Stephen Sondheim On Upper Broadway

In 2018 I attended the "Wall to Wall Leonard Bernstein" program, an eight-hour tribute to the life and work of the conductor/composer/pianist, at Symphony Space, a cultural gem at the corner of 95th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

This year Symphony Space honored jazz saxophonist John Coltrane with a "Wall to Wall" program that I also attended. I was able to see and hear bassist Reggie Workman and saxophonist Gary Bartz perform live. Both men are jazz legends.

While browsing the theatre's brochure for the 2019/2020 season, I was delighted to learn that in May there will be a "Wall to Wall Stephen Sondheim" program that, like all the previous "Wall to Wall" events, will run for eight hours (3 pm to 11 pm) and will be free to the public (donations are suggested). The program will celebrate Sondheim's creative genius as well as his 90th birthday.

Sondheim, a co-creator of West Side Story (along with Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins), as well as the composer/lyricist of other Broadway shows, is one of my favorite composers. And next year I'll get the chance to hear for the first time his music live in a theatre. All other times have been via television, film, and sound recordings.

Carol Channing's Secret Racial Heritage

"In her 2002 autobiography, 'Just Lucky I Guess,' Ms. [Carol] Channing," wrote the New York Times,"revealed that when she was 16 her mother told her that her father was part black;she kept her racial heritage a secret, she wrote, for fear that it would be bad for her career."(Carol Channing, who died recently at age 97, was a Broadway musical star. She is best known for her role as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly.)

I wonder if  Carol Channing had ever been approached by professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to appear on his public television series Finding Your Roots to discover more about her father's side of the family.