It’s Sondheim’s leading ladies!
Meryl Streep, Imelda Staunton and Catherine Tate have one man in common. All have been associated, to varying degrees, with musical legend Stephen Sondheim.
The actresses met in london recently to discuss their relationship to Sondheim and his music.
Three-time Oscar winner Streep plays the Witch in director rob Marshall’s superb film adaptation of Into The Woods, written by Sondheim and James lapine.
The Disney production, which opens here today, has already taken a whopping $95 million in the U.S.
Streep has had a long association with Sondheim. Back in 1974, she was a singer — alongside Sigourney Weaver — in a production at yale University of The Frogs, for which Sondheim had composed the score.
Into The Woods is one of the top treats of the new year, with moments both comedic and moving from emily Blunt, James Corden, Johnny Depp, Tracey Ullman and Daniel Huttlestone. Staunton also walked Into The Woods when she played the Baker’s Wife in the original london production in 1990.
She’s well acquainted with Sondheim’s work, having also starred in Sweeney Todd at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Adelphi, opposite Michael Ball.
In March, she will lead Jonathan Kent’s lauded Chichester Festival Theatre show Gypsy into the Savoy Theatre, along with lara Pulver.
Kevin Whately, who was also in the Chichester production, won’t be transferring because of commitments to the television drama lewis.
Tate is the new kid on the block as far as Sondheim’s concerned, though she performs with aplomb in Assassins, in which she portrays Sara Jane Moore, a failed U. S. presidential assassin.
The show, now on in a sold-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, may transfer — to somewhere in london, or even New york, if a suitable venue can be found for director Jamie lloyd’s thrilling exploration of what drove a disparate group of ‘ mutants’ to want to kill U. S. presidents throughout history.
A video featuring Streep, Staunton and Tate can be seen if you go to Disney’s UK youTube page later today.