Sondheim! The Birthday Concert

Over the past half-century, American musical theatre has been largely defined by the shows of Stephen Sondheim. So it's hardly surprising that Broadway chose to honor him with an 80th birthday celebration, held in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in March 2010. Captured for the PBS-aired Great Performances series, the concert features 25 Sondheim songs performed by such luminaries of the Great White Way as Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, George Hearn, Donna Murphy, John McMartin, and Nathan Gunn, among others (many of whom were original performers), accompanied by the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Paul Gemignani. Most of the selections are from Follies (“Too Many Mornings,” “Beautiful Girls,” Sweeney Todd (“Johanna,” “Pretty Women”), and Sunday in the Park with George (“Finishing the Hat,” “Move On”), but there are also pieces from A Little Night Music (“The Glamorous Life”), Into the Woods (“It Takes Two”), Do I Hear a Waltz? (“We're Gonna Be Alright”), and Company (“The Ladies Who Lunch”), as well as “America” from the current revival of West Side Story. Lovers of the obscure will especially appreciate "So Many People" from Sondheim's youthful Saturday Night, as well as “Don't Laugh,” which he helped write for Judy Holliday's 1963 flop Hot Spot. The whole shebang is nicely tied together by witty remarks from polished host David Hyde Pierce. By the time octogenarian Elaine Stritch shows up at the close to deliver a show-stopping rendition of “I'm Still Here,” you can't help being thankful that the joyous words apply to the composer as well as her. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 on Blu-ray, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)