[Newsletter] Things That Are Good #28

Stephen Sondheim

Welcome to Things That Are Good — a weekly note where I share a few of the health-related ideas, tools, and obsessions currently on my mind. Each issue includes 3 or 4 things I personally recommend (and for now, I’m not affiliated with any of the products I mention).

While Amazon links are often included, I always encourage people to shop locally (not that I always do) and, particularly in the case of books, shop at independent bookstores.

I always appreciate feedback and love suggestions.

Each edition begins with a quote, followed by a mix of recommendations related to the body, books, food, or sleep.

Quote of the Week:

I had a strained relationship with my father. He was a kind man with a raging temper—hard of hearing, overweight, and, in retrospect, probably clinically depressed.

My siblings are five and seven years older than I am, and I think they knew him better. Our lack of connection came from both of us struggling to express ourselves—a fact I regret deeply.

One thing he did pass on to me, though, was a love of musical theater. Back in the day—before you had to take out a loan to see a play on Broadway—I often woke up to find a playbill on the kitchen table from a show my parents had seen the night before. My sister still has the album covers from some of his favorite musicals framed on her wall.

I often say I pray to many gods, and most of them play guitar. But one of them plays piano—and wrote the music and lyrics for some of the best musicals of the 20th century.

This week’s newsletter is a bit of an indulgence—a chance to share my admiration for the genius of Stephen Sondheim. We recently saw a production of Sunday in the Park with George, the show for which Sondheim won the Pulitzer Prize. It has a breathtaking first act and a difficult second act, but, like with all his works, I’d go anytime it comes through town.

Sondheim was both composer and lyricist. If you don’t know his plays, his most famous song is probably Send in the Clowns (from A Little Night Music). And it’s likely you know the lyrics he wrote for West Side Story—when he was just twenty-seven years old. Those words are embedded in the American consciousness:

When you’re a Jet,
You’re a Jet all the way,
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin’ day.

My favorite of his works is Company, a show that arguably reinvented the American musical, and includes what I think is one of the most honest songs ever written about marriage—“Sorry-Grateful.” It’s bittersweet, perceptive, and achingly human:

[ROBERT, spoken]

Harry, you ever sorry you got married?

[HARRY]

You’re always sorry

You’re always grateful

You’re always wondering what might have been

Then she walks in

And still you’re sorry

And still you’re grateful

And still you wonder and still you doubt

And she goes out

Everything’s different

Nothing’s changed

Only maybe slightly

Rearranged

You’re sorry-grateful

Regretful-happy

Why look for answers where none occur?

You always are what you always were

Which has nothing to do with

All to do with her

[DAVID]

You’re always sorry

You’re always grateful

You hold her, thinking, “I’m not alone”

You’re still alone

You don’t live for her

You do live with her

You’re scared she’s starting to drift away—

And scared she’ll stay

[LARRY]

Good things get better

Bad get worse

Wait—I think I meant that in reverse

[HARRY, DAVID & LARRY]

You’re sorry-grateful

Regretful-happy

Why look for answers where none occur?

You’ll always be what you always were

Which has nothing to do with

All to do with her

[HARRY & LARRY]

You’ll always be what you always were

Which has nothing to do with

All to do with her

[HARRY]

Nothing to do with

All to do with her

Video: Sorry/Grateful

He also wrote Sweeney Todd, and here’s a video featuring the incomparable Angela Lansbury. When my daughter Ida was ten or eleven, I took her to a production at the Barrow Street Theater in the West Village, where the audience was part of the show. We sat right up front at long trestle tables, and during the Beggar Woman’s first appearance, she locked eyes with Ida, came right up to her, and sang directly to her. It’s a memory neither of us will ever forget.

Video: The Worst Pies In London

And Into The Woods with Bernadette Peters.

Video: No One Is Alone

One of my favorite ballads from Assassins is “Unworthy of Your Love,” a haunting duet between John Hinckley Jr. and Squeaky Fromme (of the Manson Family). My wife and I used to drive around singing it on repeat.

Video: Unworthy Of Your Love

And Follies. This video is Marin Mazzie singing Losing My Mind.

Video: Losing My Mind

I could go on and on but I will leave you with one more from a documentary about the making of Company, which is a great watch.

Video: Not Getting Married

If you want to watch a Sondheim interview, here is one with the Actor’s Studio from 1994. I could watch him talk about art and writing for hours.

Stephen Sondheim Interview

Book: Finishing The Hat Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim

Finishing The Hat contains the complete lyrics to all of Sondheim’s work. My wife bought it for me when it first came out, and unfortunately, it is now languishing in a box in our basement due to my obsession with clutter, or a lack thereof. I might have to go and find it.

That’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed this, and feedback is always welcome.

All the best,

Jonathan