''Six by Sondheim'' is an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

television documentary which pays tribute to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

composer and lyricist

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

. The film was directed and co-produced by

James Lapine James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', ''Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He ha ...

, based on an idea by

Frank Rich Frank Hart Rich Jr. (born 1949) is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO. Rich is current ...

and "centers on the backstory of six great Sondheim songs".

Film

The film has performances of six of Sondheim's signature songs: # " Something's Coming" (''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...

''), # "Opening Doors" ('' Merrily We Roll Along''), # " Send in the Clowns" (''

A Little Night Music ''A Little Night Music'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', it involves the romantic lives of several couples. ...

''), # " I'm Still Here" (''

Follies ''Follies'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on t ...

''), # "

Being Alive "Being Alive" is a song from the musical '' Company'' by George Furth with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song appears at the end of act two and is sung by the main character, Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor who at the show's end "...r ...

" (''

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

'') and # "Sunday" (''

Sunday in the Park with George ''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatt ...

''). In the documentary, Sondheim himself performs along with

Audra McDonald Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is an American actress and singer. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four act ...

, Jeremy Jordan,

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series ''Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...

America Ferrera America Georgina Ferrera (; born April 18, 1984) is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, Ferrera developed an interest in acting at a young age, performing in several stage productions at her school. She made her featur ...

Jackie Hoffman Jacqueline Laura Hoffman (born November 29, 1960 in Queens, New York City) is an American actress, singer, and comedian known for her one-woman shows of Jewish-themed original songs and monologues. She is a veteran of Chicago's famed The Second ...

and

Laura Osnes Laura Ann Osnes (born November 19, 1985) is an American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage. She has played starring roles in '' Grease'' as Sandy, '' South Pacific'' as Nellie Forbush, ''Anything Goes'' as Hope Harcourt, ...

. The documentary contains archival footage as well as footage shot for a

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...

of Sondheim's music that played on Broadway in 2010 titled ''

Sondheim on Sondheim ''Sondheim on Sondheim'' is a musical revue consisting of music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim for his many shows. It is conceived and directed by James Lapine. The revue had a limited run on Broadway in 2010. Background The revue is b ...

''. The documentary consists of both original short films of several of the songs plus existing material. For example, Lapine directed the part on "Opening Doors" which features Criss, Jordan, Ferrera, and Osnes;

Todd Haynes Todd Haynes (; born January 2, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender ...

directed the film on "I'm Still Here" which has

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

; and

Autumn De Wilde Autumn de Wilde (born October 21, 1970) is an American photographer and film director best known for her portraiture and commercial work photography of musicians, as well as her music video works. In 2020 she directed her first feature film, '' E ...

directed McDonald and Will Swenson in "Send in the Clowns."

Simonson, Robert Robert Simonson (born September 11, 1964) is an American journalist and author. Personal life Robert Simonson was born in Wisconsin; he has lived in Brooklyn since 1988. Career Robert Simonson began writing about cocktails, spirits and bars for ...

"James Lapine, Frank Rich and Stephen Sondheim Discuss 'Six by Sondheim,' New HBO Film About Composer"
playbill.com, November 25, 2013 The film was edited by Miky Wolf who gave an interview to ''The Red Room Podcast'' on episode 68. This interview was then published in the Summer 2014 ''The Sondheim Review''.

Reception

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

highly recommended the documentary stating that ''Six'' is "a superbly compiled work, overseen by two of the people most intimately familiar with the composer himself...If you're new to the works of Stephen Sondheim, this TV special should entice you. If you're already a fan, it should delight you."

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

stated, "Sondheim exults in the 'agonizing fun' of his craft. We can only marvel at the results." The documentary was one of several

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

winners in 2014.73rd Annual Peabody Awards
May 2014.

References

{{James Lapine 2013 television films 2013 films HBO documentary films American musical documentary films Films about musical theatre Stephen Sondheim Peabody Award-winning broadcasts Documentary films about Broadway theatre Films directed by James Lapine 2010s American films