Stephen Sondheim slams Lady Gaga's 'Sound of Music' performance, Oscars producer slams back

[LoveandMagic 1,731]

Sondheim is renowned for a reason. He is a legendary talent. But while I respect his opinion, far more than most in fact, I whole-heartedly disagree with his overall assessment. In any even, it really doesn't matter to me for the most part. It was a stellar performance (among her best) and had a strong positive impact on the great vast majority of those that viewed/heard it. While I'm sure some pressed trolls like PD may pull it out of their butts every chance they get, I doubt it will change most people's opinions (even among the "respected" critics).

For what it matters, most of my theatre buddies and former teachers were raving about her performance, for what it's worth. I doubt they will change their minds.

[StrawberryBlond 14,353]

I don't get it - she sang it in this style because it's the way Julie sang it. She was replicating her style. Julie praised it. Someone people just can't be pleased. I know your entitled to your opinion, but should you know when something is still good, just not your taste. In that case, there's no need to put your opinion down so rudely.

[Nicole 1,809]

​?I just meant that if the performance was a Julie tribute, then she would have a final say on the matter. However, the performance was on the Sound of Music as a whole, so Sondheim's opinion matters more. Everybody saying "Julie loved it so it doesn't matter" are wrong.

​I don't agree with the bolded. To my knowledge, he had no involvement in The Sound of Music, as opposed to Julie Andrews (and the rest of the cast), so why should his opinion matter more, regardless of his talent and importance in the theatre industry? Not just Julie, but almost the entire cast has expressed their love for the performance. And to me anyway, that is the more important than the opinion of Sondheim. It wasn't a tribute for him, therefore he does not have the "final say"

[Lady Palutena 3,143]

Come now, fellow Monsters did we really expect EVERYONE to love the performance?

It was amazing and wonderful and the original portrayer (" The Incomparable Julie Andrews") loved it. But we knew that there would be detractors, there always are. We just gotta say "Well, the good outweighs the bad" and let it go.  

Don't bash Stephen Sondheim, he's entitled to his opinion even if it is absurd. I mean a YouTube user named The CollaborativeFX did his best to undermine the performance as well. But at the end of the day, Gaga did it and she killed it in the best of ways. And really that's all that should matter.

[Katie14 4,828]

 He has quite an unpopular opinion, and it's still just an opinion at the end of the day  He has his reasons for not liking it and that's fine; let's not attack him for not liking a performance, that's just ridiculous  

​I totally echo this  

​Its just the fact that he used the word "travesty" that has others and myself kind of upset. Its a huge exaggeration to describe her performance using that word. If he didn't like the performance he should have politley answered the question by saying something like, " I didn't like her interpretation of the songs" and left it at that. Its just so disrespectful and mean to insult other artists like that to the media. Stephen Sondheim is extremely well known and respected so his words may actually hurt Gaga's reputation or hamper her opportunities if she ever wants to pursue a career in broadway. Its completely unfair to her. Especially when her performance was so highly praised and she clearly put a lot of effort in. It wasn't like Gaga just went up there without practicing and completely botched the songs or did something unclassy/disrespectful like flashing herself at the end or whatever.

Also, Im sure Gaga knows who Stephen Sondheim is, since she went to theater school. There is a good chance that she sees him as an inspiration and greatly respects him. Could you imagine someone who you look up to calling a performance you worked incredibly hard on a "travesty". I would be heartbroken.

He came off as very nasty and conservative. He may be extremely talented but that does not give him the right to be so disrespectful to other hard working artists in public.

[Schwerk 7,077]

Do you guys in your late teens and early twenties ever Google or wiki anymore? Or do you just think you have to key to the universe and just blurt out your unfounded opinion about something or someone instantly? I don't want to generalize but asking who? everytime a name comes up makes you look very stupid.

[Gov Hooka 8,008]

​Its just the fact that he used the word "travesty" that has others and myself kind of upset. Its a huge exaggeration to describe her performance using that word. If he didn't like the performance he should have politly answered the question by saying something like, " I didn't like her interpretation of the songs" and left it at that. Its just so disrespectful and mean to insult other artists like that to the media. Stephen Sondheim is extremely well known and respected so his words may actually hurt Gaga's reputation or hamper her opportunities if she ever wants to pursue a career in broadway. Its completely unfair to her. Especially when her performance was so highly praised and the she clearly put a lot of effort it. It wasn't like Gaga just went up there without practicing and completely botched the songs or did something unclassy/disrespectful like flashing herself at the end or whatever.

Also, Im sure Gaga knows who Stephen Sondheim is, since she went to theater school. There is a good chance that she sees him as an inspiration and greatly respects him. Could you imagine someone who you look up to calling a performance you worked incredibly hard on a "travesty". I would be heartbroken.

He came off as very nasty and conservative. He may be extremely talented but that does not give him the right to be so disrespectful to other hard working artists in public.

​bravo, well said.

[Dorothy Gale 7,575]

​Its just the fact that he used the word "travesty" that has others and myself kind of upset. Its a huge exaggeration to describe her performance using that word. If he didn't like the performance he should have politly answered the question by saying something like, " I didn't like her interpretation of the songs" and left it at that. Its just so disrespectful and mean to insult other artists like that to the media. Stephen Sondheim is extremely well known and respected so his words may actually hurt Gaga's reputation or hamper her opportunities if she ever wants to pursue a career in broadway. Its completely unfair to her. Especially when her performance was so highly praised and the she clearly put a lot of effort it. It wasn't like Gaga just went up there without practicing and completely botched the songs or did something unclassy/disrespectful like flashing herself at the end or whatever.

Also, Im sure Gaga knows who Stephen Sondheim is, since she went to theater school. There is a good chance that she sees him as an inspiration and greatly respects him. Could you imagine someone who you look up to calling a performance you worked incredibly hard on a "travesty". I would be heartbroken.

He came off as very nasty and conservative. He may be extremely talented but that does not give him the right to be so disrespectful to other hard working artists in public.

I know right! If I spent 6 months preparing for something and someone called it a travesty I'd be heartbroken. 

[Der Meister 3,000]

​Its just the fact that he used the word "travesty" that has others and myself kind of upset. Its a huge exaggeration to describe her performance using that word. If he didn't like the performance he should have politly answered the question by saying something like, " I didn't like her interpretation of the songs" and left it at that. Its just so disrespectful and mean to insult other artists like that to the media. Stephen Sondheim is extremely well known and respected so his words may actually hurt Gaga's reputation or hamper her opportunities if she ever wants to pursue a career in broadway. Its completely unfair to her. Especially when her performance was so highly praised and the she clearly put a lot of effort it. It wasn't like Gaga just went up there without practicing and completely botched the songs or did something unclassy/disrespectful like flashing herself at the end or whatever.

Also, Im sure Gaga knows who Stephen Sondheim is, since she went to theater school. There is a good chance that she sees him as an inspiration and greatly respects him. Could you imagine someone who you look up to calling a performance you worked incredibly hard on a "travesty". I would be heartbroken.

He came off as very nasty and conservative. He may be extremely talented but that does not give him the right to be so disrespectful to other hard working artists in public.

​

[ShockPop 7,747]

Question: Did you have anything to do with the original creation of any part of that tribute?

Answer: Then shut the fcuk up, because you have NO idea how it's supposed to sound. You have no business giving a scathing review of something that is  out of your realms of knowledge. 

 

He is obviously a legend (in my opinion due to quantity more than quality) but that doesn't mean he knows anything about any music he isn't involved with. He doesn't know first hand what the intention of the piece was.

Oh, and Gaga was disconnected from the emotion. Yeah. Thats why she turned into Frozen's Elsa for climb every mountain and was crying after. Much disconnection. Many nonfeels.

Get this guy a new set of ears, his are broken.

That's not to say it was perfect but better than any of her contemporaries could do. (Picture rihanna doing the tribute for a minute. Hoe lee shiiit). She pushed the final flat note to get the vibrato and save it but the rest was on point.

[Willy Wonka 4]

 

Question: Did you have anything to do with the original creation of any part of that tribute?

Answer: Then shut the fcuk up, because you have NO idea how it's supposed to sound. You have no business giving a scathing review of something that is  out of your realms of knowledge. 

 

He is obviously a legend (in my opinion due to quantity more than quality) but that doesn't mean he knows anything about any music he isn't involved with. He doesn't know first hand what the intention of the piece was.

Oh, and Gaga was disconnected from the emotion. Yeah. Thats why she turned into Frozen's Elsa for climb every mountain and was crying after. Much disconnection. Many nonfeels.

Get this guy a new set of ears, his are broken.

That's not to say it was perfect but better than any of her contemporaries could do. (Picture rihanna doing the tribute for a minute. Hoe lee shiiit). She pushed the final flat note to get the vibrato and save it but the rest was on point.

​I think he just values different things than what were featured in that performance. The more I think about his response, I really don't think he was saying that Gaga's singing was a travesty, but rather the interpretation was a travesty. By his response, it sounds like he thought it was sung quite capably. But it's pretty well-documented that technically good vocals are probably what he cares about least.

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist who contributed to many theatre productions has deemed GaGa's Oscar performance a "travesty" and said she treated it in a "semi-operatic way" and didn't show a relationship to the lyrics. He continued to say that people were just impressed to see GaGa's versatility, not about the performance. The article - http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/stephen-sondheim-lady-gaga-oscars_37373.html

Thoughts? 

Update: Oscars producer Craig Zadan responds

​I love Nick Jonas even more now. 

[elijahfan 25,386]

Not Nick Jonas tweeting......  He really want dem gays

[Mast 980]

​It is on purpose this way... It's a technique 

​Um, no, it's not a technique. Being flat is never a technique. It's called being of-key. It's not rare for Gaga to be off-key, she's always had a problem with starting songs out a little flat. This is not a bad thing, since she knows how to recover from it, it's just a nitpick thing. During the performance, she tended to get pitchy and shouty while belting, and that's pretty much the only thing that took away from the performance. That, and the fact that she constantly changed her tone in order to hit the notes in the upper register (a la Nature Boy). Gaga is not perfect.

[Mast 980]

​I don't agree with the bolded. To my knowledge, he had no involvement in The Sound of Music, as opposed to Julie Andrews (and the rest of the cast), so why should his opinion matter more, regardless of his talent and importance in the theatre industry? Not just Julie, but almost the entire cast has expressed their love for the performance. And to me anyway, that is the more important than the opinion of Sondheim. It wasn't a tribute for him, therefore he does not have the "final say"

​He was present during the writing and production of the musical.