Folk chanteuse Judy Collins owes the biggest hit of her career to Stephen Sondheim, her rendition of his “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music sent her into the stratosphere, and took her from being a celebrated singer, to becoming one of the most popular stars of the 1970s. Conversely it brought the legendary musical theatre composer the only chart-topper in his illustrious career and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year (a rare occurrence for any musical theatre songs). Needless to say so, their careers have been intertwined since, and as Collins explains in her concert A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim “he’s transformed Broadway, but he’s also transformed my life”.However Collins hadn’t had the opportunity to explore the rest of Sondheim’s catalogue, until this concert which took place in May 2016 in Denver, Colorado. The DVD edition by MVD visual captured the event which saw Collins go through beloved songs by the “American treasure”, and also included material by other composers. She opened the show with Joni Mitchell’s “Chelsea Morning” which might not be Sondheim, but becomes the perfect segue for “No One is Alone”, which Collins refers to as one of Stephen’s newer musicals (her sense of humor is endearing and at times confusing).
Even though the concert runs a little over an hour, Collins goes through so many songs that you truly feel like it made for a longer event. Her voice by now has become less smooth, and much more powerful, she sings every note as if each of them contained a universe of emotion. Her rendition of “Finishing the Hat” is positively goosebump-inducing, and one can’t help but be thankful she didn’t go the obvious route by pairing all songs by the musical they came from. She does seem to favor Sunday in the Park With George, from which she also sings “Sunday” and “Children & Art”, but really who can blame her for loving that show?
What’s truly exciting is when she marries songs that seem to come from extreme opposites, and finds the connection between them, such as when she does “Guns” from Assassins, followed by “There Won’t Be Trumpets” from Anyone Can Whistle, the former’s humor making way to the bittersweet nature of the latter. Collins explains that Sondheim has “gone out on a limb and created beauty”, but so has she with her unique renditions of his work, and for that reason A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim is essential.
DVD extras include an interview with Collins in which she details how she first became aware of Sondheim (she didn’t know who he was before someone suggested she recorded “Send in the Clowns”), and rehearsal footage from the concert.
