Sondheim attended the George School, where he wrote his first musical at the age of 15, By George, parodying the school's denizens. He proudly showed the script to his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein, and asked him to review it as if it was a musical written by a stranger. Hammerstein reviewed it and pronounced it the worst thing he had ever read. He said it wasn't untalented, just bad, and he proceeded to go through the script line by line with Sondheim. Sondheim has said that he learned more about writing musicals in that one afternoon than most people learn in a lifetime. The show was performed at the George School on May 25, 1946.
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| George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania |
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community forum: Finishing the Chat... ››
“Assassins is about how society interprets the American Dream, marginalizes outsiders and rewrites and sanitizes its collective history. "Something Just Broke" is a major distraction and plays like an afterthought, shoe horned simply to appease. The song breaks the dramatic fluidity and obstructs the overall pacing and climactic arc which derails the very intent and momentum that makes this work so compelling...”
- Mark Bakalor
“I found [the Sondheim Celebration's Company] to be completely delightful. Almost all of the numbers excited and energized me, and most of the scenes were about as pitch-perfect as you can get. I just sat there with a big smile on my face the whole show.
Which is not to say that it is perfect...”
- popcornonmyknees
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