What Would We Do Without You? Baylor Theatre CaBEARet Audience Guide

CaBEARet presents

What Would We Do Without You? the legacy of Stephen Sondheim

AUDIENCE GUIDE

Director’s Note Each semester, Musical Theatre Workshop puts on a CaBEARet performance to raise money for our Musical Theatre scholarship. Musical Theatre Workshop is a laboratory space for our performers in the Musical Theatre Concentration to get specific training in the synergy of Musical Theatre. Our class project this semester focused on acting technique, character development, staging and vocal technique, as it relates to traditional and contemporary musical theatre styles, achieving competency in a large and small group/ensemble and solo capacity.

More specifically, students were asked to: 1) Develop Ensemble Singing 2) Employ Score Analysis and Scene Work 3) Create and Perform CaBEARet

Continued on the Next Page

Director’s Note In the wake of Stephen Sondheim's passing (November 26, 2021) we decided to focus our CaBEARet this semester on not just his body of work, but rather on: his legacy of collaboration… his legacy of mentorship… his legacy of kindness… and his legacy of inspiration.

Stephen Sondheim changed the landscape of musical theatre, and his works are epic.

Our show tonight highlights Sondheim’s collaborators, influence, and legacy.

Thank you for donating and helping leave a legacy with these students and those to come.

Go. Be. Do. Lauren M. Weber

S

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I E M H

Stephen Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist born and raised in NYC known for his contributions to musical theatre. He is revered for his brilliance in his contributions to theatre with works that weave complexity and more harrowing elements of the human experience with creative agility.

At a young age, he received encouragement from a neighbor, the great lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who became a surrogate father of sorts to the budding artist.

He graduated from Williams College, winning the Hutchinson Prize for Music Composition. After graduation he studied theory and composition with Milton Babbitt.

Notably, he wrote the music and lyrics for Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Follies, and Company, all of which he won the Tony Award for Best Score of a Musical for. Other popular works include Assassins, Merrily We Roll Along, and the lyrics for West Side Story.

We lost Mr. Sondheim November 26th, 2021, but his legacy lives on in his music and the lives he has touched.

Click on any program to read more about or listen to a specific Sondheim show!

lyricist In his early career, Sondheim found mentors in esteemed composers like Oscar Hammerstein II, Leonard Bernstein, and Jule Styne. He collaborated under them by writing lyrics for their scores before launching into a composing career of his own.

Composer & lyricist

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

COMPANY

FOLLIES

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

SWEENEY TODD

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE

INTO THE WOODS

PASSION

& COUNTLESS OTHERS! Click HERE for more.

HIS LEGACY Sondheim’s works consisted of a vast multitude of themes, stories, and collaborators. In order to illustrate to you just how many lives he has touched and continues to inspire, our show tonight features work by those Sondheim collaborated with, mentored, cast, or inspired.

You may be impressed with how much of what you know & love ties back to Sondheim & his legacy!

How will we ever get through? & What will we do without you?

Recording the cast album for Gypsy

The collaborators Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) Lyricist and Librettist Composer Oscar Hammerstein II wrote for musical theatre for over forty years and is most known for his collaborations with composers Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers. Together he and Rodgers changed the face of musical theatre. To Sondheim, Hammerstein acted as a surrogate father and mentor. They met when Sondheim was about ten years old. He had become friends with Hammerstein’s son, as they were neighbors. Hammerstein took Sondheim under his wing and the two became very close. Years later, it was Hammerstein who convinced Sondheim to take the role of lyricist for West Side Story, which was a huge opening for him in his career of musical collaboration.

“In My Own Little Corner” from Cinderella

Performed by Emily Arden Seggerman

MILTON BABBITT (1916–2011) Composer

Milton Babbitt taught a young Stephen Sondheim when he was in his early years of learning to be a musical theatre composer. Sondheim wanted to work under Babbitt because he wanted “to study composition, theory, and harmony without the attendant musicology that comes in graduate school." Sondheim thought that Babbitt was a perfect combination of having a deep knowledge of music while not hating musical theatre.

“All the Things You Are” from Very Warm For May

Performed by Jarrod Wells

Keep reading for more!

The Collaborators JEROME ROBBINS (1918–1998) Director and Choreographer Celebrated director and choreographer Jerome Robbins collaborated with Stephen Sondheim on several productions including Gypsy (1959) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), though it is their first collaboration, West Side Story (1957), that is the most notable and remembered. Recalling their collaboration, Sondheim said, “Jerry just breathed theater.” Robbins won his second Tony Award for choreography for West Side Story and later, two Academy Awards for its film adaptation: one for Best Direction and a special Honorary Award for choreographic achievements on film.

“Mr. Monotony” from Jerome Robbins Broadway

Performed by Hannah Charles

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA (1980–) Actor, Composer, & Lyricist Sondheim mentored and inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda, a composer and lyricist most known for his smash-hit Broadway musical, Hamilton (2016).

Miranda is quoted as saying that Sondheim is “musical theater’s greatest lyricist,” and that his work is spoken about with the likes of “Shakespeare or Dickens or Picasso.” Sondheim and Lin worked together on such projects as the 2009 revival of West Side Story, and the 2021 film version of Tick, Tick…

Boom!. After Sondheim’s passing, Miranda wrote on Twitter: “Future historians: Stephen Sondheim was real. Yes, he wrote Tony & Maria AND Sweeney Todd AND Bobby AND George & Dot AND Fosca AND countless more.

Some may theorize Shakespeare's works were by committee, but Steve was real & he was here & he laughed SO loud at shows & we loved him.”

“Dear Theodosia” from Hamilton

Performed by Sam Acey

More Collaborators RICHARD RODGERS (1902–1979) Composer Richard Rodgers is an American composer known for his collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He is the first person to ever win every major entertainment award: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT). His collaboration with Hammerstein, in particular, revolutionized musi c a l theat re wit h works such a s Oklahoma! (1943), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), and Carousel (1945).

Rodgers collaborated with Stephen Sondheim in 1965 on the show Do I Hear a Waltz? after Hammerstein, who was also Sondheim’s mentor, passed away in 1960. He is the father of Mary Rodgers, one of Sondheim's closest friends, and helped Sondheim solidify his Broadway composing career.

“Someone Woke Up” from Do I Hear a Waltz?

Performed by Catherine Richard

JULE STYNE (1905–1994) Composer Jule Styne, a London emigrant who grew up in Chicago, was a musical genius (at the age of nine, he performed with the Chicago Symphony) and became a prolific songwriter and composer for the American stage and screen. When Sondheim was hired to write the lyrics for Gypsy (1959), Styne was set to write the music.

Sondheim worried about being pegged solely as a lyricist but took the job. Styne later said, "I thought [Sondheim] might hit me over the head, knowing that he wanted to do the whole show. He was young, ambitious, and a huge talent. But he was also very gentle, and we got along fine."

“Being Good Isn't Good Enough” from Hallelujah, Baby!

Performed by Lauryn Bedford

More Collaborators MARY RODGERS (1931–2014) Composer Mary Rodgers, daughter of Richard Rodgers of the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein partnership, was a composer, author, screenwriter, and dear friend to Stephen Sondheim. She started out writing musicals such as Once Upon a Mattress (1960) and The Mad Show (1966) then transitioned to writing novels such as Freaky Friday which was later turned into both a movie and a musical. She is the mother of composer Adam Guettel and served as a chairman at the Juilliard School.

“The Boy From” from The Mad Show

Performed by Tess Wilson

JONATHAN TUNICK (1938–) Orchestrator Jonathan Tunick is an orchestrator who worked collaboratively with Sondheim on over twenty projects. Tunick said that when he worked with Sondheim, he would try to get away from the piano as much as possible because Sondheim would have already done the work for him. Tunick trusted Sondheim to be clear and concise with his directions about his music and knew that Sondheim trusted him to catch onto Sondheim’s music quickly.

“You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from Company

Performed by Emily Arden Seggerman, Kaitlyn Bailey, & Tess Wilson

More Collaborators THOMAS Z. SHEPARD (1936–) Record Producer Thomas Z. Shepard is a well-known record producer for many Broadway Original Cast Album recordings. He is a pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, and twelve-time Grammy winner for classical and Broadway recordings. He produced most of Sondheim's cast albums including Company (1970), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Sweeney Todd (1973), which all won "Best Musical Show Album" at the Grammy’s.

Sondheim and Shepard had a great relationship and respected each other greatly, Shepard even produced albums for Sondheim's concerts like A Stephen Sondheim Evening in 1983.

“You Gotta Have Heart” from Damn, Yankees

Performed by Baylor Theatre Men

Sondheim Fun Fact: His favorite musicals include...

Carousel, She Loves Me, and The Wiz, which he saw six times.

He also counts the opera Porgy and Bess among his favorites. Steve is so protective of the latter, in fact, that he famously wrote a letter to The New York Times criticizing changes made for the Broadway musical adaptation.

His criticism was so scathing, it prompted director Diane Paulus to drop a change she had made to the show's ending.

Click to read the let ter

A Major Collaborator HAROLD “HAL” PRINCE (1928–2019) Director and Producer A person would be hard-pressed to find a piece of householdname musical theatre of the 20th century that neither Stephen Sondheim nor Hal Prince were attached to. Prince d i r e c t e d a n d /o r p r o d u c e d dozens of Broadway productions over the course of his 65-year career in theatre.

Together, he and Stephen Sondheim collaborated on the some of the most iconic texts of the entire genre: West Side Story (1957), Company (1970), and Sweeney Todd (1979), among many others. Nine of Prince’s twenty-one (!) Tony wins came from Sondheim's shows.

Truly, their work together both shaped the history of musical theatre and laid the groundwork for its future.

[

The following selections all serve as a tribute to the friendship between Hal & Sondheim.

]

“Matchmaker, Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof

Performed by Ally Varitek, Macy Anne Johnson, & Sanders Markham

“It Couldn’t Please Me More” from Cabaret

Performed by Connor Truitt & Maddie Cendrick

“There Once Was a Man” from Pajama Game

Performed by Calder Meis & Hannah Charles “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera

Performed by Megan Turpin & Sam Acey

More Collaborators LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–1990) Composer Renowned composer Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim began their friendship and collaboration in 1955 when Sondheim was hired to write the ly r i c s f o r W e s t S i d e S t o r y .

Reflecting on this work with Bernstein, Sondheim said, "I didn't really want to write lyrics, but I wanted to meet Leonard Bernstein.

Music was always the first reason I was writing songs." Bernstein would serve as a mentor and even, occasionally, a rival for Sondheim throughout his career.

“Glitter and Be Gay” from Candide

Performed by Mackenzie Elisa

NATHAN LANE (1956–) Actor Nathan Lane first came into contact with Sondheim through a workshop for Assassins (1990), but he had to turn down the opportunity for a role. Eventually, Lane would go on to work with Sondheim in limited capacities over the years, including starring in the short-lived production of The Frogs (2004), and recording demos and doing a variety of readings for Sondheim's Square One with David Ives shortly before Sondheim's passing. Speaking of Sondheim, Lane said, "Even before I ever got to work with him, Steve was a huge hero to me. …He was such a w o n d e r f u l c o l l a b o r a t o r , s o s u p p o r t iv e , encouraging, compassionately honest and wickedly funny. And kind, always kind."

“Betrayed” from The Producers

Performed by Jared Guidry

There’s THIS MANY Collaborators?

PAUL GEMIGNANI (1961–) Musical Director Paul Gemignani made his Broadway debut conducting Follies in 1971.

This jumpstarted his career, much of which was spent working with Sondheim. Other Sondheim works that Gemignani conducted include A Little Night Music (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Passion (1994), and Assassins (2004). He also conducted the orchestras on the motion picture soundtracks of A Little Night Music (1977) and Sweeny Todd (2007).

“Bidin’ My Time” from Crazy For You

Performed by Baylor Theatre Women

Len Cariou (1939–) Actor & Director Leonard Joseph Cariou is a Canadian actor and stage director; you may have seen him as Henry Reagan, NYPD Police Comissioner on the hit CBS television show Blue Bloods. His path and Sondheim’s began in 1973 when Cariou played Fredrik Egerman in A Little Night Music, which earned him his first Best Actor nomination at the Tony Awards. Cariou is most known for being Sondheim’s first Sweeney Todd, and his portrayal of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street elicited the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1979.

“a Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd

Performed by Jarrod Wells & Lauryn Bedford

Even More Collaborators MICHAEL STAROBIN (1956–) Orchestrator Michael Starobin worked closely with Sondheim, providing orchestrations for several of Sondheim's productions including Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (1984) and Assassins (1990). He also served as the music director for the first production of the revised production of Merrily We Roll Along (1994). In an interview, when he was asked what he thought of Sondheim, Starobin responded, "You cannot predict what someone's going to be in history, but I think there's a good chance that he will be the Shakespeare of the musical theater."

“Larger Than Life” from My Favorite Year

Performed by Connor Truitt

JOHN WEIDMAN (1946–) Librettist First introduced by their mutual friend, Hal Prince, librettist John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim collaborated on Pacific Overtures (1976), Assassins (1990), and Road Show (2008).

Perhaps even more profound was the longlasting friendship that developed between the two of them through frequent game nights hosted by Sondheim (he loved games!), quality time together working on projects, and their visits to schools together. Though he worked on several Broadway shows, professionally Weidman is most known for his Emmy-winning work as a writer for the long-running children’s television show, Sesame Street.

“Dancing All the Time” from Big

Performed by Maddie Cendrick & Dancers

More Collaborators JEANINE TESORI (1961–) Composer Jeanine Tesori, a prolific composer for shows such as Fun Home and Violet, often found herself in company with Sondheim.

Composing for Broadway simultaneously for many years, they worked on several charity events together. Tesori once organized an event called The Sondheim Remix, in which artists could create variations on Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. Sondheim gave his full support. Tesori, amazed by his kindness and propensity to nurture the artistic community, has said, “Stephen Sondheim wasn’t a father, but he parented a lot of us, and he made a lot of work. So, yes.

Children. And Art.”

“Maps” from Fun Home

Performed by Macy Anne Johnson

TIM MINCHIN (1975–) Composer & Lyricist Though Tim Minchin was the one to bring the musical adaptation of the movie Groundhog Day to life, it was Sondheim who originally had the idea. Sondheim ultimately decided not to adapt the movie because he felt that it was “perfect as it is and couldn’t be improved.” Before writing the score, Minchin made sure to ask Sondheim for his blessing, which he gave to Minchin and the entire creative team. Sondheim was a fan of the score and the musical, though he chose not to write it himself.

“Playing Nancy” from Groundhog Day

Performed by Sanders Markham

More Collaborators JONATHAN LARSON (1960–1996) Composer & Lyricist The relationship between two musical theatre icons, Jonathan Larson & Stephen Sondheim, has been committed to legend with its dramatization in the film version of Larson's tick, tick...BOOM! (2021). Sondheim was an inspiration to the up-and-coming Larson &, with his famed magnanimity, became a mentor to the young composer.

Sondheim always thought Larson spent too much time with his work, that his intense dwelling ended up hurting him.

However, Sondheim clearly meant the world to Larson, as the stage version of the show ends with the protagonist's triumphant moment:

a congratulations from Sondheim himself.

“Boho Days” from tick…tick… BOOM!

Performed by Calder Meis & Company

TERRENCE MCNALLY (1938–2020) Librettist and Playwright Famous American librettist and playwright Terrence McNally once remarked to his students, a composer is “a playwright who works in melody, rhythm, and rhyme.” Oftentimes, composers and playwrights collaborate to create the full book of a musical, including the score and scenes together. Such a collaboration between Sondheim and McNally almost came to fruition in 1991 when the pair began working on a musical about relationships called All Together Now. That bridge was never crossed, and the project remained unfinished, as the two geniuses became busy, but its beginnings can be found in the library at the University of Texas in Austin.

“Crossing a Bridge” from Anastasia

Performed by Ally Varitek

More Collaborators BERNADETTE PETERS (1948–) Actor Bernadette Peters is a famous, award-winning musical theatre actress that has had a career on the Broadway stage for more than six decades. She is considered to be the foremost interpreter of Sondheim's musicals as she has starred in several of Sondheim's shows, the most well-known being Sunday in the Park with George (1984) in which she originated the role of Dot, and Into the Woods (1987) in which she originated the role of The Witch.

Bernadette met Sondheim in the early 1980's, and they have been good friends ever since.

“Wherever He Ain’t” from Mack and Mabel

Performed by Kaitlyn Bailey

JAMES LAPINE (1949–) Director & Librettist As a young newcomer to the world of musical theatre who had begun his career as a photographer and graphic designer, James Lapine had only ever seen one of Sondheim’s musicals before meeting him in 1982. The two ended up collaborating on three new musicals over the course of a decade: Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994). They were good colleagues and friends. Later, Lapine created and directed the musical revue Sondheim on Sondheim in 2010. In 2021, Lapine published a memoir called Putting it Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George. In the book, Lapine recalls Sondheim telling him once, “I always believe my shows are going to be successful… Their subjects are always so interesting to me, I assume they would be interesting to others as well.”

“Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods

Performed by Mackenzie Elisa

More Collaborators JASON ROBERT BROWN (1970–) Composer & Lyricist Jason Robert Brown, a composer a n d ly r i c i s t o f s e v e r a l Broadway musicals, never collaborated with Sondheim on a production, but Sondheim was a great musical inspiration to him. They even sang together at a benefit in 2019. But first, as a brash young man, Brown once criticized one of Sondheim’s works to his face.

According to Brown, Sondheim responded by saying, as paraphrased, “Once a creation has been put into the world, you have only one responsibility to its creator: Be supportive. Support is not about showing how clever you are, how observant of some flaw, how incisive in your criticism. There are other people whose job it is to guide the creation, to make it work, to make it live; either they did their job, or they didn't. But that it not your problem.” Brown said it was a powerful lesson to him about the importance of support and vulnerability as an artist that he learned “at the foot of the master.”

“All the Wasted Time” from Parade

Performed by Catherine Richard & Jared Guidry “I’m Not Afraid of Anything” from Songs For a New World

Performed by Megan Turpin

All of these collaborators reflect the vast web Sondheim has left a tune, a thought, a melody upon. However, they are only a small portion of a number of lives he has touched.

…Who’s Next?

The Next Generation Sondheim’s work will continue to inspire artists for generations; we are just a small portion of those.

In Merrily We Roll Along, he wrote: It's our time, breathe it in Worlds to change and worlds to win Our turn coming through Me and you, man, me and you The proceeds from tonight fund our

Leta Horan & Jerry MacLauchlin Endowed Scholarship for Musical Theatre.

With your kindness, you can help pave the way for the Bernadettes, Hals, Lapines, and Sondheims of the next generation.

For More Information: TO DONATE: TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE LETA HORAN & JERRY MACLAUCHLIN ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Click Here Click Here

Further Resources CLICK ANY SONDHEIM TO ACCESS THE RESOURCE!

Read a Beautiful Tribute to Sondheim and His Legacy

Get Started Listening to Sondheim

The Stephen Sondheim Society What’s Playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre? Click to find out!

Baylor’s Musical Theatre Concentration

Thank you for coming!

Production Team CLASS INSTRUCTORS Guilherme Almeida (Music Director), Melissa Johnson (Vocal/Acting Coach), & Lauren M Weber (Director) STAGE MANAGEMENT

Danelle Morrow GRADUATE ASSISTANT Emily Olson ASST. DIRECTION Calder Meis MUSIC & PROJECTIONS Tess Wilson

Music Crew: Jared Guidry, Tess Wilson, Lauryn Bedford and Megan Turpin

SUPERVISOR

PIANO

Chad Houk LIGHTING DESIGN Hannah Early, Emma Smith DRAMATURGY Ally Varitek TECHNICAL OPERATORS Sophia Lang, David Allsup, Sophie Dryden, Abigail Rondey

Cast This performance features Baylor Theatre’s Musical Theatre Concentration students, including: Sam Acey Kaitlyn Bailey Lauryn Bedford Maddie Cendrick Hannah Charles Jared Guidry Macy Anne Johnson Sanders Markham Calder Meis Mackenzie Elisa Catherine Richard Emily Arden Seggerman

Connor Truitt Megan Turpin Ally Varitek Jarrod Wells & Tess Wilson

Special Thanks:

To our colleagues in Baylor Theatre, especially: Ryan Joyner, JoJo Percy, Josh Wilson, Jordan Rousseau, Amanda Lassetter, Adam Redmer, Erin Torkelson, Bailey Cole, DeAnna Toten Beard, Breshena Crosby, Tess Wilson and Jared Guidry

Curated By:AllyeVearitek to s Click here ork. more of my w