There are a thousand and one tributes going on, at this moment, for Stephen Sondheim. This is one more. To him, and to the students at San Luis Obispo High School in 1992/93, who introduced him to me with their production of Into the Woods.
I was in elementary school and my sister played the Baker’s Wife. She had her rehearsal cassette tape which I often borrowed/stole to listen to over and over and over again (especially after she left for college, but I digress).
The performing bug had already bitten me years before but this took it to the next level. The words were so fast and the music fit in differently than anything else I’d heard. It danced with my brain like nothing I’d experienced before or since, save a couple top notch Shakespeare performances, but that’s different.
So to the production team of SLOHS’ Into The Woods circa 1992/1993– Mr. Huttle, and (the woman whose name I don’t remember but she had glorious cheekbones), thank you. To Beth Curry and Erik Austin and Bryan Barnhardt and Amy Sinsheimer and Christa Nichols and everyone whose name I don’t remember but whose performances have stayed with me for decades, thank you. To the musicians, HOW? and thank you. To my sister, thank you thank you thank you, and don’t ever get crushed by a giant for real please. To Beth’s dad who filmed it, which gave me something beautiful to watch over and over once she was away, thank you kindly.
To the teachers and the creators and the performers and the enjoyers… thank you.
And to Stephen Sondheim, you are dead, so you you will not hear me, but you are not gone, not as long as there’s music. Thank you for the glimmer.
Pretty Good Ugly 