Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created "Sunday in the Park with George

Yvonne sang the second line, “It’s hot and it’s monotonous,” someone yelled from the audience, “It sure is!” People laughed.

Arlen kills me. He’s as inventive a composer as there ever was.

Mandy left the show temporarily at one point during the run for another job. When he came back, he was a changed person. He was so much fun to work with and have around! I asked him about it and he said, “You know, I really thought that my talent was tied up in my being difficult; that if I reined in my personality, then I would lose my talent.”

croquetons—

By then, I’d heard Bernadette speak the role, and the accent suggested to me Harold Arlen. He was a Buffalo boy who kept writing southern-inflected music, and I thought, southern inflection … hey, there’s my favorite composer. And I was off and running.

In every score I write, there’s a Harold Arlen song. “Children and Art” is the Harold Arlen song. LAPINE: And how do you characterize a Harold Arlen song? SONDHEIM: It’s about seduction and warmth and yearning.

always said that Bernie didn’t bet on the horses, he bet on the jockeys. Michael Bennett comes up with a musical. Mike Nichols comes up with a play, Neil Simon with a play. You try to get their shows in your theaters. So Sondheim comes up with a musical—you say yes. William Goldman used to say, “Nobody knows anything. Every time out, it’s a guess.”

majordomo,

creating this musical about making a work of art was a unique moment for all of us, and in some cases a defining one.