I have piles of books to review that publishers have sent me in the past few weeks as launch parties have been cancelled and publicity thrown into chaos. My own daughter's book, of which more later, falls into this category so I have a lot of reading to do. But I decided that before I embark on this I would take time to celebrate the 90th birthday of Stephen Sondheim.
Many years ago a friend of mine rang me up "I have got two tickets to the opening night of the UK opening of A Little Night Music, would you like to come with me?" I knew nothing about it, nothing about Sondheim but a free night at a London theatre was not to be sniffed at so off I went. And oh how wonderful it was. It took a while to acclimitise to 
his style, his lyrics and the cross cutting of sung dialogue and wit but once you tune it, it is wonderful.
Jean Simmons was in the role of Desiree, an aging actress who discovers too late that she still loves an old flame who now has a young wife. Towards the end of the performance she sings Send in the Clowns. When the opening chord was played by the orchestra a hush fell on the audience and before she even started to sing I had a lump in my throat. I rank this song as one of the most perfect and moving every written. Last week the Proms showed a concert first broadcast on the occasion of Sondheim's 80th birthday and Judi Dench sang it. I was in tears.
My ex who is a singer came home in great delight many years ago as he had landed a small role and an understudy in the London production of Follies which I regard as nothing short of a masterpiece. This show pays tribute to the women who became Ziegfeld Follies singers and dancers (here they are called the Weisman girls) and is set in a theatre where they used to perform and which is due for demolition. Follies follows two couples, Phyllis and Ben and Sally and Buddy, who met and married during the Follies but who have never been satisfied with their choices or their lives.
The show is packed with stunning set pieces and songs starting with 'Hats off here they come, those Beautiful girls' . Anyone who knows Singing in the Rain will recognise the pastiche of one of the numbers in this film where we have a parade of lovely girls dressed as Winter, September, Spring and Summer. The show has double casting, a young Phyllis, Ben, Sally and Buddy to contrast with how they are now. Most of the best songs are reserved for the 
women, 'Broadway Baby', 'Mirror, Mirror on the Wall' and a simply heart stopping 'One last Waltz' which sounds like faux-Richard Strauss and is a quite beautiful song. However, the biggy is 'I'm Still Here'. This is sung by the main diva in the show charting divorce, scandal, alcoholism and begging on the streets, but hey 'I'm Still Here'. I saw Eartha Kitt do this night after night when my ex was in the show in the West End back in the 90s and she brought the house down every single time.
It is a show full of regrets, bitterness and nostalgia and has resonances for me. When I saw it, my two daughters were 8 and 10, we went to see the show with their Dad in it several times and they knew the words and music better than the artistes themselves by the end of the run, and it was such a lovely time in my life, so I tend to find it makes me rather sad when I see it, which is a shame as it is wonderful.
I was lucky enough to have a seat for the last night of the run in the West End and everyone was on top form. The entire audience was full of aficionados who had obviously seen it dozens of times, loved it and knew the songs and by the end of the evening for the big revival of Beautfiul Girls the entire audience was on their feet singing. Quite stunning. But for me, the evening did not end there. The producer, Cameron MacIntosh threw a lavish after show party on stage and I found myself mingling and drinking champagne with Eartha Kitt, Millicent Martin, Daniel Massey and other assorted luminaries who had come to see the show. Stephen Sondheim attended and I ended up chatting to him for about 10 minutes about the different versions of the show (the earlier one had a darker ending with a breakdown of one of the characters but this was deemed not acceptable for this run) and I told him I preferred the earlier ending and he was delighted to hear it. The sign of a person with good manners is their total attention and that is what Stephen Sondheim gave me. Not once did his eyes stray past me searching for someone more interesting and famous to talk to, and believe me everyone else came in that category! It was thrilling.
The best part was at the end of the party. The musical director sat at the white grand piano on the stage and started to play songs from the shows. I ended up leaning on the piano with the cast singing songs from Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific etc. It was sheer magic and I do not think I have ever spent a more wonderful, unforgettable night.
Last year my elder daughter in Australia bought me two tickets for Follies at the National Theatre for my birthday and I took my younger daughter. It was superb but a bittersweet memory of happier times which echoes the feeling of the piece. I spent most of the afternoon on the verge of tears and afterwards my daughter said Oh Mum I had forgotten just how marvellous it was. And she was right. It was and it is.
Both my girls like Sondheim – when they were small I took them to see Sweeney Todd which looking back was probably not a good idea………
But they survived.
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