A plethora of Broadway performers came together online to celebrate the 90th birthday of the most influence musical-theater songwriter of his era, Stephen Sondheim. The event, titled Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, presented by Broadway.com as a fundraiser for ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), had some technical issues when in premiered on April 26, but it’s now available on YouTube, and it is gorgeous and spectacular yet intimate and casual at the same time.
The stellar cast is informally dressed, performing from a variety of settings including libraries, bedrooms, studies, even bathrooms. The poignant lyrics and complex yet affecting music take on added significance in the current circumstances, particularly the title song as soulfully performed by host Raul Esparza. The sweet number is from a little-known TV special called “Evening Primrose” about a group of misfits hiding in a department store. The character singing yearns to be released from isolation and into the outside world. Even sadder is Laura Benanti’s moving rendition of “I Remember,” also from “Primrose,” in which the same person recalls the simple pleasures of walking outside. When Chip Zien and Bernadette Peters from the original cast of Into the Woods achingly warble songs of hope despite chaos, it evokes tears and fears. When the show opened in 1987, the menacing giant destroying the fairy-tale kingdom was seen as a metaphor for AIDS, now it’s another illness, just as deadly and divisive.
Other highlights include Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep, and Audra McDonald boozing it up in bathrobes for “The Ladies Who Lunch” from Company; Mandy Patinkin singing “Lesson #8” from Sunday in the Park with George a cappella with his dog in his backyard; Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein as a separate-but-together duo act of “It Takes Two”; Randy Rainbow putting his own hilarious spin on Mrs. Lovett’s “By the Sea” from Sweeney Todd; Patti LuPone tenderly delivering “Anyone Can Whistle”; and Neil Patrick Harris wickedly camping it up for “The Witches’ Rap” with his two children. That’s just a small sampling of the riches offered.
Paul Wontorek is credited with the monumental task of directing this delightful crazy quilt and the finale is a rousing tribute to the resilience of the theater community with dozens of Broadway stalwarts ranging from 11-year-old Iain Armitage of “Young Sheldon” to 74-year-old Andre De Shields of Hadestown belting out “I’m Still Here” from Follies, the ultimate survivor song.
