephen Sondheim” on the 7th and the revue “Once Upon a Time: Alan Menken’s Broadway” on the 19th, August at Ravinia is flush with theater singers, some who have brought Sondheim’s characters to life onstage in the months since his passing. Here follows some of their reminiscences on the music and the man:
Heather Headley
A Tony and Grammy winner, Heather Headley has appeared on Broadway starring in The Lion King, Aida, and The Color Purple.
If you had to pick three favorite Sondheim songs, what would they be?
“Send In the Clowns” [from A Little Night Music] is beautifully sad. You can get caught up and confused thinking it is about something else, when it’s written about something totally different. It’s filled with sadness, sarcasm, and subtlety, and the melody is like a lullaby, yet so haunting. It really is a beautiful piece of music.
Into the Woods is filled with great songs, but if I have to pick one, “Children Will Listen.” Now that I have children, it is even more poignant: the lesson in it; the admonition through it; the hope of it. It’s also fun to sing.
“Losing My Mind” [from Follies] is the anthem for love lost. It takes the listener or singer on such a journey, and many times ends with either or both quite moved, and even in a puddle.
How has your appreciation for Sondheim’s music evolved over the years?
As I’ve gotten older and deeper into my career, and as I’ve had to study his work and music to perform it, I see what a musical genius he is. Every lyric and line, every melody and motif, it is all intentional. As difficult as his work may be, when the music comes together, it is nothing short of amazing.
Heather Headley as the Witch in Sondheim’s Into the Woods Off-Broadway at City Center Encores! (photo: Joan Marcus)
Alexandra Billings
Alexandra Billings is perhaps best known for recent recurring TV roles in Transparent and The Conners and a run as Wicked’s Madame Morrible on Broadway. She began her performing career in Chicago, where she played Rose in the Bailiwick Theatre’s 2000 revival of Gypsy.
If you had to pick three favorite Sondheim songs, what would they be?
I’m singing one of them: “I’m Still Here” [from Follies]. It’s about survival and hope. It’s a great “list song,” and even though the list is time-specific, it’s also universal. It literally covers everything, from politics to emotional survival.
Another song I really love, also from Follies, is obscure: “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues.” It’s one of his funniest, and it’s a great commentary about love and romance—when we don’t get what we want, we obsess about what we have.
You might roll your eyes because he “only” wrote the lyrics, but I’ll also say “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy, the nearest to a perfect musical as anything has ever been. And that particular song! It’s like an overture at the end of the show, sung by one character. It’s never been done before or since. What Sondheim did through his lyrics was clarify Mama Rose’s needs and wants. He was not just a poet; he was a scholar with his words. That particular song sums it up, I think.
Did you ever meet Sondheim?
No, I never met him. I don’t do well with famous, fabulous people like that. I would not be able to talk—or my mouth would hang open, and I’d say something really stupid. But in New York City, what seems like 150 years ago, I saw a guy with white hair across the street. The light changed, and now he’s coming east and I’m going west. He’s getting closer and I’m thinking, “Oh, that’s Stephen Sondheim. Holy shit, that’s Stephen Sondheim!”
So I thought, “When will this ever happen again? Take your moment, Alex! Say something, quick!” And he’s getting closer, and I think, “Just tell him you loved one of his shows!” Now we’re about to pass each other—it’s like that scene in High Noon with Gary Cooper—and I say, at the top of my voice, “I LOVED YOU IN SWEENEY TODD.” That was my one and only meeting with Stephen Sondheim.
Matt Doyle
A Broadway pro at an early age, Matt Doyle appeared in Spring Awakening and War Horse. In June he won the Tony for his performance in the acclaimed gender-flipped production of Company, in which he performs one of Sondheim’s most notoriously difficult songs, “Getting Married Today.”
If you had to pick three favorite Sondheim songs, what would they be?
Well, of course “Being Alive” [from Company] is on the list. It’s a phenomenal piece of examination of why the human spirit needs companionship, even if it resists it.
From there, I would probably say “Pretty Women” from Sweeney Todd. Such a gorgeous and melodic moment in the show contrasted by the extremely disturbing thing that’s about to happen. It’s a brilliant, beautiful tension builder, and an exquisite piece of music on its own.
Finally, “Move On” from Sunday in the Park with George. I don’t think any piece of writing has ever captured the artist’s plight so perfectly. “Anything you do, let it come from you, then it will be new”—stunning. Easily one of the most miraculous lines he ever wrote. I have found so much guidance and inspiration in that song.
Where were you when you learned that Sondheim had died?
It was a two-show day and our ninth preview of Company. As soon as the curtain fell, they gathered us onstage. My heart immediately sunk. I fell to my knees and started bawling. It was such a devastating blow after pushing through the pandemic and bringing his genius back to life.
How has your appreciation for Sondheim’s music evolved over the years?
I remember not connecting with Company when I was younger; I found more and more within the material as I aged. Every note, word, and beat has purpose. It takes a little time for a lot of listeners to appreciate his genius. Once you do, it’s constantly alarming how clever he was. I still discover new moments of brilliance to appreciate in “Getting Married Today,” and I sing the song every night. I’m so honored to have been a part of this incredible journey, to share his genius every night.
Matt Doyle as Jamie in Company at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater on Broadway.
Native Chicagoan Web Behrens has spent most of his journalism career covering arts and culture. His work has appeared in the pages of the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, Crain’s Chicago Business, and The Advocate and Chicago magazines.