Singer Liz Callaway, an unique forged member of Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical, Merrily We Roll Alongside, tonight returns to Feinstein’s/54 Beneath in New York with a program honoring Sondheim, who died final November.
Stephen Sondheim with Liz Callaway, Gary Stevens, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lonny Value, Colin Donnell, … [+]
Carried out nightly via March 26, with the ultimate present additionally livestreamed, this system, “To Steve with Love.” pays homage to Sondheim, who she says “modified the course” of her life. She noticed his musical, Firm, on Broadway in 1970, and made her personal Broadway debut in 1981 in Merrily, now being made into a movie by Richard Linklater.
In an interview earlier than her Feinstein’s/54 Beneath concert events, Callaway stated she and Sondheim often corresponded by electronic mail through the years, the final time six months earlier than his dying.
She stated one of many largest challenges of placing her program collectively was “attempting to do a night that may be a celebration (mixed with) my private experiences in 75 minutes—it’s principally unimaginable.”
She stated she is “trying ahead to sharing his music with individuals who have been mourning his loss—we will expertise his music collectively. That’s my purpose, to rejoice him.”
She admitted her private favorites of his songs, “in no order,” are the opening variety of Firm; “Transfer On” from Sunday within the Park with George; “Our Time” from Merrily; “Somebody in a Tree” from Pacific Overtures; whereas she stated the fifth music “relies on the day. This is able to be my desert island disc.”
She stated Sondheim’s legacy is that he “modified musical theater. He let folks know there are lots of alternative ways to inform a narrative. He was unique, brave, an unbelievable instructor and mentor. He cared deeply about schooling.”
She additionally stated he created a “treasure trove of songs, (writing) for all ages, about all completely different human situations.
“He was a genius—it’s unthinkable that he’s not with us proper now,” she concluded.