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For Sondheim Fans

 Are you interested in the new Lapine book and certain you'll never read it? I've tried to assemble the juiciest bits here.


Who was the patron saint of "Sunday in the Park with George"? Easy. It was Bernadette Peters. No one has anything cross to say about Bernadette. She seems to have been a Textbook Definition of Professional Conduct, start to finish. Mandy was besotted. Critics were besotted. When the show won the Pulitzer, Bernadette turned up at the stage door to kiss James Lapine (even though Bernadette had left the production by this point).


Who was the biggest diva? Mandy Patinkin. The Times mentions that Patinkin was so insufferable, stagehands wanted to drop a bag of sand on his head. Noted, but how about this? Patinkin claims that "Lesson No. 8" is a stunning achievement, more stunning than "Finishing the Hat." Who believes this? Only Mandy Patinkin. Irritating.


What do we learn about Sondheim? SS smokes pot. He wanted to leave the theater after "Merrily," not because of the failure, but because critics were so mean about the failure. ("People were so bugged by my success. They wanted me to fail. Who wants to be in a business like that?")


During Sondheim's tantrum, his agent took him to a meal. She gave him tough love. "If you Make a Statement by Dropping Out.....do you know who will care? Just two people. You yourself--and your agent." This makes me think of Ruth Reichl. "Writers can be so pretentious and self-important, it's good for them to see their words on newsprint. That's because--within twelve hours--that same newspaper will be wrapped around someone's fish-fry."


To Sondheim's credit, he ditched the tantrum. 


(Obviously, I loved Lapine's book, though I wish I could have heard from Annaleigh Ashford....)

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