Into the Words
Director of Artistic Development Anika Chapin, Signature artists, and notable Sondheim experts take us “Into The Words” of the genius of Sondheim's songs, analyzing the lyrics and reflecting on performing them.
“Liaisons” from A Little Night Music
Director of Artistic Development Anika Chapin sat down with Signature Theatre Co-Founder Donna Migliaccio to talk about one of their favorite songs from A Little Night Music.
Song Analysis: “A Very Nice Prince”
Sondheim’s songs are such richly layered character portraits, you can learn volumes about each character in every one. Here’s a good example, from Into the Woods: when Cinderella and the Baker’s Wife first meet in the woods, it might seem like just a charming moment of plot as Cinderella tells a starstruck Baker’s Wife about the Prince’s ball, which we never see. But listen more closely to the music and the lyrics, and you’ll become aware of a lot more; deeper shading is given to each character that foreshadows their actions for the rest of the show.
Podcast Episode: “A Little Night Music,” Know The Show
Written in 1973 by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler and inspired by a popular Ingmar Bergman film, A Little Night Music is all about love and sex, Sondheim-style; complicated love triangles, the pain of loving the wrong person, and the inevitability of time passing. In this episode of the podcast Know The Show, hosts Anika Chapin (Signature’s Director of Artistic Development) and Michael Fling dive into the show’s genesis, history, and legacy – and Anika makes a case for why the song “The Miller’s Son”, which many feel is out of place, is in fact the key to understanding the entire show.