Stephen Sondheim Movies

Take a trip to the Texas School for the Blind in Austin, where two freshmen and two seniors share their unique perceptions of the outside world over the course of one memorable year, all the while seeking acceptance by their peers like any other teenager. Compiled from over 250 hours of footage, Keith Maitland's experimental documentary uses rotoscopic animation to portray the thoughts of the four teens, and challenges us to ponder how we would see ourselves if we couldn't see at all. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller comes to the big screen in this adaptation directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, and Alan Rickman. Embittered at having been wrongly imprisoned and determined to seek vengeance against his accusers due to the grim fate that befell his wife and daughter while he was incarcerated, ex-convict Sweeny Todd (Depp) returns to his hometown and opens a modest barber shop. The one thing different about Todd's shop, however, is that no one who walks in for a trim is ever seen again. Subsequently branded "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" by the frightened community, Todd continues with his murderous exploits with a little assistance from his amorous accomplice, Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) -- whose popular meat pies secretly have a most unsavory ingredient. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed by Rick McKay, who traveled across five continents during the documentary's production, Broadway: The Golden Age is both a celebration of current Broadway stars and a tribute to Broadway legends past. Through a plethora of interviews and vast amounts of archival footage, McKay presents a variety of factoids, anecdotes, and memories from over 100 Broadway actors, writers, and directors. The careers of Laurette Taylor, Kim Hunter, Jessica Tandy, and Marlon Brando are all animatedly retold, as is some of the Broadway "lore of olde," such as Angela Lansbury's struggle to land a role in Mame and the shocked reaction to West Side Story on its opening night. In addition to footage and discussion regarding highly successful Broadway stars, a variety of actors recount their experiences and struggles in finding even a small amount of critical recognition. The cast includes Shirley MacLaine, Bea Arthur, Edie Adams, Alec Baldwin, and Kaye Ballard, and many others. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Patti LuPone and George Hearn star in this concert production of Stephen Sondheim's wildly funny and macabre musical Sweeney Todd, as staged by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Also appearing in the cast is Neil Patrick Harris. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

Leonard Bernstein was one of the best known and most compelling figures to emerge in classical music in the 20th century, bringing symphonic music to a whole new audience, and this documentary follows his life and career from his first concert as a conductor in 1943 to his final one at Tanglewood. Reaching for the Note features rare footage of his concerts, home movies, selections from the Broadway shows he helped compose, and interviews with his friends, relatives, and colleagues, including Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Seiji Ozawa. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Warren Beatty directed and starred in this big-budget action comedy featuring Chester Gould's square-jawed, two-dimensional comic strip detective. Ruthless gangster Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) touches off a gang war against underworld boss Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino), with Big Boy and his minions rubbing out enough of Manlis's goons (along with Manlis himself) to take over his nightclub, and a healthy percentage of the city's criminal activities in the process. Caprice also gains proprietary rights to Manlis's girlfriend, nightclub chanteuse Breathless Mahoney (Madonna). Big Boy's next move to is unite the rest of the city's crooks under his command; this wave of corruption attracts the attention of lawman Dick Tracy, who is determined to smash Caprice's criminal network once and for all. As Tracy plots to put Big Boy behind bars where he belongs, Breathless uses her considerable charms in an attempt to sway Tracy from the path of righteousness; this causes no small amount of anxiety for Tracy's long-suffering female companion, Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly), and the street-smart kid (Charlie Korsmo) they've been keeping an eye on. The various bad guys, heavily made up to resemble Gould's cartoon characters (though Beatty is not made up to resemble Tracy), include Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, R.G. Armstrong, and William Forsythe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Originally broadcast as part of the American Playhouse series on PBS, this video captures a performance by the original cast of the popular Broadway musical. With songs and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine, who also directed the stage production, Into the Woods humorously combines a number of classic fairy tales into one over-arching narrative. A baker and his wife are assigned a number of tasks by a nearby witch; only after completing these duties will they be able to give birth. During their quest to fulfill the witches' demands, they encounter Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and numerous other fairy tale figures. The traditional stories are parodied and altered at will, yet the original fairy tales' sense of wonder and, at times, darkness remains intact. The score, winner of Broadway's Tony Award, includes such songs as Children Will Listen, Giants in the Sky, and No One Is Alone. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Including such songs as "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "The Ladies Who Lunch," and "Losing My Mind," this video features a filming of the well-known Stephen Sondheim musical as it was performed at New York's Lincoln Center in 1985. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a videotaped staging of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's 1979 Broadway musical. This winner of nine Tony awards was based on Christopher Bond's adaptation of the venerable Victorian melodrama of the same name. The eponymous Mr. Todd (George Hearn), an ill-tempered London barber, pursues the grisly sideline of slashing his enemies' throats, grinding up their bodies, and selling the results in meat pies! This is material for a musical? Yes, and it's terrific. The production is at its best when Angela Lansbury, as Todd's looney mistress, belts forth one of the score's 26 songs. When first offered on the Showtime cable service in 1983, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street carried home a shelf-full of ACE awards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Beginning its several incarnations as an Ingmar Bergman film named Smiles of a Summer Night, the story was adapted by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim into a successful Broadway musical directed by Harold Prince. This film, also directed by Prince, is adapted from the stage musical. In the movie, in the early 1900s, a group of friends bound together by complicated romantic entanglements, have come together for an elegant dinner at a country estate. The men present are the current, previous, or prospective lovers of the beautiful actress, Desiree (Elizabeth Taylor), and the other women are all united by their jealousy of her. Sadly, Desiree herself wants to simplify things and settle down -- she envies the wives. The adapted score later won an Oscar. The musical's well-known songs include Every Day a Little Death, A Weekend in the Country, and You Must Meet My Wife. The most famous song from the musical, Send in the Clowns, is sung here by Elizabeth Taylor. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This film by French director Alain Resnais (Last Year in Marienbad) is loosely based on a true story from the 1930s about financier, con-man and swindler Stavisky who was arrested in 1934 for selling phony stock but was never brought to trial. While in jail, he continued to engage in doubtful monetary transactions. As the rumors that he was being protected by high-ranking members of the government of the French Third Republic were undoubtedly true, the scandal had a profoundly unsettling effect on the French nation, already suffering from poor government handling of the Depression, and this incident nearly brought down both the government and the Republic. Stavisky's death in prison (an apparent suicide) triggered widespread unrest and rioting. In the movie, when Stavisky (Jean-Paul Belmondo) goes to jail as a young con-man, his embarrassed father commits suicide. Ruining countless lives in his stellar career as a big-money swindler, including that of his nobleman friend Raoul (Charles Boyer), Stavisky is shown to be a pawn in a still bigger swindle, one which will destroy the Left and open the way to fascism. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi