12:00
Gresham College
October 17
'Send in the Clowns’ was probably the most commercially successful song by the revered Stephen Sondheim, yet it confounds the expectations of a showstopper, having been written for an actress of limited singing ability, the late Glynis Johns. This lecture considers the song in the context of the musical A Little Night Music, and how major singers like Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins and Sarah Vaughan came to cover it. How has a song of limited vocal range and abstract lyrics become such a favourite?
This lecture includes live performances by Olivier Award winner Sara Kestelman.