So, as a child of Hollywood, Broadway has always been a place of lore. The past few weeks I've been watching what I can of this fantastic show. Susan, you are are a master, knowing what fans of the theater fan and need. And Jesse Green...smart and handsome!

Great episode and the best writer on the history of Broadway metinks. ;)

Allegro was ahead of its time.

Susan Haskins Theater Talk was Marvelous ,a breath of fresh air- that they pulled it is criminal

Wow..he is EXCITED!!

the man is brilliant !

I find that in any field, whether it's the arts, the sciences or whatever, that there always has to be a nay-sayer in the crowd. I often wonder if some of these folk have no real opinions at all and nay-say just for the sake of it.

"kind of thing"

When Sondheim dies there will be an explosion of revivals and tributes but I think his post-Gypsy shows may not prove as lasting as many think. For all of his extravagant gifts he also has serious limitations. His melodic facility is meager, a deficiency he tries to remedy with pseudo impressionist harmonies and academically approved dissonance, and he has little sympathy for female characters aside from post menopausal bitches and an occasional prepubescent girl. Few things date worse than yesterday's avant-gardeism so it's hard to believe shows like Passion, Assassins, Pacific Overtures or Merrily will have much of a life in the future.. He always comes up with some striking songs but they are stranded in quirky shows with problematic stories, little heart and few distinctive or memorable characters. This is probably why his songs have mostly made their mark outside of the shows for which they were written, in revues and anthologies like Side by Side by Sondheim. Unless I'm forgetting something, Sondheim has never even tried to write a musical book, which his mentor Hammerstein did so brilliantly. After Arthur Laurents the only first-rate book writer he worked with was Hugh Wheeler, which is why Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music are easily the best and most revivable of his mature period. It's unfortunate he spent most of his career collaborating with second raters like John Weidman and George Furth. The claims for his music are overblown. It's occasionally inspired and always interesting except in pretentious misfires like Assassins and Roadshow, with their almost shockingly weak scores. But as Mark Steyn bluntly observed, the only place Sondheim could be considered a serious composer is on Broadway. Sondheim is a fascinating and unique figure in musical theater but, in spite of his being the most famous, fashionable and adored figure in late twentieth-century American Theater, i think history will conclude that he is not on the level of an Oscar Hammerstein, Rodgers or Gershwin or Bernstein.

sondheim overhyped feeble lyricist- who is generating comparisons with dante... insane