Six By Sondheim (2013)

Directed by James Lapine, this is a documentary on one of the greatest composer and lyricists of 20th century musical theatre, Stephen Sondheim. Through a series of interviews throughout Sondheim's career in which he talks not only about his personal life but the process of writing for the theatre with an emphasis on six songs: Something's Coming from WEST SIDE STORY, Opening Doors from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, Send In The Clows from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, I'm Still Here from FOLLIES, Being Alive from COMPANY and Sunday from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. It's a fascinating look at a musical genius and the complexity of his art. Some of the musical sequences contain previous footage (WEST SIDE STORY, COMPANY, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE) while others were made specifically for the documentary (MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, FOLLIES). The MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG segment performed by America Ferrera, Darren Criss, Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes is excellent as is the LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC segment featuring Audra McDonald singing Send In The Clowns but the Todd Haynes directed short film featuring I'm Still Here from FOLLIES sung by Jarvis Cocker is a ghastly misfire. If you're a Sondheim buff, you've most likely already seen this. If you're not, this should serve as an introduction.