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I am putting together a list of Sondheim-related or adjacent movies to binge.
Sharing here in case anyone has more suggestions or wants to steal some ideas for Sondheim geeking out between productions. Excuse the typos. I am lazy.
What films am I missing?
-
Dick Tracey
-last of Sheila
-Glass onion
-Into the woods
-Forum
-evening primrose
-Lady bird
-Sweeney Todd
-Company - cast album documentary
-west side story
-little night music
-Gypsy
-Marriage story
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Tick tick boom has some good sondheim appreciation if that counts!
Yeah it counts!
yeah he’s literally a character lol😭
Camp. Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened. Six by Sondheim
I love Camp. "Is that your dad?" "No, that's Stephen Sondheim"
The Birdcage. Nathan Lane sang Can That Boy Foxtrot in it.
Williams and Christine Baranski sing another Sondheim song in the movie, Love Is In The Air (cut from forum) when he visits her at her work.
Shirley MacLaine sings “I’m Still Here” with some lyrics personalized for her character in Postcards from the Edge
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
It's the basis for A Little Night Music.
Nice!
Also the film version of A Little Night Music with Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Rigg!
I've always heard the film version is not good. Do you think it's worth watching?
It’s alright, it’s beautifully shot and designed in gorgeous Austria and Diana Rigg is amazing. However Elizabeth Taylor isnt at her best and it definitely detracts. The music is, of course, stunning.
jimbeatson@gmail.com says: This movie is way too much maligned. I loved the movie, as almost all of the cast are excellent. And it's only Liz who is a bit less than perfect but still not too bad given the terrible sickness that she went through for a long period.
Also it rules
Not a movie, but Documentary Now has an episode that’s a parody of the Company documentary, called Co-op.
The pro-shot of Merrily We Roll Along from 2013 is on YouTube!
Not a movie, but most episode titles of Desperate Housewives refer to Sondheim song titles or lyrics
Thats amazing
In Jersey Girl the daughter performs Sweeney Todd for her school’s talent show. (I think it was… or something like that.)
There's a episode of the Office where Andy performs in a community theater production of Sweeney Todd, if OP wants TV as well.
Another TV one, an episode in season 1 of the Morning Show, Jennifer Aniston sings Not While I'm Around.
I’ll have to look for those!
Documentary Now - Co-op
Trust me it’s amazing!!
There’s always Six by Sondheim! And some other proshots available on YouTube such as Passion and Pacific Overtures.
There’s a documentary of the Lincoln Center Follies from 1985
Stavisky is a 1974 crime/thriller movie that Stephen Sondheim wrote the score for. To my knowledge it’s the only project where he ever did music, but no lyrics.
I didn’t know that
The Seven-Per-Cent-Solution included The Madame's Song (I Never Do Anything Twice).
“Here We Are” is based on the films “The Exterminating Angel” and “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie”
Documentary Now! has a mockumentary of the Company cast recording documentary. No joke, it was my gateway to Sondheim.
Cast includes Taran Killam, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Alex Brightman, Paula Pell, Richard Kind, and John Mulaney. It’s so spot on.
Sounds amazing!
Dick Tracy
Madonna famously said she hated the Sondheim song Sooner or Later. She retracted it but I think there was no love lost between them.
She was not a good choice to sing it
Her performance of it at the Oscars was brilliant, though. One of her best.
Paddington 2
Krusty gets cancelled - Simpsons
Joker (honestly one of the most embarrassing uses of music in cinema - can probably avoid it)
Co-op the musical - documentary now episode written by John mulaney and Seth Meyers (he also plays a Sondheim type character) great music too
The first knives out also features a song from follies
Reds - Sondheim wrote the score
Nice list! Why Paddington 2?
Not OP but assuming they listed it bc the main villain is a washed up West End actor who sings "Rain on the Roof" from Follies numerous times throughout.
It's also a masterpiece.
The song that Hugh Grant sings is from follies
Theater Camp - I found it at least amusing and there are some relevant jokes. Also the older/similar movie, Camp, where Sondheim shows up at the camp.
“Being Alive” from Company was sung in Marriage Story
And You Can Drive a Person Crazy!
Someone made a really good list on letterboxd like this here!
Ooohhhh! Thank you
Marriage Story and Ladybird both feature Sondheim songs
Just watched Lady Bird today! The use of Merrily was great. I was pleasantly surprised by how much Merrily there was and I loved the scene where the director laments that the PTA crowd didn’t get it 😅.
I think it was a perfect choice for the themes of the movie.
In Joker, the people on the subway sing Send In The Clowns
I genuinely think this is one of the most embarrassing uses of music in cinema history. The finance bros know every lyric to a show tune and sing 3-4 verses perfectly while trying to be intimidating?
Lol. Haven’t seen it but it sounds funny not intimidating
It’s so cringe, it’s intended to be intimidating but misses the mark
Playing Devil's Advocate: The film is set in the '80s. The finance bros. would've been adolescents/young teens in the '70s, growing up around fancy parents (and ladies who lunch) who most definitely would've exposed them to "Send in the Clowns," especially the covers.
See I did think that, the song won the Grammy for song/record of the year so it was clearly a massive hit, but think of a song that’s 5ish years old now, could you sing 3-4 verses with perfect lyrics or would you just go for the famous chorus?
I think of famous recent songs and I’d probably know half the lyrics if I was singing along. Hell, I’m a theatre nerd and I couldn’t recite send in the clowns that effortlessly
"The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"—sondheim wrote the song "I Never Do Anything Twice" for it! i'm actually awfully fond of it
I'd also like to add Reds, for which Sondheim wrote the instrumentals.
He plays a prominent part in Dimension 20s unsleeping city! He's a fae bard with a big ass sword. Fun stuff.
"The Last of Sheila"--Sondheim wrote the screenplay with Anthony Perkins.
June Havoc’s movies.
Awesome fact: June Havoc, néé Hovick, was an actress and Gypsy Rose Lee’s younger sister. Yep, Baby June. As an adult, she played Mrs. Lovett on a national tour. That’s right. A Sondheim character literally played a Sondheim character.
That is the best fact I have ever heard
Luis Bunuel’s Exterminating Angel and the Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
Sondheim himself makes a cameo in Knives Out 2: Glass Onion (none of his music used, though)
In American Horror Story: Delicate Part 1, Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian (!) sing "Sooner or Later" while trying on clothes
In The Politician Season 1, Ben Platt and Zoey Deutch perform "Unworthy of Your Love" for their school play of "Assassins"
The two Buñuel films that Here We Are was adapted from
There was an episode of So You Think You Can Dance where they did an amazingly haunting Send in the Clowns number where someone dies and goes to clown heaven.