The lovely wife and I were sitting on the balcony, sipping some excellent wine (Me, an Argentinian Malbec; her, a California Reisling), watching the sunset, listening to BOYS FROM SYRACUSE. As I was chortling to Mr. Hart's clever, risque lyric, "...All night they bring rich men to grief, till they have no cash left, Cops can't afford the good roast beef, but still we have the hash left", I commented to my lovely wife that if Stephen Sondheim had one flaw, it was his seeming diminishment and dismissal of Mr. Hart in comparison to his spiritual father and mentor, Mr. Hammerstein. Now over the years I've become a lot fonder of Mr. Hammerstein (there are few lyrics more perfect than "the sun is swimming on the rim of a hill"), but I've always preferred Mr. Hart. I can certainly understand Mr. Sondheim's loyalty and preference to Mr. Hammerstein over Mr. Hart. But what I find somewhat amusing and ironic about Mr. Sondheim's apparent disdain for Mr. Hart is that I find his style, sensibility, and intricateness much closer to Hart than Hammerstein.
I know we have lots of Sondheim mavens on this board. Any thoughts or comments about this?