Customer Reviews

Send in the Clowns: The Ballads of Stephen Sondheim

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Tim Burton's movie version of Sweeney Todd brought back to me just how marvelous Stephen Sondheim's musicality is and what force he has been in the development of musical theatre. I came away from the movie wanting more Sondheim. I found it in Send in the Clowns: The Ballads of Stephen Sondheim. I wanted to hear ballads, songs I could listen to and moon over, to recall just why this music of all theatre music, resonates so well in some of the best of Broadway performers, to hear beauty and depth of feeling. Boy, did this album do the trick.

Not only did I get the best three ballads from Sweeney Todd, I got them with other tracks containing some of the best acting performances I have heard in a long time.

Each ballad is a microcosm of a one-act play and each performance is a mini-lesson in acting, but three of the best are these: Bernadette Peters' "Not a Day Goes By," is an acting lesson in how to build in an out of conflicting emotions in the short span of a song. Mandy Patinkin is almost showing off, he's so good in "Finishing the Hat," a song that has the sharp punctuation of the Pointillist technique of the painter he is playing.

Also worth mentioning in the acting category, is Julie Andrews' quiet and moving "Like it Was."

Barbara Cook is marvelous, as are Cleo Laine's tracks. For sheer listenability, you can get lost in Laine's lush contralto.

And if you need any more reason to get this album, for the theatre student it is a study in musical theatre history.

If you're a Sondheim ballad fan, this a must-have. While there are a few renditions that aren't great (Not a Day Goes By is way overdone), the selections from Follies sung by Barbara Cook are outstanding. The Cleo Laine version of "Send in the Clowns" is lovely and Stephen Collins does an amazing good job on "Sorry-Grateful" from Company. Still, it's the Follies songs that truly shine!

Interesting compilation of Sondheim ballads with a great variety of artists - from the incomparable Cleo Laine and Barbara Cook to singers you've never heard of who are equally impressive.

It's taken me a few years to appreciate Sondheim, but I've come to enjoy his talent and work very much. It is nice to have this collection on the same CD and it's quite enjoyable.

If you've ever wanted to hear "Send in the Clowns" sung in 4/4, Cleo Laine's rendition is your lucky day. Stephen Collins' affecting "Sorry-Grateful" is well worth hearing, as Julie Andrews' tender "Like it Was," but George Hearn's strained "Too Many Mornings" should have gone into the 'discard' pile.

I wish that I were able to buy all Stephen Sondheim musical soundtracks, but this is one of the best. It's one that you'll want to sing along with at home or in the car. Buy it, I can assure you that you won't regret it.