Opening Doors
The house lights in the theatre dim; as the first chords of the musical score
are sounded by the orchestra, the curtain rises to reveal a world called
"musical theatre." The next five or ten minutes are crucial, for it is
during this time, referred to in Broadway jargon as "the opening number,"
that the creators of the piece must reach out to the audience and draw it
into this rarefied world. The opening number will set the style, the tone,
the mood for what follows. Most importantly, a good opening number will
state what an audience is going to witness and how this story will be told.
Stephen Sondheim can arguably be considered the finest composer/lyricist
currently writing for the American musical theatre. Over the course of some
30 odd years and 15 produced works, written solely by himself or in
collaboration with others, he has fine-tuned the art and skill necessary to
create an opening number that succinctly states the theme and style of the
show which will develop from it. Through an examination of the beginning
sequences of many of his works, one may more fully understand how this
delicate and often mysterious balancing act can be achieved.
With his very first solo venture, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum, Sondheim hit the bull's eye with the rollicking "Comedy Tonight."
The title itself categorically defines the essence of this musical farce
inspired by the plays of the ancient comic writer, Plautus. The song's
straightforward lyrics ("Something familiar/Something peculiar...
Old situations/New complications...") and bouncing rhythm reminiscent of
burlesque or vaudeville make the audience immediately aware that low pranks
are waiting around each bend of the musical's complicated plot twists.
Furthermore, the brash, brassy tone of "Comedy Tonight" establishes a musical
style which perfectly complements the zaniness of Forum's book and its
source material. This style, begun in the opening number, subsequently
permeates the entire score, most notably in songs like "Free" and
"Everybody Ought to Have a Maid."
It is perhaps significant to note that "Comedy Tonight" was the third
opening song written for Forum. Two others, "Love Is in the Air"
and "Invocation," were discarded prior to the musical's Broadway premiere.
Craig Zadan in Sondheim & Co. reveals that the show's creators,
Sondheim, Larry Gelbart, and Burt Shevelove, judged the former song to
be too melodically lilting and lyrically whimsical and the latter not to
be--as the musical's director, George Abbott, so tersely put it--"hummable."
For these reasons, the production team opted for "Comedy Tonight," an opening
number that would more accurately convey both the style and substance of the
low comedy to follow. (Ironically, the melody of "Love is in the Air"
remains as underscoring to the opening dialogue of the second act.)
One can readily deduce that, even in this early stage of his development,
Sondheim realized the vital importance of a strong opening sequence.
Whatever their individual flaws, the majority of his subsequent works
feature opening numbers that possess strong, clear statements of both style
and purpose. By surveying Sondheim's body of work from Forum to his
more recent score for Assassins, one can discover distinct structural
patterns which aid in his creation of effective opening sequences.
With the exception of Sunday in the Park with George and Anyone Can
Whistle, all of Sondheim's musicals immediately introduce the entire
population of their respective worlds. This musical community commences
to set the agenda for the story and issues to be developed: For example,
Sweeney Todd's ensemble delivers a ballad which directs the audience to
"Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd;" Pacific Overtures's chorus reveals the
placid isolationism of nineteenth century Japan, entoning:In the middle of
the world we float... In the middle of the sea... Wars are being won, Things
are being done Somewhere out there, not here. In his opening sequences,
however, Sondheim uses the ensemble in differing ways. Sometimes it acts,
more or less, as a single unit as in Sweeney Todd or Merrily We Roll
Along, where the ensemble's singular nature sets off in stark relief the
struggles of the musicals' main characters (i.e., Sweeney, Franklin Shepard).
In other instances the ensemble is particularized. Company's
protagonist, Robert, is surrounded by five married couples and three
girlfriends whom Sondheim individualizes in the opening number by the
way in which they address the main character: "Robert," "Bob," "Bobby,"
"Kiddo," "Bobby Baby," "Angel," etc. In Into the Woods the
complicated exposition of its decentralized narrative is economically
handled by the Narrator who introduces each character specifically by name.
The characters then proceed to reveal their individual personalities and
stories within the context of the opening song.
The structure of Sondheim's musicals essentially falls into one of two
formats--the narrative or the revue. Consequently, the content of the
opening number differs for each format; the narrative emphasizes plot,
while the revue stresses thematic considerations. For example, in
Merrily We Roll Along, the opening sequence sets in motion a narrative
structure that will trace (albeit backwards)
Franklin Shepard's progression from an idealistic young composer to a
cynical middle-aged movie producer. Sondheim has the ensemble ask the
proverbial musical question, "How did you get there from here,
Mr. Shepard ... How did you get to be you?" In the revue-like structure of
ÃAssassinsÄ, however, the opening number concerns itself with the
motives behind the abstract concept of political assassination. In it,
a disparate collection of historically real assassins maintains that
"Everybody's Got the Right to Their Dreams."
With his opening numbers Sondheim constructs a solid frame on which he
paints his
musical and thematic ideas. Frequently the musical themes introduced in
the opening sequence will be restated throughout the score, although by no
means do these re-occurrences evolve into mere reprises of hit tunes. Often
Sondheim makes subtle alterations in their lyric content. These changes may
advance the narrative as in Sweeney Todd or may act as signposts that announce
time and place as in ÃMerrily We Roll AlongÄ: "If you look back, you can
see. What is the
moment and where, Mr. Shepard?/ 1973!" In ÃCompanyÄ, the repeated use
of the opening song's "Bobby Baby, Bobby Bubby, Bobby" refrain serves as a
connecting bridge from episode to episode, while in ÃInto the WoodsÄ the
composer begins the second act with an abbreviated and distorted version of
the work's original opening in order to comment ironically on the
characters' fortunes.
Significantly, Sondheim supremely reveals his genius by the way in which
he uses the opening number to map out and particularize an individual
score's style and tone. In ÃPacific OverturesÄ's first song, "The
Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea," the repetition of short
musical and lyric phrases and the use of sharp, percussive rhythms quickly
establish the score's Eastern flavor. These pounding rhythms, juxtaposed
with the haunting use of strings and wood-winds in the song, create a
musical tension that will be repeated throughout the score. The pulsating,
relentless tenacity of "Four Black Dragons" and "Next" stands in marked
contrast to the wistful melancholy of "A Bowler Hat" and "There Is No
Other Way."
The revue-like ÃAssassinsÄ commences with an eerie
calliope treatment of "Hail to the Chief," which blatantly evokes a tone of
Americana and clearly points up the musical's political themes.
This traditional American anthem is reprised twice--once as a rousing
military march and again in the show's climax, where its orchestration
possesses an epic, almost symphonic sweep reminiscent of Copland.
Sondheim encompasses this examination of uniquely American music in
his complete score: the Civil War ballad ("The Ballad of Booth"); the
Sousa march ("How I Saved Roosevelt"); the barber shop quartet ("Gun Song");
the folk song ("The Ballad of Czolgosz"); the spiritual ("The Ballad of
Guiteau"); and even a soft rock ballad ("Unworthy of Your Love").
Beginning with Sweeney Todd, Sondheim develops his musical themes with
increasing complexity, in an almost operatic manner. Musical and lyric
leitmotifs will regularly punctuate his scores, although he does not use
Sweeney ToddÄ's opening number proper to accomplish this aim. With
ÃMerrily We Roll AlongÄ and ÃInto the WoodsÄ, however, several
recurring musical themes directly realize their gestation in their
respective opening sequences. In ÃMerrily We Roll AlongÄ,"The
Hills of Tomorrow" evolves into the title song. With certain harmonic,
rhythmic and lyric augmentation the opening themes, besides serving as
reprises and introductions to songs, also become "Good Thing Going" and
"Our Time."
ÃInto the WoodsÄ features an opening number even
richer in its musical and lyric complexity. Many of the characters are
assigned individual and shared musical themes. For example, the ominous
underscoring of the Witch's entrance and opening dialogue is developed
later into "Lament" and "Stay with Me." Cinderella's plaintive cry of
"I Wish," is shared by the other characters and receives musical and lyric
elaboration in her duet with the Baker's Wife ("He's a Very Nice Prince"),
and her coloratura trilling to her guardian birds carries over to
"Cinderella at the Grave" and also becomes the lament of another
beleaguered heroine, Rapunzel. The main musical theme of the title
song, with its skipping, child-like melody and rhythm forms the
cornerstone of the score, re-echoed in many of Into the Woods'
songs, particularly Little Red Riding Hood's "I Know Things Now" and much
of the Baker's and the Baker's Wife's material such as "It Takes Two" and
"Maybe They're Magic." The obsession with the "Woods" as a source of magic,
danger and enchantment begun in the title song is further developed in
both of the aforementioned songs, as well as "Any Moment" and "Moments in
the Woods."
Throughout the vast body of Stephen Sondheim's work, the composer
deliberately attempts to create opening numbers which draw a precise
blueprint from which to build an entire score. Sondheim's opening numbers,
although each possessing its own unique qualities, all share the stamp of
his brilliance. Through his superb artistry and craftsmanship, he
demonstrates that opening numbers need not resort to a kick-line of
chorus girls in order to lure an audience into its musical comedy universe.
For Sondheim, the opening number continually remains, to quote his character
George Seurat, "...a blank page or canvas/So many possibilities."
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