150-605: Michael Cerveris Jr. (born November 6, 1960) is an American actor, singer, and guitarist. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins , Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Sunday in the Park with George , Road Show , and Passion . In 2004, Cerveris won the Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Assassins as John Wilkes Booth . In 2015, he won his second Tony Award as Best Actor in
300-486: A leading tone is, you think, Oh my God. What a diatonic scale is—Oh my God! The logic of it. And, of course, what that meant to me was: Well, I can do that. Because you just don't know. You think it's a talent, you think you're born with this thing. What I've found out and what I believed is that everybody is talented. It's just that some people get it developed and some don't. The composer told Meryle Secrest: "I just wanted to study composition, theory, and harmony without
450-483: A modern dress production for the Birmingham Rep in 1923, two years before his influential modern dress Hamlet . Walter Nugent Monck brought his Maddermarket Theatre production to Stratford in 1946, inaugurating the post-war tradition of the play. London saw two productions in the 1956 season. Michael Benthall directed the less successful production, at The Old Vic . The set design by Audrey Cruddas
600-486: A viral marketing campaign for the series. These include appearing in the audience at a taping of American Idol , being shown in the stands at various football and NASCAR events, and a cameo in a commercial for Glee . Cerveris appeared as Ted Gunn, head of the Behavioral Science Unit in the second season of Mindhunter . Cerveris played guitar as a member of Bob Mould 's touring band supporting
750-540: A "perfect example" of a public "heterosexual marriage", considering that their private relations turn out to be "homosocial, homoerotic , and hermaphroditic." Queer theory has gained traction in scholarship on Cymbeline , building upon the work of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Judith Butler . Scholarship on this topic has emphasised the play's Ovidian allusions and exploration of non-normative gender/sexuality – achieved through separation from traditional society into what Valerie Traub terms "green worlds." Amongst
900-552: A 2007 Cheek by Jowl production, Tom Hiddleston doubled as Posthumus and Cloten. In 2011, the Shakespeare Theatre Company of Washington, DC, presented a version of the play that emphasised its fable and folklore elements, set as a tale within a tale, as told to a child. In 2012, Antoni Cimolino directed a production at the Stratford Festival that steered into the fairy-tale elements of
1050-721: A Boom Car" as part of a ringtone project by They Might Be Giants for Wired Magazine in March 2007. In They Might Be Giants' 2011 release, Join Us , Cerveris also provided vocals for the track, "Three Might Be Duende ." In 2018 Cerveris was honored by The United States Conference of Mayors and Americans for the Arts with the Citizen Artist Award, presented at the annual Mayors' Conference in Washington DC. In 2022, he
1200-571: A Musical for Fun Home as Bruce Bechdel. He was called, by Playbill , "arguably the most versatile leading man on Broadway", playing roles from " Shakespeare 's Romeo to The Who's Tommy , from the German transsexual rock diva Hedwig in Hedwig & the Angry Inch to the homicidal title character of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd ." Cerveris' most visible television role to date has been as
1350-433: A Person Crazy", "Another Hundred People", " Getting Married Today ", "Side by Side", " The Ladies Who Lunch ", and " Being Alive ". Walter Kerr of The New York Times praised the production, the performances, and the score, writing, "Sondheim has never written a more sophisticated, more pertinent, or—this is the surprising thing in the circumstances—more melodious score". Documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker captured
1500-433: A baby!" Burt Shevelove invited Sondheim to a party where Sondheim arrived before him but knew no one else well. He saw a familiar face, Arthur Laurents , who had seen one of the auditions of Saturday Night , and they began talking. Laurents told him he was working on a musical version of Romeo and Juliet with Leonard Bernstein , but they needed a lyricist; Betty Comden and Adolph Green , who were supposed to write
1650-650: A book by John Weidman . The show explored, in revue form, a group of historical figures who tried (with varying success) to assassinate the President of the United States. The musical closed on February 16, 1991, after 73 performances. The Los Angeles Times reported the show "has been sold out since previews began, reflecting the strong appeal of Sondheim's work among the theater crowd." In his review for The New York Times , Frank Rich wrote, " Assassins will have to fire with sharper aim and fewer blanks if it
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#17327933988481800-431: A chance to work with very gifted professionals on a show that sounds interesting, and you could always write your own music eventually. My advice would be to take the job." West Side Story , directed by Jerome Robbins , opened in 1957 and ran for 732 performances. Sondheim expressed dissatisfaction with his lyrics, saying they did not always fit the characters and were sometimes too consciously poetic. Initially Bernstein
1950-517: A chest in Imogen's bedchamber and, when the princess falls asleep, steals Posthumus's bracelet from her. He also takes note of the room, as well as the mole on Imogen's partially nude body, to present as false evidence to Posthumus that he seduced his bride. Returning to Italy, Iachimo convinces Posthumus that he has successfully seduced Imogen. In his wrath, Posthumus sends two letters to Britain: one to Imogen, telling her to meet him at Milford Haven , on
2100-476: A chest in order to gather proof in Imogen's room. Iachimo's description of Imogen's room as proof of her infidelity derives from The Decameron , and Pisanio's reluctance to kill Imogen and his use of her bloody clothes to convince Posthumus of her death derive from Frederyke of Jennen. In both sources, the equivalent to Posthumus's bracelet is stolen jewellery that the wife later recognises while cross-dressed. Shakespeare also drew inspiration for Cymbeline from
2250-470: A dance to Cloten's comic wooing of Imogen. In 1827, his brother Charles mounted an antiquarian production at Covent Garden ; it featured costumes designed after the descriptions of the ancient British by such writers as Julius Caesar and Diodorus Siculus . William Charles Macready mounted the play several times between 1837 and 1842. At the Theatre Royal, Marylebone , an epicene production
2400-432: A doorman said he had gotten into a limousine to go to John F. Kennedy International Airport . Bernstein burst into tears and said, "It's over". Sondheim later said of this experience: "I was ashamed of the whole project. It was arch and didactic in the worst way." He wrote one and a half songs and threw them away, the only time he ever did that. Eighteen years later, Sondheim refused Bernstein's and Robbins's request to retry
2550-457: A memory. Good God!—[an] adult musical!" The production earned 12 Tony Award nominations and won 6 awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score . " Send in the Clowns ", a song from the musical, was a hit for Judy Collins and became Sondheim's best-known song. It has since been covered by Frank Sinatra , Barbra Streisand , and Judi Dench . The production was adapted to screen in
2700-499: A mock- Kabuki style. The show closed after a run of 193 performances, and was revived on Broadway in 2004. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), with a score by Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler , is based on Christopher Bond 's 1973 stage play derived from the Victorian original. The original production starred Angela Lansbury , Len Cariou , Victor Garber , and Edmund Lyndeck . Popular songs from
2850-747: A musical comedy based on the lives of colorful businessmen Addison and Wilson Mizner . A Broadway production starring Nathan Lane and Victor Garber , directed by Sam Mendes , and planned for spring 2000, was delayed. Renamed Bounce in 2003, the show premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in a production directed by Harold Prince, his first collaboration with Sondheim since 1981. Poor reviews prevented Bounce from reaching Broadway, but
3000-514: A musical version of The Exception and the Rule ; according to Robbins, Bernstein would not work without Sondheim. When Sondheim agreed, Guare asked: "Why haven't you all worked together since West Side Story ?" Sondheim answered, "You'll see". Guare said that working with Sondheim was like being with an old college roommate, and he depended on him to "decode and decipher their crazy way of working"; Bernstein worked only after midnight, and Robbins only in
3150-430: A musical. He then decided to work only when he could write both music and lyrics. Sondheim asked author and playwright James Goldman to join him as bookwriter for a new musical inspired by a gathering of former Ziegfeld Follies showgirls: initially titled The Girls Upstairs , it became Follies . In 1966, Sondheim semi-anonymously provided lyrics for " The Boy From... ", a parody of " The Girl from Ipanema " in
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#17327933988483300-463: A nine-performance bomb (although it introduced Angela Lansbury to musical theater). Do I Hear a Waltz? , based on Laurents's 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo , was intended as another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical with Mary Martin in the lead. A new lyricist was needed, and Laurents and Rodgers's daughter, Mary , asked Sondheim to fill in. Although Richard Rodgers and Sondheim agreed that
3450-414: A patriarchal strategy by regaining control of his male heirs and daughter, Imogen. Imogen's own experience with gender fluidity and cross-dressing has largely been interpreted through a patriarchal lens. Unlike other Shakespearean agents of onstage gender fluidity – Portia , Rosalind , Viola and Julia – Imogen is not afforded empowerment upon her transformation into Fidele. Instead, Imogen's power
3600-567: A play called The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune, first performed in 1582. There are many parallels between the characters of the two plays, including a king's daughter who falls for a man of unknown birth who grew up in the king's court. The subplot of Belarius and the lost princes was inspired by the story of Bomelio, an exiled nobleman in The Rare Triumphs who is later revealed to be the protagonist's father. The first recorded production of Cymbeline , as noted by Simon Forman ,
3750-408: A princess who, after disobeying her father in order to marry a lowly lover, is wrongly accused of infidelity and thus ordered to be murdered, before escaping and having her faithfulness proven. Furthermore, both were written for the same theatre company and audience. Some scholars believe this supports a dating of approximately 1609, though it is not clear which play preceded the other. The editors of
3900-537: A private Quaker preparatory school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania , where he wrote his first musical, By George , in 1946. From 1946 to 1950, Sondheim attended Williams College . He graduated magna cum laude and received the Hubbard Hutchinson Prize, a two-year fellowship to study music. Sondheim traced his interest in theater to Very Warm for May , a Broadway musical he saw when he
4050-600: A prophecy of recent events, which ensures happiness for all. Blaming his manipulative Queen for his refusal to pay earlier, Cymbeline now agrees to pay the tribute to the Roman Emperor as a gesture of peace between Britain and Rome. Everyone is invited to a great feast. Cymbeline is grounded in the story of the historical British king Cunobeline , which was originally recorded in Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae , but which Shakespeare likely found in
4200-601: A revised version opened off-Broadway as Road Show at the Public Theater on October 28, 2008. Directed by John Doyle , it closed December 28, 2008. The production won the 2009 Obie Award for Music and Lyrics and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics. Asked about writing new work, Sondheim replied in 2006: "No ... It's age. It's a diminution of energy and the worry that there are no new ideas. It's also an increasing lack of confidence. I'm not
4350-490: A ring. Cymbeline dismisses the marriage and banishes Posthumus since Imogen—as Cymbeline's only remaining child—must produce a fully royal-blooded heir to succeed to the British throne. In the meantime, Cymbeline's Queen is conspiring to have Cloten (her cloddish and arrogant son by an earlier marriage) marry Imogen to secure her bloodline. The Queen is also plotting to murder both Imogen and Cymbeline, procuring what she believes
4500-620: A show" and found a new collaborator in James Lapine after he saw Lapine's Twelve Dreams off-Broadway in 1981: "I was discouraged, and I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't discovered Twelve Dreams at the Public Theatre "; Lapine has a taste "for the avant-garde and for visually oriented theater in particular". Their first collaboration was Sunday in the Park with George (1984), with Sondheim's music evoking Georges Seurat 's pointillism . Sondheim and Lapine won
4650-475: A source, mention an Innogen and that Forman's eyewitness account of the April 1611 performance refers to "Innogen" throughout. In spite of these arguments, most editions of the play have continued to use the name Imogen. Milford Haven is not known to have been used during the period (early 1st century AD) in which Cymbeline is set, and it is not known why Shakespeare used it in the play. Robert Nye noted that it
Michael Cerveris - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-561: A variety of composers (especially Jerome Kern ). Sondheim told Secrest that Kern had the ability "to develop a single motif through tiny variations into a long and never boring line and his maximum development of the minimum of material". He said of Babbitt, "I am his maverick, his one student who went into the popular arts with all his serious artillery". At Williams, Sondheim wrote a musical adaption of Beggar on Horseback (a 1924 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly , with Kaufman's permission) that had three performances. A member of
4950-550: A wedding, and Ayers commissioned Sondheim for three songs for the show; Julius Epstein flew in from California and hired Sondheim, who worked with him in California for four or five months. After eight auditions for backers, half the money needed was raised. The show, retitled Saturday Night , was intended to open during the 1954–55 Broadway season, but Ayers died of leukemia in his early forties. The production rights transferred to his widow, Shirley, and due to her inexperience
5100-531: A week in New York City for four hours. (At the time, Babbitt was teaching at Princeton University .) According to Sondheim, they spent the first hour dissecting Rodgers and Hart or George Gershwin or studying Babbitt's favorites ( Buddy DeSylva , Lew Brown , and Ray Henderson ). They then proceeded to other forms of music (such as Mozart 's Jupiter Symphony ), critiquing them the same way. Fascinated by mathematics, Babbitt and Sondheim studied songs by
5250-642: A young age, and he was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II . He began his career by writing the lyrics for West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). He transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theater, with his best-known works including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in
5400-671: Is a hugely amusing recitation of the attributes given by the different professions—priest, lawyer, and so on—to the pies they contribute to. At other times the lyrics have a black, piercing poetry to them." Lansbury's performance was captured alongside George Hearn in the Los Angeles production, which was filmed and shown on PBS as part of Masterpiece Theatre . It later earned five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. It has been revived on Broadway in 1989, 2005, and 2023. The 2023 production starred Josh Groban , Annaleigh Ashford , Jordan Fisher , and Gaten Matarazzo . A film adaptation
5550-503: Is deadly poison from the court doctor. The doctor, Cornelius, is suspicious and switches the poison for a harmless sleeping potion. The Queen passes the "poison" along to Pisanio, Posthumus and Imogen's loyal servant. Imogen is told it is a medicinal drug. Unable to be with Posthumus, Imogen secludes herself in her chambers, away from Cloten's aggressive advances. Posthumus must now live in Italy, where he meets Iachimo (or Giacomo), who wagers
5700-428: Is inherited from her father and based upon the prospect of reproduction. After the 1611 performance mentioned by Simon Forman, there is no record of production until 1634, when the play was revived at court for Charles I and Henrietta Maria . The Caroline production was noted as being "well likte by the kinge." In 1728 John Rich staged the play with his company at Lincoln's Inn Fields , with emphasis placed on
5850-414: Is met by Cloten, who insults him, leading to a sword fight during which Guiderius beheads Cloten. Meanwhile, Imogen's fragile state worsens and she takes the "poison" as a medicine; when the men re-enter, they find her "dead." They mourn and, after placing Cloten's body beside hers, briefly depart to prepare for the double burial. Imogen awakes to find the headless body, and believes it to be Posthumus because
6000-460: Is nothing ordinary about the music." Sondheim later said: "Did I feel betrayed? I'm not sure I would put it like that. What did surprise me was the feeling around the Broadway community—if you can call it that, though I guess I will for lack of a better word—that they wanted Hal and me to fail." Sondheim and Furth continued to revise the show in subsequent years. An acclaimed feature documentary on
6150-556: Is partly a Shakespearean self-parody; many of his prior plays and characters are mocked by it." Similarities between Cymbeline and historical accounts of the Roman Emperor Augustus have prompted critics to interpret the play as Shakespeare voicing support for the political notions of James I , who considered himself the "British Augustus." His political manoeuvres to unite Scotland with England and Wales as an empire mirror Augustus' Pax Romana . The play reinforces
Michael Cerveris - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-399: Is that she wanted to stand there in her bare feet, suffering for her art". After Do I Hear a Waltz? , Sondheim devoted himself solely to writing both music and lyrics for the theater—and in 1970, he began a collaboration with director Harold Prince resulting in a body of work that is considered one of the high water marks of musical theater history, with critic Howard Kissel writing that
6450-463: Is the Roman Empire 's vassal king of Britain. Twenty years earlier, Cymbeline's two infant sons, Guiderius and Arvirargus, were kidnapped by an exiled traitor named Belarius. Cymbeline discovers his daughter, Imogen (or Innogen), has secretly married her lover Posthumus Leonatus, a member of Cymbeline's court. The lovers have exchanged jewellery as tokens: Imogen with a bracelet, and Posthumus with
6600-419: Is to shoot to kill." Assassins was eventually staged on Broadway in 2004. Saturday Night was shelved until its 1997 production at London's Bridewell Theatre . The next year, its score was recorded; a revised version, with two new songs, ran off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in 2000 and at London's Jermyn Street Theatre in 2009. Sondheim and Weidman reunited during the late 1990s for Wise Guys ,
6750-597: The Ziegfeld Follies , that played in that theater between the world wars). The production also featured choreography and co-direction by Michael Bennett , who later created A Chorus Line . The original production starred Dorothy Collins , John McMartin , Alexis Smith , and Gene Nelson . It included the songs " I'm Still Here ", " Could I Leave You? ", and " Losing My Mind ". The production earned 11 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. It won 7 Tony Awards, including Best Original Score . The show
6900-408: The 1977 film of the same name starring Elizabeth Taylor , Dianna Rigg , Len Cariou , and Hermione Gingold . It was revived on Broadway in 2009 in a production starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury . Pacific Overtures (1976), with a book by John Weidman , was one of Sondheim's most unconventional efforts: it explored the westernization of Japan, and was originally presented in
7050-540: The 2014 film adaptation of Into the Woods , Sondheim wrote the new song "She'll Be Back", sung by The Witch, which was cut from the film. Cymbeline Cymbeline ( / ˈ s ɪ m b ɪ l iː n / ), also known as The Tragedie of Cymbeline or Cymbeline, King of Britain , is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain ( c. 10–14 AD ) and based on legends that formed part of
7200-842: The Beta Theta Pi fraternity, he graduated magna cum laude in 1950. "A few painful years of struggle" followed, when Sondheim auditioned songs, lived in his father's dining room to save money, and spent time in Hollywood writing for the television series Topper . He devoured 1940s and 1950s films, and called cinema his "basic language"; his film knowledge got him through The $ 64,000 Question contestant tryouts. Sondheim disliked movie musicals, favoring classic dramas such as Citizen Kane , The Grapes of Wrath , and A Matter of Life and Death : "Studio directors like Michael Curtiz and Raoul Walsh ... were heroes of mine. They went from movie to movie to movie, and every third movie
7350-484: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra conducted by David Loud . In Playbill , Steven Suskin called the concert "neither a new musical, a revival, nor a standard songbook revue; it is, rather, a staged-and-sung chamber jazz rendition of a string of songs ... Half of the songs come from Company and Follies ; most of the other Sondheim musicals are represented, including the lesser-known Passion and Road Show ". For
7500-614: The La Jolla Playhouse prior to Broadway. He next appeared in the Broadway musical Titanic in 1997 as Thomas Andrews . He played the role of John Wilkes Booth in the Broadway musical Assassins in 2004, and won the Tony Award, Best Featured Actor in a Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award . In the 2005 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Cerveris played
7650-549: The Matter of Britain concerning the early historical Celtic British King Cunobeline . Although it is listed as a tragedy in the First Folio , modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy . Like Othello and The Winter's Tale , it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was certainly produced as early as 1611. Cymbeline
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#17327933988487800-658: The Observer code-named September in the FOX science fiction television series Fringe . His character, a mysterious man seen attending many unusual events, appeared regularly during the series and became one of the main characters to bring the story to its end. Cerveris was born in Bethesda, Maryland , and raised in Huntington, West Virginia . His mother, Marsha (née Laycock), was a dancer, and his father, Michael Cerveris Sr.
7950-693: The Ravinia Festival Concerts (Chicago), including: Passion (2003), Sunday in the Park with George (2004), and Anyone Can Whistle in 2005. He performed in the New York City Center Encores! staged concert of The Apple Tree in 2005, with Kristin Chenoweth . Cerveris's regional credits include playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the Goodman Theatre opposite Phoebe Cates , Eastern Standard at
8100-1006: The Seattle Repertory Theatre with Tom Hulce , and Richard II at the Mark Taper Forum . Cerveris has appeared in films such as Lulu on the Bridge (1998), The Mexican (2001), Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (2009), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009), Stake Land (2010), Detours (2016), and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). His television roles include Ian Ware on Fame , Marvin Frey on Treme , State's Attorney James Castro on The Good Wife , Ramses IV on The Tick , Lazlo Valentin/Professor Pyg on Gotham , and September/The Observer on Fringe . Cerveris also appeared as The Observer at several real-life events covered by FOX as part of
8250-479: The Shubert Theatre on February 25, 1973, and ran for 601 performances and 12 previews. Clive Barnes of The New York Times wrote, " A Little Night Music is soft on the ears, easy on the eyes, and pleasant on the mind. It is less than brash, but more than brassy, and it should give a lot of pleasure. It is the remembrance of a few things past, and all to the sound of a waltz and the understanding smile of
8400-840: The Upper West Side of Manhattan and, after his parents divorced, on a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania . The only child of affluent parents living in the San Remo at 145 Central Park West , he was described in Meryle Secrest 's biography Stephen Sondheim: A Life as an isolated, emotionally neglected child. When he lived in New York City, Sondheim attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School . He spent several summers at Camp Androscoggin . His mother sent him to New York Military Academy in 1940. From 1942 to 1947, he attended George School ,
8550-446: The anthology series ABC Stage 67 and produced by Hubbell Robinson , it was broadcast on November 16, 1966. According to Sondheim and director Paul Bogart , the musical was written only because Goldman needed money for rent. The network disliked the title and Sondheim's alternative, A Little Night Music . After Sondheim finished Evening Primrose , Jerome Robbins asked him to adapt Bertolt Brecht 's The Measures Taken despite
8700-560: The 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles . Shakespeare based the setting of the play and the character Cymbeline on what he found in Holinshed's chronicles, but the plot and subplots of the play are derived from other sources. The subplot of Posthumus and Iachimo's wager derives from story II.9 of Giovanni Boccaccio 's The Decameron and the anonymously authored Frederyke of Jennen . These share similar characters and wager terms, and both feature Iachimo's equivalent hiding in
8850-550: The 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play, and it was revived on Broadway in 2008, and again in a limited run in 2017. They collaborated on Into the Woods (1987), a musical based on several Brothers Grimm fairy tales . Although Sondheim has been called the first composer to bring rap music to Broadway (with the Witch in the opening number of Into the Woods ), he attributed the first rap in theater to Meredith Willson 's "Rock Island" from The Music Man (1957). Into
9000-480: The American musical. With his frequent collaborators Harold Prince and James Lapine , Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life. Sondheim's interest in musical theater began at
9150-772: The Americana-Country band Loose Cattle with longtime collaborator Kimberly Kaye. Cerveris and Kaye share vocals in the style of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Known for tongue-in-cheek mashups, country covers, and Cerveris' original songs and collaborations with Kaye, the group has gone on to appear at Lincoln Center, Joe's Pub, NPR's Mountain Stage, 54 Below, Chickie Wah Wah's, Siberia, Kajun's Pub, The Blue Note Cafe, Louisiana Music Factory, Rock'n'bowl, Rockwoof Music Hall, Webster Hall, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, AmericanaFest, and many others. He has also contributed vocals to "My Other Phone Is
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#17327933988489300-530: The Broadway comedy by Sarah Ruhl , In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) , starting in October 2009. From March 2012 to January 2013, Cerveris played Perón in the Broadway revival of Evita . Then, from 2015 to 2016, he played the role of Bruce Bechdel in the Broadway musical Fun Home , winning the 2015 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. In 2000 Cerveris played
9450-788: The HBO feature-length documentary Six by Sondheim , which he executive produced with former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich , a longtime champion of Sondheim's work. Sondheim himself acts and sings in the documentary as Joe, the cynical theater producer in the song "Opening Doors". Sondheim collaborated with Wynton Marsalis on A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair , an Encores! concert on November 13–17, 2013, at New York City Center . Directed by John Doyle with choreography by Parker Esse, it consisted of "more than two dozen Sondheim compositions, each piece newly reimagined by Marsalis". The concert featured Bernadette Peters , Jeremy Jordan , Norm Lewis , Cyrille Aimée , four dancers, and
9600-524: The Jacobean idea that Britain is the successor to the civilised virtue of ancient Rome, portraying the parochialism and isolationism of Cloten and the Queen as villainous. Other critics have resisted the idea that Cymbeline endorses James I's ideas about national identity, pointing to several characters' conflicted constructions of their geographic identities. For example, although Guiderius and Arviragus are
9750-728: The Off-Broadway Public Theater, receiving a Drama League Award nomination. Cerveris played Posthumus Leonatus in the Broadway revival of Cymbeline from December 2, 2007, to January 6, 2008. He appeared Off-Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim - John Weidman musical Road Show at the Public Theater in 2008 as Wilson Mizner. Cerveris appeared opposite Mary-Louise Parker in the limited Roundabout Theatre Company production of Hedda Gabler from January 2009 to March 2009. He next played Dr. Givings in
9900-625: The Oxford and Norton Shakespeare believe the name of Imogen is a misprint for Innogen—they draw several comparisons between Cymbeline and Much Ado About Nothing , in early editions of which a ghost character named Innogen was supposed to be Leonato 's wife (Posthumus being also known as "Leonatus", the Latin form of the Italian name in the other play). Stanley Wells and Michael Dobson point out that Holinshed's Chronicles , which Shakespeare used as
10050-712: The Park with George (1984), and Into the Woods (1987). Sondheim's numerous awards and nominations include eight Tony Awards , an Academy Award , eight Grammy Awards , an Olivier Award , and the Pulitzer Prize . He also was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 1993 and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. A theater is named after him both on Broadway and in the West End of London . Film adaptations of his works include West Side Story (1961), Gypsy (1962), A Funny Thing Happened on
10200-539: The Queen to poison her. Pisanio claims innocence, and Cornelius reveals the potion was harmless. Insisting that his betrayal years ago was a set-up, Belarius makes his own happy confession, revealing Guiderius and Arviragus as Cymbeline's own two long-lost sons. With her brothers restored to the line of inheritance, Imogen is free to marry Posthumus. An elated Cymbeline pardons Belarius and the Roman prisoners, including Lucius and Iachimo. Lucius summons his soothsayer to decipher
10350-475: The Roman ambassador Caius Lucius. Lucius warns Cymbeline of the Roman Emperor's forthcoming wrath, which will be an invasion of Britain by Roman troops. Meanwhile, Cloten learns of the "meeting" between Imogen and Posthumus at Milford Haven. Dressing himself in Posthumus's clothes, he decides to go to Wales to kill Posthumus, and then rape, abduct, and marry Imogen. Imogen has now been travelling as Fidele through
10500-468: The Roman forces as they invade Britain. Belarius, Guiderius, Arviragus, and Posthumus all help rescue Cymbeline from the Roman onslaught; the king does not yet recognise these four, yet takes notice of them as they fight bravely and capture the Roman commanders, Lucius and Iachimo, thus winning the day. Posthumus, allowing himself to be captured, as well as Fidele, are imprisoned alongside the true Romans, who all await execution. In jail, Posthumus sleeps, while
10650-731: The Sonnet Repertory Theatre benefit, which honored director Jack O'Brien. On April 27, 2009, he performed at the Signature Theatre gala, a benefit and to celebrate the first annual Sondheim Award. On December 8, 2010, he took part in the Symphony Space "Selected Shorts and Thalia Book Club" series of readings. His concert appearances include the Broadway Cabaret Festival, held in October 2010 at The Town Hall (New York). Cerveris
10800-579: The Way to the Forum (1966), A Little Night Music (1977), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Into the Woods (2014), and West Side Story (2021). Sondheim was born on March 22, 1930, into a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Etta Janet ("Foxy"; née Fox; 1897–1992) and Herbert Sondheim (1895–1966). His paternal grandparents, Isaac and Rosa, were German Jews , and his maternal grandparents, Joseph and Bessie, were Lithuanian Jews from Vilnius . His father manufactured dresses designed by his mother. The composer grew up on
10950-609: The Welsh coast; the other to the servant Pisanio, ordering him to murder Imogen at the Haven. However, Pisanio refuses and reveals Posthumus's plot to Imogen. He has Imogen disguise herself as a boy and they continue to Milford Haven to seek employment. He also gives her the Queen's "poison", believing it will alleviate her psychological distress. In the guise of a boy, Imogen assumes the name "Fidele", meaning "faithful". Back at Cymbeline's court, Cymbeline refuses to pay his British tribute to
11100-401: The Welsh mountains, her health in decline as she comes to a cave. It is the home of Belarius and his "sons" Polydore and Cadwal, whom he raised into great hunters. The two young men are the British princes Guiderius and Arviragus, who are unaware of their own origin. The men discover Fidele, and, instantly captivated by a strange affinity for "him", become fast friends. Outside the cave, Guiderius
11250-747: The Westside Theatre, Abingdon Square in 1987 as Frank at the Women's Project, and Blood Sports in 1987 as Nick at the New York Theatre Workshop . He made his Broadway debut in The Who's Tommy in 1993 as "18-20 year old Tommy/Narrator", receiving a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Drama League Award nomination, Theater World Award winner, and Original Cast Grammy winner. He had appeared in Tommy in
11400-493: The Woods was revived on Broadway in 2002 and at the St. James Theatre in 2022. Sondheim's and Lapine's last collaboration on a musical was the rhapsodic Passion (1994), adapted from Ettore Scola 's Italian film Passione D'Amore . With a run of 280 performances, Passion was the shortest-running show to win a Tony Award for Best Musical . Assassins opened off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on December 18, 1990, with
11550-676: The actors to age in real time. An Off-Broadway revival starring Jonathan Groff , Daniel Radcliffe , and Lindsay Mendez ran from November 2022 to January 2023 at the New York Theatre Workshop ; it moved to Broadway in fall 2023. Merrily ' s failure greatly affected Sondheim; he was ready to quit theater and do movies, create video games or write mysteries: "I wanted to find something to satisfy myself that does not involve Broadway and dealing with all those people who hate me and hate Hal." After Merrily , Sondheim and Prince did not collaborate again until their 2003 production of Bounce . Sondheim decided "that there are better places to start
11700-662: The album The Last Dog And Pony Show . A performance at The Forum in London was recorded and released as BobMouldBand: LiveDog98 (Granary Music 2002). His debut solo album, Dog Eared (Low Heat Records 2004), was co-produced with Adam Lasus and includes guest appearances from Norman Blake ( Teenage Fanclub ), Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss ( Sleater-Kinney ), Ken Stringfellow ( The Posies , R.E.M. ), Steve Shelley ( Sonic Youth ), Kevin March ( Guided by Voices ), Anders Parker (Varnaline), and Laura Cantrell . In 2011, Cerveris founded
11850-437: The attendant musicology that comes in graduate school. But I knew I wanted to write for the theater, so I wanted someone who did not disdain theater music." Barrow suggested that Sondheim study with Milton Babbitt , whom Sondheim called "a frustrated show composer" with whom he formed "a perfect combination". When they met, Babbitt was working on a musical for Mary Martin based on the myth of Helen of Troy . The two met once
12000-485: The body is wearing Posthumus's clothes. Lucius' Roman soldiers have just arrived in Britain and, as the army moves through Wales, Lucius discovers the devastated Fidele, who pretends to be a loyal servant grieving his killed master; Lucius, moved by this faithfulness, enlists Fidele as a pageboy. The treacherous Queen is now wasting away due to her son Cloten's disappearance. Meanwhile, the guilt-ridden Posthumus enlists in
12150-480: The composer's general dislike of Brecht's work. Robbins wanted to adapt another Brecht play, The Exception and the Rule , and asked John Guare to adapt the book. Leonard Bernstein had not written for the stage in some time, and his contract as conductor of the New York Philharmonic was ending. Sondheim was invited to Robbins's house in the hope that Guare would convince him to write the lyrics for
12300-399: The credit. Sondheim later said he wished "someone stuffed a handkerchief in my mouth because it would have been nice to get that extra percentage". After West Side Story opened, Shevelove lamented the lack of "lowbrow comedy" on Broadway and mentioned a possible musical based on Plautus 's Roman comedies. Sondheim was interested in the idea and called a friend, Larry Gelbart , to co-write
12450-795: The duo had set "Broadway's highest standards". The first Sondheim show with Prince as director was 1970's Company . A show about a single man and his married friends, Company (with a book by George Furth ) lacked a straightforward plot, instead centering on themes such as marriage and the difficulty of making an emotional connection with another person. It opened on April 26, 1970, at the Alvin Theatre , running for 705 performances after seven previews, and won Tony Awards for Best Musical , Best Music, and Best Lyrics. The original cast included Dean Jones , Elaine Stritch , and Charles Kimbrough . Popular songs include " Company ", "The Little Things You Do Together", "Sorry-Grateful", "You Could Drive
12600-407: The early morning. Bernstein's score, which was supposed to be light, was influenced by his need to make a musical statement. Stuart Ostrow , who worked with Sondheim on The Girls Upstairs , agreed to produce the musical, initially titled A Pray by Blecht , then The Race to Urga . An opening night was scheduled, but during auditions Robbins asked to be excused for a moment. When he did not return,
12750-405: The early twentieth century, the play had lost favour. Lytton Strachey found it "difficult to resist the conclusion that [Shakespeare] was getting bored himself. Bored with people, bored with real life, bored with drama, bored, in fact, with everything except poetry and poetical dreams." In 1937, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote Cymbeline Refinished , that rewrites the final act of
12900-536: The ending, yet he remained firmly of the opinion that the final act was disastrous, writing in 1946 that it was "one of the finest of Shakespeare's later plays" but "goes to pieces in the final act." Harley Granville-Barker , who found success as an actor in Shaw's plays had similar views, saying that the play shows that Shakespeare was becoming a "wearied artist". Some have argued that the play parodies its own content. Harold Bloom wrote that " Cymbeline , in my judgment,
13050-433: The expense of much incongruity. To remark the folly of the fiction, the absurdity of the conduct, the confusion of the names and manners of different times, and the impossibility of the events in any system of life, were to waste criticism upon unresisting imbecility, upon faults too evident for detection, and too gross for aggravation. William Hazlitt and John Keats , however, numbered it among their favourite plays. By
13200-472: The fairy tale aspect of the story and produced a colourful version with wicked step-mothers, feisty princesses and a campy Iachimo. The 2014 version, directed by Rachel Alt, went in a completely opposite direction and placed the action on ranch in the American Old West . The Queen was a southern belle married to a rancher, with Imogen as a high society girl in love with the cowhand Posthumous. In
13350-677: The ghosts of his dead family appear to complain to Jupiter of his grim fate. Jupiter himself appears in thunder and glory to assure the others that destiny will grant happiness to Posthumus and Britain. Cornelius arrives at court to announce the Queen's sudden death, and that on her deathbed she unrepentantly confessed to villainous schemes against her husband and his throne. Both troubled and relieved by this news, Cymbeline prepares to execute his prisoners, but pauses when he sees Fidele, whom he finds both beautiful and familiar. Fidele has noticed Posthumus's ring on Iachimo's finger and demands to know how he obtained it. A remorseful Iachimo confesses about
13500-664: The landing site of Henry Tudor , when he invaded England via Milford on 7 August 1485 on his way to deposing Richard III and establishing the Tudor dynasty . It may also reflect English anxiety about the loyalty of the Welsh and the possibility of future invasions at Milford. Cymbeline was one of Shakespeare's more popular plays during the eighteenth century, though critics including Samuel Johnson took issue with its complex plot: This play has many just sentiments, some natural dialogues, and some pleasing scenes, but they are obtained at
13650-612: The last act. By contrast, Peter Hall 's production at the Shakespeare Memorial presented nearly the entire play, including the long-neglected dream scene (although a golden eagle designed for Jupiter turned out too heavy for the stage machinery and was not used). Hall presented the play as a distant fairy tale, with stylised performances. The production received favourable reviews, both for Hall's conception and, especially, for Peggy Ashcroft 's Imogen. Richard Johnson played Posthumus, and Robert Harris Cymbeline. Iachimo
13800-509: The lead role of Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in the West End . He had previously played the role Off-Broadway from July 8, 1998, to August 4, 1998 and again from February 1999. He was a Garland Award winner, and Ovation Award nominee. During 2002, the Kennedy Center presented a "Sondheim Celebration"; Cerveris appeared in Passion as Giorgio. Cerveris has appeared several times at
13950-439: The lyrics, were under contract in Hollywood. He said that although he was not a big fan of Sondheim's music, he enjoyed the lyrics from Saturday Night and he could audition for Bernstein. The next day, Sondheim met and played for Bernstein, who said he would let him know. Sondheim wanted to write music and lyrics; he consulted with Hammerstein, who said, as Sondheim related in a 2008 New York Times video interview, "Look, you have
14100-594: The main character was a woman, Bobbie, portrayed by Katrina Lenk ). The 2006 and 2021 productions won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical . Follies (1971), with a book by James Goldman , opened on April 4, 1971, at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 522 performances after 12 previews. The plot centers on a reunion, in a crumbling Broadway theater scheduled for demolition, of performers in Weismann's Follies (a musical revue, based on
14250-487: The making of the original cast recording shortly after the show opened on Broadway in his 1970 film Original Cast Album: Company . Stritch, Sondheim, and producer Thomas Z. Shepard are featured prominently. Company was revived on Broadway in 1995, 2006, and 2020/2021 (the last revival began previews in March 2020, but shut down before resuming in November 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ; in this revival,
14400-478: The most obvious and frequently cited examples of this non-normative dimension of the play is the prominence of homoeroticism, as seen in Guiderius and Arviragus's semi-sexual fascination with the disguised Imogen/Fidele. In addition to homoerotic and homosocial elements, the subjects of hermaphroditism and paternity/maternity also feature prominently in queer interpretations of Cymbeline . Janet Adelman set
14550-474: The music and lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum , which opened in 1962 and ran for 964 performances. The book , based on farces by Plautus , was by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart . The show won six Tony Awards (including Best Musical ) and had the longest Broadway run of any show for which Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics. Sondheim had participated in three straight hits, but his next show—1964's Anyone Can Whistle —was
14700-504: The music and lyrics, Merman refused to let another first-time composer write for her and demanded that Jule Styne write the music. Sondheim, concerned that writing lyrics again would pigeonhole him as a lyricist, called his mentor for advice. Hammerstein told him he should take the job, because writing a vehicle for a star would be a good learning experience. Sondheim agreed; Gypsy opened on May 21, 1959, and ran for 702 performances. The first Broadway production for which Sondheim wrote
14850-463: The musical include "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", "The Worst Pies in London", "Pretty Women", "A Little Priest", " Not While I'm Around ", "By the Sea", and "Johanna". The production earned 9 Tony Award nominations and won 8 awards, including Best Musical , Best Original Score, Best Actress, and Best Actor. Richard Eder of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Sondheim's lyrics can be endlessly inventive. There
15000-490: The new Globe Theatre in 2001, a cast of six (including Abigail Thaw , Mark Rylance , and Richard Hope ) used extensive doubling for the play. The cast wore identical costumes even when in disguise, allowing for particular comic effects related to doubling (as when Cloten attempts to disguise himself as Posthumus.) There have been some well-received theatrical productions including the Public Theater 's 1998 production in New York City, directed by Andrei Șerban . Cymbeline
15150-419: The off-Broadway revue The Mad Show . The song was credited to "Esteban Río Nido", Spanish for "Stephen River Nest", and in the show's playbill the lyrics were credited to " Nom De Plume ". That year Goldman and Sondheim hit a creative wall on The Girls Upstairs , and Goldman asked Sondheim about writing a TV musical. The result was Evening Primrose , with Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr . Written for
15300-549: The only one. I've checked with other people. People expect more of you and you're aware of it and you shouldn't be." In December 2007, he said that in addition to continuing work on Bounce , he was "nibbling at a couple of things with John Weidman and James Lapine". Lapine prepared the multimedia production iSondheim: aMusical Revue , which was scheduled to open in April 2009 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta ; it
15450-407: The opening of South Pacific , Hammerstein's musical with Richard Rodgers . The comic musical Sondheim wrote at George School, By George , was a success among his peers and buoyed his self-esteem. When he asked Hammerstein to evaluate it as though he had no knowledge of its author, he said it was the worst thing he had ever seen: "But if you want to know why it's terrible, I'll tell you." They spent
15600-422: The original play did not lend itself to musicalization, they began writing a musical version. The project had many difficulties, including Rodgers's alcoholism. Sondheim later called it the one project he truly regretted writing, given that the reasons he wrote it—as a favor to Mary, as a favor to Hammerstein, as an opportunity to work again with Laurents, and as an opportunity to make money—were not reasons to write
15750-511: The play attributes great political significance to Imogen's virginity and chastity . There is some debate as to whether Imogen and Posthumus's marriage is legitimate. Imogen has historically been played and received as an ideal, chaste woman maintaining qualities applauded in a patriarchal structure; however, critics argue that Imogen's actions contradict these social definitions through her defiance of her father and her cross-dressing. Yet critics including Tracey Miller-Tomlinson have emphasised
15900-420: The play. Shaw commented on the play 1896, in one fiery critique stating it was: "stagey trash of the lowest melodramatic order, in parts abominably written, throughout intellectually vulgar, and, judged in point of thought by modem intellectual standards, vulgar, foolish, offensive, indecent and exasperating beyond all tolerance." Shaw, however, would go on to reform his opinion of the play after his rewriting of
16050-425: The prideful Posthumus that he, Iachimo, can seduce Imogen, whom Posthumus has praised for her chastity, and will then bring Posthumus proof of Imogen's adultery. If Iachimo wins, he will get Posthumus's token ring. If Posthumus wins, not only must Iachimo pay him but also fight Posthumus in a duel with swords. Iachimo heads to Britain where he attempts to seduce the faithful Imogen, who rejects him. Iachimo then hides in
16200-467: The request that it was "weird...it's like asking your father to inscribe something." Reading the inscription ("For Stevie, My Friend and Teacher") choked up the composer, who said, "That describes Oscar better than anything I could say." Sondheim began attending Williams College , a liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts , whose theater program attracted him. His first teacher there
16350-478: The rest of the day going over the musical, and Sondheim later said, "In that afternoon I learned more about songwriting and the musical theater than most people learn in a lifetime." Hammerstein designed a course of sorts for Sondheim on constructing a musical. He had the young composer write four musicals, each with one of the following conditions: None of the "assignment" musicals were produced professionally. High Tor and Mary Poppins have never been produced:
16500-409: The rights holder for the original High Tor refused permission (though a musical version by Arthur Schwartz was produced for television in 1956), and Mary Poppins was unfinished. Hammerstein's death Hammerstein died of stomach cancer on August 23, 1960, aged 65. Sondheim later recalled that Hammerstein had given him a portrait of himself. Sondheim asked him to inscribe it, and said later of
16650-463: The script. The show went through a number of drafts, and was interrupted briefly by Sondheim's next project. In 1959, Laurents and Robbins approached Sondheim for a musical version of Gypsy Rose Lee 's memoir after Irving Berlin and Cole Porter turned it down. Sondheim agreed, but Ethel Merman – cast as Mama Rose – had just finished Happy Hunting with an unknown composer (Harold Karr) and lyricist (Matt Dubey). Although Sondheim wanted to write
16800-490: The shortening of Imogen's burial scene and the entire fifth act, including the removal of Posthumus's dream. Garrick's text was first performed in November of that year, starring Garrick himself as Posthumus. Several scholars have indicated that Garrick's Posthumus was much liked. Valerie Wayne notes that Garrick's changes made the play more nationalistic, representing a trend in perception of Cymbeline during that period. Garrick's version of Cymbeline would prove popular; it
16950-501: The show and its aftermath, Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened , directed by Merrily cast member Lonny Price, and produced by Bruce David Klein , Kitt Lavoie, and Ted Schillinger, premiered at the New York Film Festival on November 18, 2016. A film adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along , directed by Richard Linklater , began production in 2019 and is planned to continue for the next two decades to allow
17100-402: The show did not continue as planned; it opened off-Broadway in 2000. Sondheim later said, "I don't have any emotional reaction to Saturday Night at all—except fondness. It's not bad stuff for a 23-year-old. There are some things that embarrass me so much in the lyrics—the missed accents, the obvious jokes. But I decided, leave it. It's my baby pictures. You don't touch up a baby picture—you're
17250-509: The show. Sondheim lived in a Turtle Bay, Manhattan brownstone from his writing of Gypsy in 1959. Ten years later, he heard a knock on the door. His neighbor, Katharine Hepburn , was in "bare feet—this angry, red-faced lady" and told him, "You have been keeping me awake all night!" (she was practicing for her musical debut in Coco ). "I remember asking Hepburn why she didn't just call me, but she claimed not to have my phone number. My guess
17400-635: The sons of Cymbeline, a British king raised in Rome, they grew up in a Welsh cave. The brothers lament their isolation from society, a quality associated with barbarousness, but Belarius, their adoptive father, retorts that this has spared them from corrupting influences of the supposedly civilised British court. Iachimo's invasion of Imogen's bedchamber may reflect concern that Britain was being maligned by Italian influence. According to Peter A. Parolin, Cymbeline’s scenes ostensibly set in ancient Rome may be anachronistic portrayals of sixteenth-century Italy, which
17550-487: The spectacle of the production rather than the text of the play. Theophilus Cibber revived Shakespeare's text in 1744 with a performance at the Haymarket . There is evidence that Cibber put on another performance in 1746, and another in 1758. In 1761, David Garrick edited a new version of the text. It is recognized as being close to the original Shakespeare, although there are several differences. Changes included
17700-640: The stage for this performance. The play was also one of Ellen Terry 's last performances with Henry Irving at the Lyceum in 1896. Terry's performance was widely praised, though Irving was judged an indifferent Iachimo. Like Garrick, Irving removed the dream of Posthumus; he also curtailed Iachimo's remorse and attempted to render Cloten's character consistent. A review in the Athenaeum compared this trimmed version to pastoral comedies such as As You Like It . The set design, overseen by Lawrence Alma-Tadema ,
17850-604: The text. Also in 2012, the South Sudan Theatre Company staged Cymbeline in Juba Arabic for the Shakespeare's Globe "Globe to Globe" festival. It was translated by Derik Uya Alfred and directed by Joseph Abuk. Connections between the content of the play and South Sudan's own political struggle have been drawn by the production's producers, as well as some scholars. Overall, the production
18000-526: The title role, and was nominated for the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award , Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, and received a Drama Critics Circle citation. In this John Doyle production, the actors also played instruments, with Cerveris playing lyric guitar. In the Broadway musical LoveMusik (2007) he appeared as Kurt Weill, and received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Drama League Award nominations. In 2007 he played Kent in King Lear at
18150-405: The tone for the intersection of paternity and hermaphroditism in arguing that Cymbeline's lines, "oh, what am I, / A mother to the birth of three? Ne’er mother / Rejoiced deliverance more", amount a "parthenogenesis fantasy". According to Adelman and Tracey Miller-Tomlinson, in taking sole credit for the creation of his children Cymbeline acts a hermaphrodite who transforms a maternal function into
18300-422: The wager he made, and how he tricked Posthumus into believing he had seduced Imogen. Posthumus then comes forward to confirm Iachimo's story, revealing his identity and acknowledging his wrongfulness in wanting Imogen killed. Ecstatic, Imogen throws herself at Posthumus, who, believing she is a boy, knocks her down. Pisanio then rushes to explain that Fidele is Imogen. Imogen still suspects that Pisanio conspired with
18450-408: The ways in which the play upholds patriarchal ideology, including in the final scene, with its panoply of male victors. Whilst Imogen and Posthumus's marriage at first upholds heterosexual norms, their separation and final reunion leave open non-heterosexual possibilities, initially exposed by Imogen's cross-dressing as Fidele. Miller-Tomlinson points out the falseness of their social significance as
18600-522: Was Cloten. As with contemporary productions of Pericles , this one used a narrator (Cornelius) to signal changes in mood and treatment to the audience. Robert Speaight disliked the set design, which he called too minimal, but he approved the acting. In 1980, David Jones revived the play for the RSC; the production was in general a disappointment, although Judi Dench as Imogen received reviews that rivalled Ashcroft's. Ben Kingsley played Iachimo; Roger Rees
18750-663: Was Posthumus. In 1987, Bill Alexander directed the play in The Other Place (later transferring to the Pit in London's Barbican Centre) with Harriet Walter playing Imogen, David Bradley as Cymbeline and Nicholas Farrell as Posthumus. At the Stratford Festival , the play was directed in 1970 by Jean Gascon and in 1987 by Robin Phillips . The latter production, which was marked by much-approved scenic complexity, featured Colm Feore as Iachimo, and Martha Burns as Imogen. The play
18900-433: Was Robert Barrow: everybody hated him because he was very dry, and I thought he was wonderful because he was very dry. And Barrow made me realize that all my romantic views of art were nonsense. I had always thought an angel came down and sat on your shoulder and whispered in your ear "dah-dah-dah-DUM." It never occurred to me that art was something worked out. And suddenly it was skies opening up. As soon as you find out what
19050-604: Was again at Stratford in 2004, directed by David Latham. A large medieval tapestry unified the fairly simple stage design and underscored Latham's fairy-tale inspired direction. In 1994, Ajay Chowdhury directed an Anglo-Indian production of Cymbeline at the Rented Space Theatre Company. Set in India under British rule, the play features Iachimo, played by Rohan Kenworthy, as a British soldier and Imogen, played by Uzma Hameed, as an Indian princess. At
19200-430: Was also credited as a co-writer of the lyrics, but he later offered Sondheim solo credit, as Sondheim had essentially done all of them. The New York Times review of the show did not mention the lyrics. Sondheim described the division of the royalties, saying that Bernstein received 3% and he received 1%. Bernstein suggested evening the percentage at 2% each, but Sondheim refused because he was satisfied with just getting
19350-743: Was also performed at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in October 2007 in a production directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, and in November 2007 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre . The play was included in the 2013 repertory season of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival . In 2004 and 2014, the Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey produced two distinct versions of the play. The 2004 production, directed by Jon Ciccarelli, embraced
19500-522: Was an Italian American professor of music; the two met while students at the Juilliard School . He is a 1979 graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and a 1983 cum laude graduate of Yale University , where he was a member of Skull and Bones . He majored in theater studies, and also studied voice. Cerveris had roles in several Off-Broadway productions, starting with Macbeth in 1983 as Malcolm and including Total Eclipse in 1985 as Rimbaud at
19650-548: Was canceled due to "difficulties encountered by the commercial producers attached to the project ... in raising the necessary funds". Later revised as Sondheim on Sondheim , the revue was produced at Studio 54 by the Roundabout Theatre Company ; previews began on March 19, 2010, and ran from April 22 to June 13. The revue's cast included Barbara Cook , Vanessa L. Williams , Tom Wopat , Norm Lewis , and Leslie Kritzer . In 2013, Lapine directed
19800-449: Was characterised by contemporary British authors as a place where vice, debauchery, and treachery had supplanted the virtue of ancient Rome. Though Cymbeline concludes with a peace forged between Britain and Rome, Iachimo's corruption of Posthumus and metaphorical rape of Imogen may demonstrate fears that Great Britain's political union with other cultures might expose Britons to harmful foreign influences. Scholars have emphasised that
19950-496: Was good and every fifth movie was great. There wasn't any cultural pressure to make art". At age 22, Sondheim had finished the four shows Hammerstein requested. Screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein 's Front Porch in Flatbush , unproduced at the time, was being shopped around by designer and producer Lemuel Ayers . Ayers approached Frank Loesser and another composer; both turned him down. Ayers and Sondheim met as ushers at
20100-624: Was in April 1611. It was first published in the First Folio in 1623. When Cymbeline was actually written cannot be precisely dated. The Yale edition suggests a collaborator had a hand in the authorship, and some scenes (e.g., Act III scene 7 and Act V scene 2) may strike the reader as particularly un-Shakespearean when compared with others. The play shares notable similarities in language, situation, and plot with Beaumont and Fletcher 's tragicomedy Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding ( c. 1609–10 ). Both plays concern themselves with
20250-471: Was invited to give the 152nd Commencement Address at Wilson College in Pennsylvania and was presented with an honorary degree, Doctor of Humanities. Cerveris has performed at many events, to honor or celebrate notable performers and creatives. He performed at The Drama League gala, A Musical Celebration of Broadway on February 7, 2011, which also honored Patti LuPone . In November 2010 he appeared at
20400-465: Was lavish and advertised as historically accurate, though the reviewer for the time complained of such anachronisms as gold crowns and printed books as props. Similarly lavish but less successful was Margaret Mather 's production in New York in 1897. The sets and publicity cost $ 40,000, but Mather was judged too emotional and undisciplined to succeed in a fairly cerebral role. Barry Jackson staged
20550-428: Was made in 2007 directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp , Helena Bonham Carter , and Alan Rickman . Merrily We Roll Along (1981), with a book by George Furth , is one of Sondheim's most traditional scores; songs from the musical were recorded by Frank Sinatra and Carly Simon . According to Sondheim's music director Paul Gemignani , "Part of Steve's ability is this extraordinary versatility". The show
20700-489: Was nine. "The curtain went up and revealed a piano", Sondheim recalled. "A butler took a duster and brushed it up, tinkling the keys. I thought that was thrilling." Sondheim detested his mother, who was said to be psychologically abusive and to have projected her anger from her failed marriage onto her son: "When my father left her, she substituted me for him. And she used me the way she used him, to come on to and to berate, beat up on, you see. What she did for five years
20850-470: Was not the success their previous collaborations had been: after a chaotic series of preview performances, it opened to widely negative reviews, and closed after a run of less than two weeks. Due to the high quality of Sondheim's score, the show has been repeatedly revised and produced in the ensuing years. Martin Gottfried wrote, "Sondheim had set out to write traditional songs ... But [despite] that there
21000-403: Was notably minimal, with only a few essential props. She relied instead on a variety of lighting effects to reinforce mood; actors seemed to come out of darkness and return to darkness. Barbara Jefford was criticised as too cold and formal for Imogen; Leon Gluckman played Posthumus, Derek Godfrey Iachimo, and Derek Francis Cymbeline. Following Victorian practice, Benthall drastically shortened
21150-405: Was once in a relationship with Beth Ostrosky , an actress who is now married to Howard Stern . Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim ( / ˈ s ɒ n d h aɪ m / ; March 22, 1930 – November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater , he is credited with reinventing
21300-521: Was played by Geoffrey Keen , whose father Malcolm had played Iachimo with Ashcroft at the Old Vic in 1932. Hall's approach attempted to unify the play's diversity by means of a fairy-tale topos . The next major Royal Shakespeare Company production, in 1962, went in the opposite direction. Working on a set draped with heavy white sheets, director William Gaskill employed Brechtian alienation effects , to mixed critical reviews. The acting, however,
21450-431: Was revived on Broadway in 2001 and 2011. A Little Night Music (1973), based on Ingmar Bergman 's Smiles of a Summer Night and with a score primarily in waltz time , was among Sondheim's greatest commercial successes. Time magazine called it his "most brilliant accomplishment to date". The original cast included Glynis Johns , Len Cariou , Hermione Gingold , and Judy Kahan . The show opened on Broadway at
21600-722: Was set in the souks of Dubai and the Bollywood film industry during the 1990s communal riots and received acclaim from reviewers and academics alike. Also in 2013, a folk musical adaptation of Cymbeline was performed at the First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook, Illinois. The setting was the American South during the Civil War , with Cymbeline as a man of high status who avoids military service. The play
21750-533: Was staged a number of times over the next few decades. In the late eighteenth century, Cymbeline was performed in Jamaica . The play entered the Romantic era with John Philip Kemble 's company in 1801. Kemble's productions made use of lavish spectacle and scenery; one critic noted that during the bedroom scene, the bed was so large that Iachimo all but needed a ladder to view Imogen in her sleep. Kemble added
21900-506: Was staged with Mary Warner, Fanny Vining , Anna Cora Mowatt , and Edward Loomis Davenport . In 1859, Cymbeline was first performed in Sri Lanka . In the late nineteenth century, the play was produced several times in India . In 1864, as part of the celebrations of Shakespeare's birth, Samuel Phelps performed the title role at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane . Helena Faucit returned to
22050-458: Was the closest seaport to Shakespeare's home town of Stratford-upon-Avon : "But if you marched due west from Stratford, looking neither to left nor to right, with the idea of running away to sea in your young head, then Milford Haven is the port you'd reach," a walk of about 165 miles (266 km), about six days' journey, that the young Shakespeare might well have taken, or at least dreamed of taking. Marisa R. Cull notes its possible symbolism as
22200-757: Was treat me like dirt, but come on to me at the same time." She once wrote him a letter saying that the only regret she ever had was giving birth to him. When she died in 1992, Sondheim did not attend her funeral. He had been estranged from her for nearly 20 years. When Sondheim was about ten years old (around the time of his parents' divorce), he formed a close friendship with James Hammerstein , son of lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II , who were neighbors in Bucks County. The elder Hammerstein became Sondheim's surrogate father, influencing him profoundly and developing his love of musical theater. Sondheim met Hal Prince , who later directed many of his shows, at
22350-529: Was well received by audiences and critics. Critic Matt Truman gave the production four out of five stars, saying "The world's youngest nation seems delighted to be here and, played with this much heart, even Shakespeare's most rambling romance becomes irresistible." In 2013, Samir Bhamra directed the play for Phizzical Productions with six actors playing multiple parts for a UK national tour. The cast included Sophie Khan Levy as Innojaan, Adam Youssefbeygi, Tony Hasnath, Liz Jadav and Robby Khela. The production
22500-497: Was widely praised. Vanessa Redgrave as Imogen was often compared favourably to Ashcroft; Eric Porter was a success as Iachimo, as was Clive Swift as Cloten. Patrick Allen was Posthumus, and Tom Fleming played the title role. A decade later, John Barton 's 1974 production for the RSC (with assistance from Clifford Williams ) featured Sebastian Shaw in the title role, Tim Pigott-Smith as Posthumus, Ian Richardson as Iachimo, and Susan Fleetwood as Imogen. Charles Keating
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