rss feedSondheim teaches “Not Getting Married”
Daniel found this great video that features Stephen Sondheim teaching some well meaning young singers from Guildhall School one of our favorite songs, “(Not) getting married” from COMPANY. This is a fun clip to see Sondheim’s coaching on the song.
This performance may leave you wanting to hear a better performance. Here’s one by Carol Burnett. Her articulation is probably the best I’ve heard, even though her humor is a bit over the top, but hey, it’s Carol.
Here is a parallel coaching by Sondheim but it’s the Original Cast recording.
Behind the scenes look at the 1970 recording of “Getting Married Today”, sung by Beth Howland, Steve Elmore and Teri Ralston.
Available on the highly recommended DVD “Company: Original Cast Album”.
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Somewhere I have an old VHS copy of that Guildhall event. He also coached students on “My Friends” from Sweeney Todd and I think, “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music. I’ll bet you can also find those excerpts on YouTube. I don’t remember what else he coached, if anything.
By the way, Roger, it’s weird, but we both have very similar Sondheim-related posts today!
Michael, yes, there were other “Sondheim teaches…” on YouTube, but I wanted to focus on this one song, which is SOOOOO much fun, and funny.
Yeah, definitely the best choice among them. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone match Beth Howland’s tempo in the cast album without having to drop a few syllables.
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Wow. I think that the Carol Burnett version is from “Putting it Together,” the 1992 show that takes songs from a bunch of Sondheim shows and puts them together. Her diction is fantastic, but I think that the tempo is slower, which helps, as does the smaller orchestration. I think that girl in the Guildhall coaching is quite good. I love watching Sondheim watch her.