Stepping Out of the Ring: MIKE TYSON: UNDISPUTED TRUTH Premieres Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada
A Look Into the Life and Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim: SIX BY SONDHEIM Premieres December 9 at 9 p.m. ET/MT on HBO Canada
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TORONTO (November 19, 2013) – HBO Canada announced today the premiere of the all-new HBO documentary SIX BY SONDHEIM, airing Monday, Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. ET/MT day-and-date with HBO in the U.S. The documentary takes a candid look at the life and art of legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Since his Broadway debut at age 27 as the lyricist for West Side Story, Sondheim has redefined musical theatre over the course of a six-decade career through such groundbreaking works as Company, Sweeney Todd, and Sunday in the Park with George. HBO Canada is a multiplex channel of Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada) and Bell Media’s The Movie Network (Eastern Canada).
Directed by Tony Award® winner and frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, SIX BY SONDHEIM is a highly personal profile of a great American artist as revealed through the creation and performance of six of his iconic songs. Told primarily in Sondheim’s own words, this feature documentary weaves together dozens of interviews with the composer, rarely seen archival material spanning more than half a century (including newly discovered footage of Ethel Merman performing Gypsy) and re-stagings of three songs produced especially for the film. Executive produced by James Lapine and Frank Rich.
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The re-stagings in SIX BY SONDHEIM showcase performances by Broadway and Hollywood stars such as Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess), Darren Criss (GLEE), Jeremy Jordan (Newsies) and America Ferrera (UGLY BETTY), interspersed with archival performances of Sondheim standards by stars like Bernadette Peters (SMASH), Mandy Patinkin (HOMELAND), Dean Jones (Beethoven), Yvonne de Carlo (FANTASY ISLAND), and Larry Kert (New York, New York). Blending theatrical and rare interview footage with Sondheim’s candid anecdotes, the film features the songs “Something’s Coming,” “Opening Doors,” “Send in the Clowns,” “I’m Still Here,” “Being Alive,” and “Sunday.”
The documentary reveals how art and life have been intertwined for Sondheim since childhood, when his mother’s friendship with the family of the legendary librettist and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II would introduce the young Sondheim to a surrogate father and artistic mentor, ultimately starting him on the path to a career in the theater.
The six songs spotlighted in SIX BY SONDHEIM include:
“Something’s Coming”
Sondheim got his break writing lyrics for Broadway’s West Side Story, collaborating with composer Leonard Bernstein. As Sondheim explains, they created an opening number that would give Larry Kert, a young performer, the confidence to hold the stage in his first starring Broadway role. Though Sondheim treasured his collaboration with Bernstein, he regarded lyric writing as a stop on the way to his true goal of writing both music and lyrics.
“Opening Doors”
Sondheim calls this song from Merrily We Roll Along – about three young writers trying to break into show business – his most directly autobiographical song. “I was trying to recapture what I was like when I was 25 and 30 years old,” said Sondheim. Jeremy Jordan, Darren Criss, America Ferrera, Jackie Hoffman, Laura Osnes, and Sondheim perform “Opening Doors” in a new segment directed by James Lapine.
“Send in the Clowns”
Written for Glynis Johns’ breathy voice, it became his biggest hit song, taking off two years following the opening of A Little Night Music, after both Judy Collins and Frank Sinatra covered it. Audra McDonald and Will Swenson perform “Send in the Clowns” in a new segment directed by Autumn de Wilde.
“I’m Still Here”
Sondheim wrote this tour de force for movie star Yvonne de Carlo during the pre-Broadway Boston tryout of Follies as a last-minute replacement for the song “Can That Boy Foxtrot!” As he explains, the lyrics were inspired by the life of resilient Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. Jarvis Cocker of the rock band Pulp performs “I’m Still Here” in a new segment directed by Todd Haynes.
“Being Alive”
While writing Company, a show about “the difficulties and joys of marriage,” Sondheim, a self-described loner “out of habit” since childhood, asked his married friends for comments about their relationships. Dean Jones, the star of the original Broadway production, performs “Being Alive” in an excerpt from the classic documentary Company: Original Cast Album, directed by D.A. Pennebaker.
“Sunday”
The song closest to Sondheim’s heart comes from Sunday in the Park with George, inspired by Georges Seurat’s painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” He says that for him part of the profound quality of the Seurat work stems from the fact that the figures depicted don’t know they’ve been immortalized. Sondheim gave his song an “almost funereal” beat that becomes a triumphant march and builds to the word “forever.”
Stephen Sondheim has written music and lyrics for more than 20 shows. He won a Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Sunday in the Park with George in 1985, and has received multiple Tony Awards, including a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre in 2008. In 1990, he won an Oscar® for Best Music, Original Song for “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man),” from Dick Tracy.
Director James Lapine has collaborated with Stephen Sondheim on several acclaimed shows, writing the book for and directing Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion and Sondheim on Sondheim. He has received three Tony Awards, five Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. Lapine executive produces SIX BY SONDHEIM along with New York Magazine’s Frank Rich, a former chief theatre critic for the New York Times and currently an executive producer of the Emmy® Award-winning HBO comedy series VEEP.
SIX BY SONDHEIM is directed by James Lapine. Executive producers are James Lapine and Frank Rich (ROYAL PAINS). Produced by Liz Stanton (THE CHRIS ROCK SHOW) and edited by Miky Wolf (Time and the Hour Run). For HBO, Nancy Abraham (Life According to Sam) is the senior producer and Sheila Nevins (The Cheshire Murders) serves as executive producer.
In Western Canada, episodes will be available in High Definition on HBO Canada HD and On Demand.
In Eastern Canada, episodes will be available in High Definition and on TMN GO and HBO Canada OnDemand.
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HBO Canada brings Canadians HBO’s current slate of signature dramatic and comedic programs, together with new and never-before-seen programming including comedy series, live specials, sporting events, behind-the-scenes content and titles from HBO’s extensive library – all in an uncut and commercial-free environment. HBO Canada is offered in high definition on HBO Canada HD and programming is accessible on TMN GO and HBO Canada OnDemand. For more information, please visit www.hbocanada.com. In Eastern Canada, HBO Canada is a division of Bell Media, which is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. In Western Canada, HBO Canada is offered by Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central (Western Canada).
About Movie Central
Movie Central is owned by Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR.B), a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in specialty television and radio with additional assets in pay television, television broadcasting, children’s book publishing and children’s animation. Experience Corus on the web at www.corusent.com.
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For more information:
For Movie Central (Western Canada):
Owen McCorquodale, 416.479.6068 or owen.McCorquodale@corusent.com
For The Movie Network (Eastern Canada):
Jessica Charbonneau, 416.956.8638 or jessica.charbonneau@bellmedia.ca
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