“This is where I sat with Stephen for almost the entire evening—an accidental evening—a legendary evening that almost didn’t happen.” Kurt Peterson delivers these words of introduction to On the Steps of the Shubert: A Short Film Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of “Sondheim: A Musical Tribute” as he stands beside a gilded staircase at the back of the house. The house is Broadway’s legendary Shubert Theatre on West 44th Street—current theatrical home of Broadway’s Tony winning Hell’s Kitchen, and the theatre that housed original Broadway premieres of A Chorus Line, Matilda the Musical, and Some Like it Hot, and many others.
The film’s title itself, On the Steps of the Shubert, appropriately fitting word play on Sondheim’s “On the Steps of the Palace,” is a revealing history of another theatrical triumph on the stage of the Shubert, “Sondheim: A Musical Tribute.” On March 11, 1973, this benefit concert for AMDA (the American Musical and Dramatic Academy) and the National Hemophilia Foundation marked the first of the official Sondheim tribute concerts which, in the decades following, would serve as vehicles to assemble stars of stage, television, and screen up through of the rest of the icon’s life and beyond. And Broadway veteran performer and producer Kurt Peterson and his “A Team,” as he calls them, were there from the very beginning—from commissioning the now iconic “Scrabble pieces” poster design, to assembling mega-wattage star power for the historic concert and resulting Warner Brothers recording.
Advertisement
Narrated by Peterson, the film has the feel of an affectionate love letter to a friend, and educates the audience on how the evening came together—how theatrical legends—onstage and off—came together from all over the world to honor Stephen Sondheim and his catalogue of work, which by that time had not yet even grown to include Sweeney Todd (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1983), Into the Woods (1987) or Passion (1994)—all musicals that feature standard Sondheim “hit” repertoire. In fact, as Peterson recalls, two songs from A Little Night Music (including “Send in the Clowns”) couldn’t be included on the evening’s concert album for legal reasons because the show’s original Broadway cast (OBC) recording was happening simultaneously! Peterson recalls training up to Boston where Sondheim was preparing for previews of Night Music. They met for a long lunch to discuss the concert, and Sondheim excused himself because he needed to get to work on writing a song for Glynis Johns—Peterson muses that it could have been the writer’s iconic, record-smashing hit ballad, “Send in the Clowns.”
And while the film is of immense value in terms of reminisces like that, On the Steps of the Shubert is a content-rich resource for classical and MT voice
students, and for music and arts educators, ranging from voice teachers and repertoire coaches to music appreciation and musical styles instructors. I learned this firsthand last semester teaching music theory to first year MT BFA students at Pace University in NYC. Kurt owns The Voice Studio in NYC where I house my private studio (he’s my studio landlord), and we’ve grown to be close friends, signing our emails with lyrics from Sondheim’s Follies (1971) in which Kurt created and recorded the role of Young Ben. Shortly after completing and releasing the film, I asked him if I could include it as part of a reflective listening/viewing assignment for my theory students. He said yes, and the written responses from the students were so revealing.
Advertisement
As an educator, I was reminded that everything is new to someone at some point. I’ll occasionally take for granted that a piece I think of as standard repertoire is likely totally new for a young theater student. I was delighted as I read my students’ responses—experiencing their reactions to Sondheim’s earlier catalogue, his evolving writing style, and the galaxy of theater makers involved in creating a tribute such as this. Moreover, as a voice teacher, I was heartened to read their reflections on the voices highlighted in the film—specifically Larry Kert’s glorious tenor, soaring through “Something’s Coming” accompanied by Leonard Bernstein at the piano. Using words like “full out,” several of the students reflected on the operatic resonance of some of the singers, noting how it’s both different from and similar to many of the voices heard onstage today. This provided a wide-open window for a wide-ranging conversation on resonance and style.
Between the backstage stories and highlight performances of numbers initially called ‘cutout songs’ like “Marry Me a Little,” On the Steps of the Shubert is an excellent teaching resource, a tribute to Sondheim and the artform he shaped with his genius, and a beautiful, living record of Broadway history.
On the Steps of the Shubert is produced by James William Productions, Stephenie Skyllas, and Claire-Frances Sullivan.
