The Signature Theatre bestowed its honor on Carol Burnett, who was the last person to be handpicked by Stephen Sondheim to receive it. https://t.co/1jYMMtlPNs
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 19, 2022
From the Washington Post, “For Carol Burnett, the Sondheim Award Is Personal”:
When Stephen Sondheim asked his friend Carol Burnett years ago if she would come to New York and sing “I’m Still Here” from “Follies,” she instantly agreed. Though somehow, Burnett had failed to absorb one crucial detail: She would be required to belt the number for, gulp, an audience of 2,700 Sondheim freaks in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall…
That 1985 concert — with the likes of Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin, Elaine Stritch, George Hearn and Lee Remick — is a milestone in the Sondheim annals. Burnett could still chuckle at the memory of her misapprehension as she reminisced last Sunday in an elegant meeting room at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons in Northern Virginia. The next day, Signature Theatre would bestow on her its Stephen Sondheim Award, whose past recipients have included Angela Lansbury, Harold Prince, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald.
The pandemic delayed the honoring of Burnett for two years, and then in November the revered Broadway composer died, at 91. One poignant result is that Burnett — who met Sondheim six decades ago, when both had just begun to make their marks — is the last person handpicked by Sondheim to receive the award…
At 89, Burnett — a Broadway baby to her core but more lovingly remembered for “The Carol Burnett Show,” the hour-long variety show she headlined on CBS for 279 episodes from 1967 to 1978 — remains as sharp and engaging as ever. For the tribute to her that Signature orchestrated Monday night at the Capital One Hall in Tysons, the performers included Peters, the first person she ever asked to appear on the TV show, after seeing her in an off-Broadway musical, “Dames at Sea.”
“When no one else would have me, you hired me,” Peters recounted from the stage, after serenading Burnett with “Old Friends” from Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along.”…
Burnett has an impressive trophy case filled with Emmys and Golden Globes and Kennedy Center Honors, but a Sondheim Award justifiably pegs her as in that inner circle of performers and directors and musicians whom the composer cherished. She famously emerged as a musical theater star in 1959, playing Princess Winnifred in “Once Upon a Mattress,” a spoof of “The Princess and the Pea” fairy tale, with music by Mary Rodgers, daughter of Richard. Her trademark song was the risible “Shy,” a misapplied adjective to both Winnifred and Burnett. (It was reprised Monday night by D.C. actress Awa Sal Secka.)…
Lately, Burnett’s public life has shifted from performance to reminiscence: Several times a year, she tours with a show that includes the question-and-answer format that memorably began each episode of “The Carol Burnett Show.” Remarkably, she said, YouTube and reruns on cable have kept her old TV show alive.
“A couple of years before the pandemic, there was a little boy in the second row who raised his hand that I called on,” Burnett recounted. “I said, ‘What’s your name?’ He said, ‘Andrew.’ And I said, ‘How old are you, Andrew?’ He said, ‘9.’ And I said, ‘You know who I am?’ And there was a pause, and he said, ‘Surprisingly, yes.’ ”
Burnett’s charlady character has been one of my inspirations for my performance at this blog — I may not be able to carry the spotlight, but I can always be here.
I’ve recommended Putting It Together before, as an introduction to Sondheim, or just a very pleasant mood-lifter. Just five characters in a story stitched together from some of Sondheim’s favorite songs — the other actors in the video being George Hearn, Ruthie Henshall, John Barrowman (aka Captain Jack Harkness of Dr. Who / Torchwood), and Bronson Pinchot.
"Burnett — who met Sondheim 6 decades ago, when both had just begun to make their marks — is the last person handpicked by Sondheim to receive the award." – @washingtonpost
Stream Burnett in Sondheim's Putting It Together: https://t.co/UCE743ZgxR 🎶https://t.co/iEt1Ycgu8B
— BroadwayHD (@BroadwayHD) May 19, 2022
Burnett and Sondheim – two treasures.
In that picture with Burnett is Randy Rainbow, another performer Sondheim praised highly.
Hey, that’s Randy Rainbow taking a selfie with Burnett.
I’ll always associate “Bit By Bit” with Xerox commercials.
Love her.
For the old folks, vintage Burnett.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgTN13_bfXQ
@notmax, Although I’ve seen that performance, it was after the fact. I was an avid viewer of The Carol Burnett Show. She is just an amazing talent.
@ NotMax : LOved Her show. Thank you!
Some of the more fun numbers requiring lung capacity from the Sondheim repertoire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdNkvByFVvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soQk6QaRBpk
With my fat fingered typing, I knew I’d be missing that edit option 😉
Boy, I’m glad we’re back 😊
I remember liking the B&W version of “Once Upon a Mattress” much better than the redone one in color. Carol was especially great in it.
I grew up watching the Carol Burnett Show and in the late ‘90s my kids absolutely loved it on syndication. My son, especially, couldn’t get enough of Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. It came on at 6:00 M-F and was responsible for turning us into eating dinner in front of the TV family.
I watched “The Carol Burnett Show” religiously when it was on. Fun fact – my mother was in the same class as Tim Conway when she attended grade school in Chagrin Falls. Her family moved to Missouri when she was 9.
I saw Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress in 1959. We stopped over in NYC for a couple of days on the return leg of my first trip to Britain, and that was the show we ended up seeing!
And how delicious to see Carol Burnett and Randy Rainbow together. That photo made my evening!
My mom and dad were big fans of The Carol Burnett Show, so even if I was too cool for it, I occasionally watched it. The Gone With the Wind show was hilarious. Every time I hang curtains on a rod I’m tempted to go all Scarlet O. H. And Tim Conway getting stabbed with a dog shot is still one of the funniest things ever.https://youtu.be/ibsleUFe7qw
Congratulations, Miss Burnett. Well earned, well deserved.
I grew up in a then small town in Western CO, and we had exactly one TV station. Thankfully it had the Carol Burnett show, one of my all time favorites; so many incredibly talented people in it.
Ah yes, the Gone with the Wind sketch was one time I truly almost died laughing. And I *thought* that was Randy Rainbow — sweet!
A well deserved honor for a fellow Bruin.