Stephen Sondheim: 'Commercial theatre limits variety of musicals'

Stephen Sondheim has suggested the “financially fragile” nature of commercial theatre is restricting the variety of musicals that get produced.

The celebrated composer and lyricist – known for his work on musicals including Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and Gypsy – said producers in the UK and the US depend on show templates proven to be bankable, and rarely take risks on other styles or new ideas.

Speaking at an event at the National Theatre, he told the audience: “Commercial theatre is so financially fragile, I wish there were more of a supermarket of musicals – different kinds of musicals.”

He claimed that as soon as one type of show is a commercial success, producers rush to make more shows in the same mould.

“What happens is: once the first jukebox musical became popular, a lot of jukebox musicals [were made]. I understand why, but it would be nice to have other kinds of musicals,” Sondheim said.

He continued: “In New York, anyway, you can find a good deal of that variety Off-Broadway, but you can’t make enough of a living Off-Broadway to support a family.

“And Broadway tends to – as with the West End – have certain kinds of musicals that prove popular, and then when they don’t prove popular they disappear, and another takes over.”

Acknowledging that it is “hard” for producers to raise the funds necessary to stage a musical, he then suggested that “giving young people a hearing” would counter a lack of variety in musical theatre.

He explained: “It’s the same thing with all art forms, which is: young people need means of getting their work heard, or paintings on the wall, or shows on the stage.

“The big thing about the theatre, as opposed to the other art forms, is that it has to be performed. It has to be tried out in front of an audience, it doesn’t exist in the library when you write it. So young writers and middle-aged writers and some old writers need a place where their work can be heard. If that were going on, that would be great.”

Elsewhere in the conversation with National Theatre director Rufus Norris, Sondheim was asked whether UK audiences respond to his work any differently to those in the US. He responded: “Of course British audiences are different from Americans: they listen.”

“You have many centuries of being interested in the language. That’s true, and not as true as the United States. And when you care about the language like I do, it’s so much more gratifying,” he explained.