The stunningly prolific musical theater genius Stephen Sondheim has something up his sleeve. But he’s not telling us what it is. Not exactly. Not just yet.
“”It’s an idea I’ve had for a long time and it springs indirectly from a moment in a play of David [Ives’s],” Sondheim revealed yesterday. Sondheim and Ives will be collaborating: he has “20 or 30 minutes” written, he told the London Evening Standard.
What play? What moment? Sondheim isn’t saying, and Ives has no comment. But maybe you, Mr. or Ms. Washington Theater Lover, have an opinion – seeing as you’ve had a chance to see much of the Ives oeuvre.
David Ives, in this interview, said ““all plays are about debates, and debates about fundamental values.”
So let the debate begin. Show your fundamental values.
Here’s how this works. We’ve listed the plays by David Ives below. (When Sondheim said it was a play, we took him literally and assumed he’s not thinking about any of Ives’ books for musicals.)
Vote for the Ives play you think should be the basis for Sondheim’s next musical. Then, in the comments section, mention the specific play and describe the scene which you think Sondheim will use as his jumping off point. You can only vote once.
[poll id=49 /]
Of course, Sondheim’s not going to listen to you. He’s already made his selection. But if your choice turns out to be the same as Sondheim’s, that means your taste is as good as his. Isn’t that a kick in the pants?
Plus, we have a valuable prize for the winners. We’d like to provide you dinner with Sondheim, but frankly we don’t have the pull to put together such an arrangement. But we’ll give you the next best thing: dinner with a picture of Sondheim. We’ll supply the picture; you supply the dinner.
Plus, you will become an acknowledged theatre prophet and seer.
In case you would like a refresher, here are the Ives plays reviewed by DC Theatre Scene:
A Flea in Her Ear
The Heir Apparent
Is He Dead?
The Liar
New Jerusalem
Venus in Fur
I realize that the plays you have listed are his full length plays, but perhaps Mr. Sondheim’s attention was peaked by something in All in the Timing. Maybe one of the ideas sprang from his one act’s?
Well, as Sondheim said he’s had the idea for “a long time” and it sprung “indirectly from a moment in a play of David’s”, we can eliminate both Venus and Liar, which are fairly recent. It’s also important to remember that it’s probably not an adaotation of any of his plays- just something that happens in one that set off a series of ideas for Sondheim.
I suspect it’s not from one of the adaptations, unless Ives added something very different from the original, so that eliminates Flea, among others.
My guess- New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza.
If you take Sondheim’s words at face value — ”It’s an idea I’ve had for a long time and it springs indirectly from a moment in a play of David [Ives’s]” — then my guess is it relates to one of Ives’s one-act plays in the early part of his career, such as Sure Thing, Words, Words, Words, Variations on the Death of Trotsky, Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread, or The Universal Language. (I have not read or seen these plays so I cannot comment on a moment in any of them that might have sparked Sondheim.) The plays reviewed by DC Theatre Scene have been too recent — New Jerusalem was 2008, Venus in Fur 2010, The Liar 2010, The Heir Apparent 2011, and even some not reviewed — Is He Dead? by Mark Twain 2008 and The School for Lies in 2011. Moreover, Sondheim may not count a translation/adaptation of another playwright’s earlier play as referenceable as a “play of David” in and of itself. Finally, although we are discussing one idea in the play and not the play itself, The Liar and The School for Lies are essentially Restoration comedies which does not seem to be Sondheim’s era; it might be said that he has dealt tangentially with issues of Venus in Fur in his own Passion; and a musical on the religious beliefs of Spinoza (New Jerusalem) would be a test for anyone.
I await the answer.
John
What could be better than that all-out seduction scene when Thomas unzips Vanda’s thigh high boot. A tango, perchance?