musical theatre of stephen sondheim – course
TRANSCRIPT
MUSICALTHEATREOFSTEPHENSONDHEIM–COURSESYLLABUS(SPRING2017)
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THAR275MW2-3:30Instructor:DavidFox([email protected]/215.573.5636)OfficeHours:Thursday2to3:30pmandbyappointment
ABOUTTHECOURSEAmongtheatrecriticsandalargesectorofthepublic,StephenSondheimisgenerallyconsideredthemostsignificantcomposerandlyricistinthecontemporarytheatre;heis,infact,accordedthekindofseriousconsiderationgenerallyreservedfor“legitimate”playwrights.
Inthisseminar,wewillexamineindetailStephenSondheim’swritingthroughwhatareessentiallyfourstagesinhiscareer.Sondheim’searliestworkwasasalyricist,collaboratingwithcomposersJuleStyne(Gypsy),LeonardBernstein(WestSideStory),andlater,RichardRodgers(DoIHearaWaltz?).
Beginningin1970,Sondheim–nowbothcomposerandlyricist–inpartnershipwithdirectorHaroldPrinceproducedaseriesofmusicals(includingCompany,FolliesandSweeneyTodd,)stillthoughttobeamongthemostinnovativeandsubstantialinthehistoryofthegenre.
WewillalsoexamineSondheim'smusicalssincehis1981breakwithPrince.Theselaterworks,createdwithwriters
anddirectorsincludingJamesLapine(SundayintheParkwithGeorge,IntotheWoods,Passion),JerryZaks(Assassins),andJohnDoyle(RoadShow)areoftensmallerinscale,intenselypersonal,andincorporateelementsofperformanceartandpopularculture.
Finally,wewillconsiderrevivalproductionsofSondheim’swork,whichoftenarereconceivedfromtheiroriginalform,sometimeswithSondheim’sinvolvementandoccasionalrewriting.
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WHATWEWILLDOWewillworkchronologicallythroughSondheim’ssixteenoriginalmusicalsforthetheatre,andtouchonsomeofhisotherwork–musicforfilmandtelevision,andevenoneforayintoscreenwriting–intheprocess.Sessionswillbeorganizedbyindividualshows,witheachasthesubjectofoneor(forthemajorworks,andespeciallywherethereisasignificantdocumentarymaterial)twosessions.
Ourmodeofinquirywillbeclosereadinganddetailedanalysis.Thisisatheatrecourse,sowewillconsidereachpieceasaworkforperformance–whilemuchofourdiscussionwillfocusspecificallyonSondheim’scontributions(musicandlyrics),wewillalsoconsidertheworkofhiscollaborators(director,performers,designers,etal),andmostimportantlythinkabouteachworkasanintegrated,totalform.Wewillalsoconsidertheseworksinthelargercontext,lookingatinfluencesoneachpiece(forexample,howFolliesevokesanearlierworldofmusicaltheatre).
Ateachsession,wewillfocusonafewsongsandscenesandworkwiththemindepth–butit’scrucialtothequalityofourworkthatyoubringyourknowledgeandfullpreparationtothetable!
MAJORASSIGNMENTSANDGRADESThecoursegradewillbebasedequally(25%each)onfourcomponents:
• Paper#1(due****),approximately8to10pages,topicTBA• Paper#2(due***),approximately8to10pages,topicTBA• Weeklydiscussionresponses• Classparticipation
WHATYOUWILLLEARNIhopeIdon’tneedtosaythatyouwilllearnalotaboutStephenSondheim’swork!Butinamoregeneralsense,throughinquiryandanalysis,youwillalsodevelopotherskills:
• Howtoanalyzeandinterpretaworkoftheatre.• Howtoreconstructatheatricalexperience…evenwhenwehaveonlypartialevidencetodoso.• Howtolistento,thinkabout,anddiscussmusic.• Similarly,howtoanalyzelyrics–andtoconsidermusicandlyricsseparatelyandtogether.• Goodresearchskillswithalargerangeofsourcematerial.• Asenseoftheevolvinghistoryoftheatreandfilm.• ThewaysinwhichmusicalsarepartofalargerAmericancultureandhistory.
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PREPARINGFOREACHSESSIONForeachshow–andinadvanceofourdiscussions–youwillbeexpectedtopreparebydoingtheassignedlistening(musicfromthescore)andreading(oftenthelibrettofortheshow;insomecasesarticlesaboutit,reviewsofproductions,etc.).Manyofthematerials–bothmusicandreadings–canbefoundinCanvasmodulesassignedtoeachshow.I’llbebuildingtheseaswego,buteachwillbereadyatleastoneweekpriortothefirstsessiononeachshow.Occasionally,therewillbematerial–usuallylyricsheetsforshowswhereyouwon’thavethelibretto–thatshouldbeprintedandbroughttoclass.Thesewillbeclearlynotedinthesyllabus,andmostareonlyafewpages.ThelongerPDFfilesaremeanttoberead,butyouwon’tneedtobringthemtoclass.
InadditiontothereadingsinCanvas,Iexpectyouwillreadthelibrettostothefollowingshows,andbringthebookstoclassforreferenceaswediscusslyrics,scenes,etc.CopiesofthesewillbeavailableatthePennBookCenter(130South34thStreet/215.222.7600).
• Gypsy(ArthurLaurents)--TCG/978-1559360869• Company(GeorgeFurth)--TCG/978-1559361088• Follies(JamesGoldman)--TCG/978-1559364171• PacificOvertures(JohnWeidman)--TCG/978-1559360265• SweeneyTodd(HughWheeler)--ApplauseMusicalLibrary/978-1557830661• SundayintheParkwithGeorge(JamesLapine)--ApplauseMusicalLibrary/978-1557830685• IntotheWoods(JamesLapine)--TCG/978-0930452933• Passion(JamesLapine)--TCG/978-1559360883
CLASSPARTICIPATIONANDFORMATThiscourseisadiscussion-basedseminar–thoughI’llhavealottosay,yourinputwillhelpshapethemodeanddepthofinquiry.Nostudentisexpectedtocarrythediscussions–butitisarequirementofthiscourse,whichisconductedaroundaconferencetable,thatyoucontributetotheconversation,andlistentoothers.Factorsinclassparticipationareasfollows:
• Attendanceatclasssessions(inatwice-a-weekcourse,Iallowtwoabsences–foranyreason–withoutpenalty),andon-timearrivals.
• Preparationbeforeeachsession,includingreading,listeningto,andwatchingallassignedmaterials.(MostofthesewillbefoundinyourCanvasmodules,buttherearesomeadditionalreadingsintextbooksyoushouldacquire).
• Activeparticipationindiscussion.
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DISCUSSIONRESPONSESNearlyallcoursesessionmodulesincludeadiscussiontopicthatI’vecreated–essentially,aquestionthatwillhelpformthetopicoftheday.Thesewillbeavailableatleastaweekbeforethesession.Youareexpectedtosubmitoneresponseeachweek.Forweekswheretherearetwotopics,youcanchoosetheoneyouprefer.(Occasionallytherewillbeaweekwithonlyonetopic,inwhichcaseeveryoneshouldwriteonthat.)Responsesshouldbesubmittedatleastonehourbeforetheclasssessionbegin.Inturn,Iwilllookatyourresponsesbeforewebegin,andthiswillhelpmeformthediscussion.
Responsesareintendedtocaptureyourfeelingsandreactionstoaparticulartopic.Theyshouldbeinformedbyyourlisteningandreadingfortheweek,buttheydon’trequirefurtherresearch.Eachresponseshouldbeinthe250-300wordrange(roughlyequivalenttohalftothree-quartersofapage).
Individualresponsesaren’tgraded–butataroundthesemestermid-point,I’llgiveyouaprogressreport.
LAPTOPSANDIPADSIaskthatstudentsnotuselaptops,iPads,orotherdevicesinclass.Yourfullattentiontobefocusedondiscussions,thoughofcourseyou’rewelcome–infact,encouraged–totakenotestheoldfashioned(penandpaper)way.
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CLASSSCHEDULEThiswillbeadjustedasneeded!SinceI’mbuildingthiswebsiteaswegoalong,don’tconsiderthefolderstobecompleteuntilaweekbeforethesession.Assignmentsduearehighlightedinyellow.
DATEIntroductiontothecourse DATEWestSideStory(1)
DATEWestSideStory(2);Gypsy(1)
DATE Gypsy(2)
DATEAFunnyThingHappened
DATE AnyoneCanWhistle
DATE DoIHearaWaltz?
DATE Company(1)
DATE Company(2)
DATEFollies(1)
DATEFollies(2)
DATEALittleNightMusic
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DATEPacificOvertures(1)
DATEPacificOvertures(2)
(PAPERONEDUEBY11PM!)
DATETBA
DATESweeneyTodd(1)
DATESweeneyTodd(2)
DATEMerrilyWeRollAlong
DATE SundayintheParkwithGeorge(1)
DATE SundayintheParkwithGeorge(2)
DATE IntotheWoods(1)
DATE IntotheWoods(2)
DATE Assassins
DATE Passion(1)
DATE Passion(2)
DATE TBA(Thanksgiving)
MUSICALTHEATREOFSTEPHENSONDHEIM–COURSESYLLABUS(SPRING2017)
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DATE TheFrogs/EveningPrimrose
DATE Bounce/RoadShow
DATEFinalwrapupdiscussion
__________________________(PAPERTWODUEBY11PM!)