Post by marshamae on Mar 10, 2017 3:34:22 GMT
Stephen Sondheim is very fond of games and it shows in Last of Sheila. It's the kind of cleverness that sometimes gets in the way of great art but is my cuppa tea .
A story about Sondheim that I love is about a birthday gift he once made for Leonard Bernstein. It was a board game , the goal of which was to end up face to face with Bernstein at either his studio or his home. Bernstein was notoriously hard to pin down, always late and overbooked. He alSo had an irascible Secretary, Helen Coates , very possessive and jealous, who tended to prevent people from seeing him. The game consisted of paths made of squares leading to Bernstein , and cards with various barriers, ( Lenny has a dentist appointment, miss the next two turns. Or Lenny has taken up flamenco dancing . Go back 6 spaces in cha cha time.) in the center ,blocking all paths to Lenny was a spinning figure of Helen Coates which had to be passed . If it spun toward you you had to go back.
It's funny , sharp, a little angry , but very clever.
and then there's this
youtu.be/zRB-HP9rPGQ
A story about Sondheim that I love is about a birthday gift he once made for Leonard Bernstein. It was a board game , the goal of which was to end up face to face with Bernstein at either his studio or his home. Bernstein was notoriously hard to pin down, always late and overbooked. He alSo had an irascible Secretary, Helen Coates , very possessive and jealous, who tended to prevent people from seeing him. The game consisted of paths made of squares leading to Bernstein , and cards with various barriers, ( Lenny has a dentist appointment, miss the next two turns. Or Lenny has taken up flamenco dancing . Go back 6 spaces in cha cha time.) in the center ,blocking all paths to Lenny was a spinning figure of Helen Coates which had to be passed . If it spun toward you you had to go back.
It's funny , sharp, a little angry , but very clever.
and then there's this
youtu.be/zRB-HP9rPGQ