James Lapine
On Martha’s Vineyard, three-time Tony-winning playwright and director James Lapine meets Rose Styron, the widow of the great American novelist William Styron. Over six years of periodic meetings, Rose shares the fascinating story of her complex life as a poet, journalist, human rights activist, and life partner to William. The result is the tale infused with life wisdom for all ages.
The Hollywood Bowl becomes an enchanted world of magic beans, towering giants, and handsome princes as the setting for our annual fully staged musical – the darkly humorous and hauntingly beautiful masterpiece by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, Into the Woods. As the Baker and his Wife travel through the forest trying to reverse a witch’s curse, they come across Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and other famous storybook characters all in search of their own wishes…but “happily ever after” turns into a tale of “be careful what you wish for” when granted wishes have unexpected effects. This is Sondheim at his finest, with such memorable songs as “Children Will Listen” and “No One Is Alone.”
Nominated for five 2017 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Falsettos is a hilarious and poignant look at a modern family revolving around the life of a gay man Marvin, his wife, his lover, his soon-to-be-bar-mitzvahed son, their psychiatrist, and the lesbians next door. Originally Episode 2 from Season 43 of Live From Lincoln Center on PBS.
In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker and his wife set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.
Inspired by George Seurat’s magnificent painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s soaring musical is itself an artistic masterpiece. The musical begins with the story of George and his model and lover Dot. As George struggles to find his artistic voice, he becomes more and more distant from the one woman who truly sees him for who he really is. A century later, George and Dot’s descendants, themselves struggling artists, grapple with the same issues of artistic ingenuity, and a public who just doesn’t understand.Through melodic and heartbreaking music, poetic lyrics, and quick, jaunty wit, Sunday in the Park with George reveals universal truths about the nature of art, love, and passion, with the breadth and depth of art’s most enduring masterpieces. Filmed live at the Châtelet in Paris in 2013 and broadcast on Mezzo.
This intimate documentary explores the life and career of the stage legend Stephen Sondheim through six of his best-known songs.
Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods weaves together many famous fairy tales in an allegorical story of family, love, growing up and the hazy areas between right and wrong. This production was captured by Digital Theatre live at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air theatre and was directed by Timothy Sheader. Into the Woods takes the stories of the Brothers Grimm and gives them a dark and humorous twist. The popular tales of Red Ridinghood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Cinderella and Rapunzel are interwoven with that of the Baker and his Wife and their quest to have a child. However this re-telling goes beyond "happily ever after" as the familiar characters find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances and hopes and dreams are questioned and revisited.
A bored wife, who is planning to run away from her minister husband, is taken hostage in a bank robbery. However, she sees the thrill in being involved in the chase and becomes an accomplice to helping the younger robber escape his pursuers. As things progress, she learns he pulled the robbery to get enough money to help his pregnant girlfriend leave a home for unwed mothers. The two have a brief flirtation, but it is clear the housewife just needs something to enliven her life.
Giorgio, a young soldier, is in love with the married Clara and becomes her lover. But they are separated when Giorgio is posted far away, where he meets the unhappy, unhealthy, and unattractive Fosca, who develops a passionate love for Giorgio and tries to make him love her. Film of the Broadway production.
Michael Chapman was once a child TV star. When he grows up, he can't get work so he and his brother start their own talent agency that specialises in child acts. They can't seem to find the next big thing and they have to deal with another agency who's not above bribery to get the kids to sign with them. One day Michael meets a young girl who's a real spitfire, and thinks she could be who they are looking for.
A collection of fairy tale characters head into the woods, and soon learn that fairy tales don't end at "happily ever after." This rendition of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical was recorded on the stage with an all-star Broadway cast.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine discuss their stage musical Into the Woods
Documentary that follows Stephen Sondheim, during his spell as visiting professor of drama at Oxford University, as he takes students through the creative process of writing a musical. The film was made during rehearsals for the UK premiere of Sunday in the Park with George, which won the Olivier Award for best musical in 1991.
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat is one of the great paintings of the world, and in "Sunday in the Park with George," book writer James Lapine and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim bring a story based on the work brilliantly to life. While the painting depicts people gathered on an island in the Seine, the musical goes beyond simply describing their lives. It is an exploration of art, of love, of commitment. Seurat connected dots to create images; Lapine and Sondheim use connection as the heart of all our relationships. Winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
