Celebrating Sondheim at 80

Screening Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 1:00 pm; Thursdays at 5:30 pm

FREE for Paley Center Members
Included with general admission 

The Paley Center is pleased to salute the great composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim on the occasion of his 80th birthday on March 22.

March 19 to 21
Sondheim’s Early Work and Evening Primrose
This screening package includes the song “The Two of You,” written in 1952 for the children’s program Kukla, Fran & Ollie; a London Weekend Television Theatreland segment on the 1997 Bridewell Theatre production of Sondheim’s musical Saturday Night; an episode of Topper (CBS, 1954) and Rendezvous: “In An Early Winter” (NBC, 1959), both written by Sondheim; and his only musical written expressly for television: Evening Primrose (ABC, 1966), starring Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr. (115 minutes)

March 24 to 28
A Conversation with Stephen Sondheim
This seminar was taped at the Paley Center (then The Museum of Television & Radio) in March 2000, in honor of Stephen Sondheim’s 70th birthday. The evening begins with a thirty-minute highlight tape of Sondheim’s work on television, after which Mr. Sondheim joins museum president Robert M. Batscha onstage to discuss his life and career. Among the topics covered are Sondheim’s relationship with his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II, his collaborations with various actors (including Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Anthony Perkins, and Angela Lansbury) and directors Hal Prince and James Lapine on his musicals, his take on the London productions of his work versus the New York productions, his thoughts on opera, and the future of live theater. (2000; 105 minutes)

March 31 to April 4
Anatomy of a Song and A Little Night Music
In Camera Three: Anatomy of a Song (CBS, 1976), Sondheim talks to host Frank Rich about the creative process—specifically the novel technique he devised to tell the story of the signing of a Japanese-American treaty in the song “Someone in a Tree” for the Broadway show Pacific Overtures. Another Sondheim show, A Little Night Music, is spotlighted on a forty-five minute episode of Pebble Mill (BBC1, 1996)—about the Royal National Theatre production of A Little Night Music starring Judi Dench. Also, an excerpt from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC, 1973) features D’Jamin Bartlett singing “The Miller’s Son”; and on The Best of Broadway (PBS, 1982) Glynis Johns and Len Cariou perform “Send in the Clowns.” (105 minutes)