Sondheim At The Movies

There have been so many tributes to and compilations of the work of Stephen Sondheim that you'd think all ideas were exhausted, but this one comes up with a new wrinkle: instead of the usual theater music, we have music written for the screen, large and small. Admittedly, Sondheim hasn't done much work for film and television, but he has done some, including his Oscar-winning music from Dick Tracy and an original television musical, Evening Primrose. That material is here, along with stray tunes from other efforts, among them a so-far-unproduced film, Singing Out Loud. As usual, the songs were written for specific characters and scenes, but also as usual, Sondheim's lyrical wit and musical invention are apparent. For example, there's "It Takes All Kinds," an uptempo song written for, but not used in, the 1996 film The Bird Cage, a typically clever lyric set to an unusually danceable beat. The mostly little-known singers include some theater and cabaret veterans who handle the songs well. ~ William Ruhlmann|