Careful the Spell You Cast: How Stephen Sondheim Extended the Range of the American Musical

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Dr. Ben Francis (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)

Careful the Spell You Cast

How Stephen Sondheim Extended the Range of the American Musical

Dr. Ben Francis (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)

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English

Methuen Drama
09 March 2023

Theatre Studies; Musicals; Musical scores, lyrics & libretti

Stephen Sondheim is one of the best-known and most-loved musical theatre composers, but also one of the most misunderstood, often being labelled as 'distant' or 'cynical'.

Careful the Spell You Cast instead argues that Sondheim firmly belongs to the Broadway aspirational tradition, in that many of his characters are defined by their dreams: to abandon one's dream (as Ben does in Follies, Frank does in Merrily We Roll Along, and Addison does in Road Show) is to lose one's soul.

Rather than take the established view of Sondheim as a cynic, this book contends that throughout Sondheim's work, letting go of one's illusions is a process that his characters need to go through, that they must cast off illusions and false dreams, without becoming cynical and destroying their genuine dreams in the process. In turn this view aligns Sondheim's work as being aspirational and a logical continuation from the work of his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II.

Following the trajectory of Sondheim's career, Careful the Spell You Cast shows how Sondheim has dramatized this process throughout his writing life alongside different collaborators. From his work as a lyricist with the musicals Gypsy and West Side Story through to his later collaborations with Hal Prince (Company, Follies) and James Lapine (Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George), this book reframes the established view through lyrical and structural analysis in relation to the characters within each of these celebrated works of musical theatre, arguing that Sondheim is, in the popular sense of the word, a romantic within the tradition of the Broadway musical.

By: Dr. Ben Francis (Goldsmiths University of London UK)
Imprint: Methuen Drama
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781350281813
ISBN 10: 1350281816
Pages: 184
Publication Date: 09 March 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface 1. Oscar Hammerstein: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark 2. Arthur Laurents: We'll Find a Way of Beginning 3. Howard Prince: Are We a Pair? 4. Burt Shevelove: Nothing That's Grim 5. James Goldman: The Decades Fly 6. George Furth: Someday Just Begun 7. Hugh Wheeler: How Civilised Men Behave 8. John Weidman: Where's My Prize? 9. James Lapine: I Think I See a Glimmer Conclusion

Ben Francis is a teacher of English. He has contributed to Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies (2014) and Oxford Handbook of the British Musical (2016), as well as Christopher Hampton: Dramatic Ironist (1996)