‘He was a god to us’: Actors stand shoulder to shoulder with Stephen Sondheim | Stephen Sondim

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Jenna Russell: The songs are so rich

Much of his work revolves around love. People talk about cold but when I was a teenage girl all I could feel was warmth. The songs are ridiculously rich. I was playing the company’s original cast recording over and over, in the front room. I remember my mother came with rubber gloves on, tears streaming down her face. She said, “Oh my God, I got it!” The song was alive.

Steve understood the human condition like no one else in musical theater. Kids and Art, from Sundays in the Park with George, sums it up to me. To understand that children and art are what pushes life forward is one of the most beautiful things I have ever realized; There is something tender and sweet about that song.

Gina Russell with Daniel Evans on Sunday in the park with George, at London’s Wyndham Theatre, 2006. Photo: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

A few of us in school were singing Sondheim songs and then I first worked with Steve when I was 20 on Follies. Meeting your hero is always scary but it was awesome. We had some really interesting chats about Sweeney Todd. He remembered watching her technical rehearsal when Len Cariou did the Big Number Epiphany, thinking: “Oh my God, what did you write? Where did this come from?” Realizing he had unleashed this monster.

His words suit you at certain stages of your life. For me, with Sunday, I’ve always thought Chapter 1 was perfect. I will quickly introduce Chapter 2. But the older I get, the more I realize that Chapter 2 is the place of truth and pain. When he reveals it to you, it’s devastating.

Some people are very cautious about their work but he encouraged directors to be brave and was always passionate about young directors and their imaginations.

The cool thing about his business performance is that it’s so full of rhymes that you don’t even notice, because the story arc depends on the character. He said to me a few times, “Oh, just pump that inner rhyme.” I didn’t even realize it was there! It is very accurate.

Music business can be crap. They really can be. But because of the work he did, and the writers who came after him and were inspired by his bravery, we have some really good musical theatre. I am so grateful to have met him and had the honor to do his work.

Daniel Evans: “He was really strict!” Daniel Evans as George Surratt on Sunday in the Park with George. Photo: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Since the news of his death, I’ve been hearing songs from Merrily We Roll Along, the first Sondheim show I’ve participated in. There is a lot in Merrily about time, friendship, and regret. This line: “Charlie, why can’t he be the same?” And the words of our time.

When I did it with Merrily and Sunday in the Park With George, I had one-to-one piano lessons with him, and that was a privilege. It was very scary and scary – it was really strict! If you replace a syllable of a syllable with something inaccurate, he will hit you hard. But his notes are very practical, insightful and actionable – he writes for the actors, putting himself in the actor’s shoes and asking how this character would express that special feeling? That’s why the actors love his work. When I understood his notes, and was able to write them down, he was very encouraging and it was the best feeling in the world.

Meri had a mostly young cast and when he arrived, just before the preview, he came in front of us and said, “It’s okay everyone, God has arrived!” He was self-critical but we were so scared, we didn’t know if he was serious. He was kind of a goddess to us, so we took him at his word.

His immense generosity to others came, I think, from the way the wand was so generously handed to him by Oscar Hammerstein. He always paid tribute to what Hammerstein had done for him – how he was directing. Watch the videos in which Sundem talks about teaching: he considered it a sacred profession. Teaching and encouragement was something that benefited him greatly and I think he wanted to pay off that debt of Hammerstein.

He was such a delight in the language, even in casual emails. The last message he sent me ended: “Thank you Daniel, you are a prince. No, Hal a prince. You are a genius.”

Janie Dee: “Every Word Was Precious” Janie Dee, left, with Imelda Staunton and Zizi Stralin at Foleys at the National Theatre, London, in 2017. Photo: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

I just watched the clip of Broadway gathering to sing his number one Sunday over the weekend. They all come to Times Square to sing. I was soaked. Every note he writes is perfect for emotion. You can’t sing a tune better than the one he wrote.

When I saw Sunday in the park with George, she spoke to me–I felt addressed in person. Even though I was sitting in a crowd, I felt like I was receiving guidance and healing at the same time. It has made me cry more than any other writer in my life, and made me feel refreshed as a human being. The first show I saw was “Put It Together” – I laughed a lot but it also summoned my deepest soul. He realized how awful we are and how brutal relationships can be, but somehow he made it good, fun, and funny.

In 1990 Stephen became Head of Musical Theater at Oxford University. Cameron Mackintosh put together a few actors and some up-and-coming writers to take a course with Sondheim and create new musicals. It was very intimate. I was one of the actors. We were working on a song in the theater and suddenly I felt a kind of warmth and I looked to my left – he was just sitting there, glistening. I didn’t know when it would come. He was very friendly, encouraging and calm. Every word was precious.

Doing crap at the National Theater in 2017, it felt like a huge ship we were boarding. I didn’t know if she would sail. Dominic Cook, director, put a lot into this topic and we’ve been practicing for weeks and weeks. At the end of the first preview, we walked over to take our bows and I looked down and there was this guy going crazy, clapping and screaming. It was Stephen Sondheim. He was like a fan, running up front to clap for us and give us his blessing.

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