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The podcast Loving You: The Untold Sondheim will debut the first official recordings of two previously unknown Stephen Sondheim songs in the latest episode of the series, hosted by Sondheim’s friends Martin Milnes and Peter E. Jones. Ahead of this release, BroadwayWorld can exclusively reveal new details from the songs and episode.
Episode 03, dropping Thursday, March 19, features the first official recordings of the two songs: ‘No Sad Songs For Me’ and an excerpt from ‘The Party Of The Stars’. Each number is an homage to Sondheim’s favorite movie star, Margaret Sullavan.
‘No Sad Songs For Me’ (1950) was written for Sondheim’s Williams College revue Where To From Here. ‘The Party Of The Stars’ (1951) – which has never been publicly released – was written for the private amusement of Sondheim’s close friend Chuck Hollerith, who shared the composer’s adoration of Sullavan.
“Margaret Sullavan very rarely made it out of a movie alive. On screen, she died from TB. She died in childbirth. She died from cancer. She died from malaria. She was shot by the Nazis while fleeing on skis. She ran into a burning building,” explained Milnes, who performs the songs.
“And ‘Maggie’, as Steve called her, had these magnificent melodramatic death scenes and dying speeches which Steve absolutely loved. They inspired him to write both ‘No Sad Songs For Me’ and ‘The Party Of The Stars’ – but each song was omitted from Steve’s lyric anthology books as he feared they were too camp! Peter Jones and I extend our thanks to The Stephen Sondheim Trust to now share these songs on Loving You: The Untold Sondheim.”
Episode 03, entitled ‘In The Movies’, also features never-before-released emails between Sondheim and Milnes, who bonded over their shared passion for obscure old films. Co-host Peter E. Jones – Sondheim’s first love and close friend – shares stories with Patti LuPone about the first attempted musical of Sunset Boulevard by Gloria Swanson in the 1950s, prior to Sondheim and Hal Prince considering an adaptation in 1981 with Angela Lansbury as Norma Desmond.
Loving You: The Untold Sondheim is a 12-episode series featuring personal chats with Sondheim’s friends, collaborators and interpreters. Each episode explores different aspects of Sondheim’s life, personality and private passions.
Guests include Dame Julie Andrews, Jamie Bernstein, Dame Judi Dench, Mia Farrow, Ronan Farrow, Maria Friedman, Adam Guettel, John Kander, James Lapine, Patti LuPone, Maltby & Shire, Bernadette Peters, Jonathan Tunick, John Weidman and Maury Yeston. Family memories are recalled by Stephen’s half-brother, Walter E. Sondheim. Stephen Sondheim is portrayed by BAFTA-winner Alistair McGowan, with Young Steve played by Daniel Cane.
The recordings of ‘No Sad Songs For Me’ and ‘The Party Of The Stars’ are produced by Chris Traves with Musical Direction by Gareth Valentine. Loving You: The Untold Sondheim is produced by Martin Milnes and Peter E. Jones in partnership with Creative Kin. The podcast’s original score is composed by Peter E. Jones. The series is written, devised and directed by Martin Milnes.
New episodes are released each Thursday on all streaming platforms. More information can be found on the official Instagram account @lovingyousondheimpodcast.
Photo Credit: Samuel Black Photography
