TOD:
Not a show, but Ethel Merman. As a child, I would see her on TV, the days of the great variety shows, and she was one of my favorites. She could just open up and belt it all out. No fuss, no muss, and all in. She was my introduction into Sondheim, among many others. When I became more aware of his name, I realized that WEST SIDE STORY was co-written by Sondheim. Yes, GYPSY and FORUM, but I've had more fondness for SWEENEY TODD and A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.
I was curious about COMPANY because the book was written by the ubiquitous character actor George Furth who was in everything from THE MONKEES to MURDER, SHE WROTE. He was one of the many Johnsons in BLAZING SADDLES.
Compared with everyone else, I am a greenhorn when it comes to musicals. I know many of the songs that wound up being part of the repertoire of "standards".
[As an aside, my parents had friends who for many years would vacation at the Mohonk Resort atop the Hudson. They were lovable people, but would be clueless who they were hobnobbing with. They had an unintentional ongoing friendship with Sammy Cahn and Werner Klemperer. My parents friends would eventually figure things out, but the friendships were truly accidental, not forced. Then, they would run into them everywhere they (separately) went.]
