Gail is a natural born teacher and scholar. When you combine that excellence in pedagogy and scholarship with her evident passion for and knowledge of Sondheim and musical theatre in general, you get a phenomenal, enriching experience that simultaneously delights and enlightens. I look forward with gusto to each presentation!
Em (Peer Learner)
Gail shares her love of Stephen Sondheim’s works with irresistible joy. She knows her subject thoroughly, but her presentation is never dull. Well-chosen videos, personal anecdotes, and reference material contribute to an inform-ative and stimulating classroom experience.
Barb (Lifelong Learner)
Gail’s teaching is superb! Her enthusiasm and complete delight with Sondheim is conveyed through a variety of well-researched and fascinating facts and musical examples to reinforce concepts. She invites participants to engage in discussion through pointed questions, thereby creating an atmosphere of thoughtfulness and fun!
Liz Diamond, Music teacher (Rainbow Lifelong Learning Institute Boston)
I was enthralled by Gail's presentation of Sondheim and the things he invented. I went from Sondheim ignorance to Sondheim fandom due to Gail's course.
John (Lifelong Learner)
An introduction to Stephen Sondheim: Jumping off with a close look at Sondheim’s most popular song, “Send in the Clowns,” this class will demonstrate a number of methods one might use to scrutinize any of Sondheim’s compositions.
Gypsy: We will look at key songs from Gypsy to demonstrate that Sondheim brings a playwright’s sensibility to his lyrics.
Company a new musical based on an old one: What does it mean for a show to be “Alive?” Company, originally produced 1970, was groundbreaking for its time. But ever since its initial production, which was very much of its time, the show has never been as alive as it is now, with the new “gender-swapped” production, in which Bobby-with-a-y becomes an unmarried 35-year-old woman, Bobbie-with-an-ie.
Sondheim’s relationship to the musical theatre tradition and Follies: Using Follies as a focus, we’ll learn about pastiche and how Sondheim has engaged with the musical theatre tradition, only to usher it into a new era.
Puzzles, mysteries and Sweeney Todd: We’ll discover how Sondheim’s love of puzzles and mysteries expresses itself in Sweeney Todd.
Putting it Together: Sunday in the Park with George.
Sondheim described the 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical as “A love story developing over the course of 100 years.” We’ll explore how Sondheim’s music bridges the temporal gap, making a satisfying whole out of two parts that might seem disparate.
West Side Story: documenting Sondheim’s maturation. A look at some of Sondheim's lyrics for West Side Story, which he wrote when he was just 26 years old. Since the show was written, more or less in chronological order, we can watch Sondheim grow as a lyricist as he came into his own while collaborating.
A Little Night Music: Sondheim disrupts conventions of the musical theatre song.
We’ll explore how Sondheim messes with audience expectations in this 1973 musical
by giving us something that, on the outset, seems familiar, but rendering it just strange enough to make us sit up and pay attention.
Pacific Overtures: Sondheim as problem-solver.
We’ll look at how Sondheim solved problems related to subject matter and libretto, using the 1976 musical, Pacific Overtures as an example. And we’ll see how he made an entire universe out of a few concrete images.
Merrily We Roll Along: Content dictates form.
We’ll discover that not only does the story of Merrily We Roll Along run backwards, but the musical itself runs backwards, with reprises occurring even before the song on which they are based. We’ll also look at how Sondheim’s modular writing (musical ideas that recur) helps audiences follow the musical’s backwards structure, and adds poignancy and depth to the show.
Into the Woods: “A Playwright in Song”
Using Into the Woods as a focus, we’ll take a look at how Sondheim functions as “A Playwright in Song” using both lyrics and music to tell stories. We’ll spend some time with Sondheim’s delightful wordplay to see how it serves not only character and plot, but also helps articulate the theme of the musical.
Assassins: We’ll examine how Sondheim depends upon our knowledge of American song forms to deliver a punch in this powerful musical. We’ll discover that Sondheim’s distinctive use of pastiche (a respectful imitation of a previous work) is the realization of one of his key precepts: Content Dictates Form.
Road Show: How Sondheim uses pastiche (a respectful imitation of songs from a previous era) to critique American Exceptionalism.
Anyone Can Whistle: Examining Sondheim’s biggest flop helps us anticipate the sophistication that would mark his later successes.