Added: 4 years ago
From: AllanWo
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  • I think Paul might be tone deaf and got into Guildhall by sympathy

  • Why is the soprano rolling her r's O_o? And what is the deal with Paul!?

  • the guy sucks, the alto is amazing, and the soprano is impeccable.:)

  • Pfft! who's Paul fucking? Ugh, makes me so angry! How did he get in?

  • This amy is fabulous.

  • that soprano is really annoying. she has a nice voice but her rolled r's and ending consonants are obnoxious.

  • Paul's dad must of had ALOT of money! ahaha

  • I love how Steve is on the edge of his seat waiting to hear if Amy gets all the words :L XXXX <3 STEVE SONDHEIM <3

  • If only I had Prof Sondheim in undergrad, I might have been a Fine Arts major instead.

  • A massive lung capacity is needed to play Amy.

    Kudos to this brave kid --"A" for effort. I will only imagine Beth Howland as Amy.

  • look hang on. the soprano is obviously from the singing course, and paul is an actor..as is the amy...thats why shes so damn good. if ur going to pick paul apart pick away at his acting.

  • Dear god the Paul is awful... he doesn't deserve to be working with Sondheim

  • "Lets put some colour in the word 'dead' here" - Sondheim, you are excellent. Period. What I'd give for training from you :) Thankyou for putting this up, AllanWo.

  • love the amy,the soprano wasnt half bad

    but paul

    lord have mercy what was up with that?

  • I wouldn't call the soprano perfect.

  • how did that guy get into Guildhall??? It's not a difficult tune....

  • look at him mouthing the words! he's so cute! I LOVE HIM!! <3

  • What a privilege to work with the master, lucky kids

    

  • Actually, I don't think the soprano is much good at all! Awful rolled r's and she can't sustain her pitches at the end of the lines. Now, I know that the wedding soprano should sound a bit affected, but "dreaduh-fuluh day"? No, an when she sings her final consonants, the pitch dips down. These are pretty basic flaws.

  • I think the best thing about this clip is watching Sondheim's face! Agh I love him and you get to see him live every lyric. Incredible brilliance.

  • How the fuck did he get into Guildhall...?

  • @yaasper I know, he's really shit isn't he? Mind you, it was the 80s judging by what they are wearing. Lol

  • The kid singing Paul is so bad, it's not even funny.

  • What year is this?

  • WHO is that soprano?!?!?

  • That girls singing fast is the best student, I suppose... Sondheim not even corrects her!!

  • I will give anyone who can get all the lyrics right a standing ovation for this song... this is really brave to do this infront of him. Probally one of his hardest songs.

    LOVE THE SOPRANO! Amy's great too!

  • you mean to tell me they couldn't find anybody better than THAT guy?you got to be kidding me!a gagged frog could sing paul better than this guy!

  • The kid singing Paul should be beaten. So many people who aren't talentless hacks would kill for the chance to sing in front of and be critiqued by the composer of the song they were singing, much less THE great composer of musical theater.

  • he looks so funny at 5:36

  • Best Amy, I have watched alot of vids and she is the best

  • Amy Justman

  • i'm guessing the guy is an acting student and they desperately needed a male singer! and he's nitpicking at the soprano cause she's good, the better u are the more nitpicking you get and youre told to work on tiny little details! im guessing thats why he leaves the trainwreck alone lol!

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  • did the girl in the sweater get famous or something she was great!!!!!

  • @MrsWillShakes No kidding. Quite nasal.

  • Oh I love sondheim.

  • She's nailed the lyrics and the emotion, but Sondheim is a stickler for his melody and this Amy isn't singing any of the correct notes in her melodic line.

  • damn why does this kid paul get to be taught by sondheim? total waste!

  • The paul is horrible!!!!! Oy lol

  • this are only students. sind it better yourself.

  • "Perhaps/I'll collapse/In the apse." Lyric writing doesn't get any better than that.

  • @lcassamas I've always loved that line, too. Appreciated it once again watching this.

  • I love Sondheim's smile whenever Amy says her lines. You know that girl is doin' something right :)

    lol

  • Look at the smile on Sondheims's face about 5:10 when Amy nails the lyric. She totally gets the song.

  • Are these students voice or Musical Theatre students?

  • poor Paul

  • I think this is the Best Amy ive seen !

  • whats the gilrs name in real life? where did she train?

  • I've been a huge Sondheim fan forever. Paul doesn't need any training because any man either can sing a Sondheim song, or he can't. A 15-yo or a 70-yo can be Amy. Henrik and Sweeney must be around 60.

  • Did they pull this boy off the street? Paul, you sound like 8 year old. I love Stephen's teachings.

  • Wow. That's the worst thing for an actor. To have the teacher completely ignore you like that. It means he thinks you're hopeless. Unfortunately, most people think that this means they're perfect.

  • @blithium ....that's true, that's what people do to survive, 'cos once you accept your own mediocrity, the game's over...we can respect his courage

  • @blithium in some cases mabye but this totally was not the case this guys sucked,he was so vapid and boring.

  • I love the way sondheim is mouthing his own words!!!

  • 1:16 Ouch. I'll say nothing more, as it would be unfair to criticise him when I can't sing half as well. And even if I could, I'd probably completely fall apart if I was performing in front of Sondheim.

  • Does anyone know the names of the singers? It would be interesting to know what they are doing now

  • Great to see a genius at work! You can tell by his eyes when he's satisfied with the performance and when he's not.

    As for the students, they were what, 16-18 yo? wouldn't you be nervous and commit some mistakes if you were a teenager singing Sondheim's songs for him, c'mon? They must all be high class professionals today.

  • I love the way he leans foward to see 'Amy', that's doing, obviously, the most demanding part. It's funny how he smiles at 5:08, when she loses her breath completely. He's very kind and gentle in his corrections and suggestions, unlike many so called conductors and teachers.

  • further more, there are people singing Sondheim's songs while him being there! I envy them deeply!

  • I wish the nasty comments on this would just go away. Do they realize how fortunate the singers are to have this little master class with the maestro himself? What a generous thing for Sondheim to do. The woman singing Amy is genius, especially with the composer of one of his signature pieces sitting ten feet away. To all the haters, this is an amazing piece of musical coaching.

  • @chucknyc123 I fully agree with you chuckny; this is recording of a lesson, and not just a lesson, but a lesson by a genius that forever changed musical theatre. And anyone who had the chance to work with Sondheim obviously deserved it, and is thereby allowed to make mistakes and learn from their teacher!

  • The girl singing Amy's part is fantastic.

    The other two are really good, but it takes an amazing student to do that part that well in front of the composer.

    Sondheim is incredible.

  • The best is at 4:51 when he's mouthing along with her. :D

    But wow, Paul is awful... Bad vowels, no expression, and he can't hit the tenor notes.

  • Theey're going slower than the piano. Trying to articulate so much, that it's slowing them down. and WHOA flat at times. I expected much better.

  • They do a great job.

    Anyone who says crap are all just haters.

    If you arent doing anything stop being critical.

  • wow im impressed she kept going for that long, ranting like that lol. she only nearly ran out of breath once

  • Sondheim is a genius. Anyone learning from him has been blessed.

  • i thought the operatic girl had guages in her ears for a second lol

  • What? I mean, sure she's using opratic diction - but all that scooping she's doing? It's murdering the part. He's flat, and even 'Amy' is skipping notes.

    These are Guildhall students? I've seen better amateurs.

  • jealous?

    they're STUDENTS for a reason. they're learning.

  • the guys in these videos all suck.

    the girls are pretty amazing

  • Those lyrics are fantastic on the fast rant that she does. And she was absolutely terrific in the way that she did it. What would be REALLY funny is if Stephen would've falled out of his chair when he was leaning over to watch her. Stephen creates such freezing ice in these teachings; it would do EVERYBODY some good (even him) for that ice to be broken. Teach and be assertive, yes, but also be fun-loving and create a lighthearted atmosphere.

  • Just to let you know. That's correct diction. When it comes to singing classical, which her part resembles. She's singing it correctly.

  • I love the way he looks at the end, like, "What the hell have I created?"

  • Seriously?

  • hmmm...the amy is fantastic for sure, but do you realise how great the soprano is as well? Her training is simply superb, her phrasing perfect, her tone and pitch always spot on, AND she has an air of sarcasm and condescention--exactly what the part calls for. Sondheim nitpicked with her because she deserved to know what she was doing incorrectly; she's that good.

    Notice he didn't even talk to Paul, except to tell him to turn around. THAT kid is a trainwreck.

  • @doomwhatelse im sorry but as a 'trained singer and actress who's parents are classical singers.. she is not spot on!...she scoops to most of the top notes...and is not in perfect pitch at all. I would also suggest her breath control is pretty awful....

  • @doomwhatelse while I agree Paul is a trainwreck - the soprano scoops to every single note....her phrasing is mediocre at best.

  • @emailjball Yea, I agree with you. I was not impressed with her either. She also had breathing issues. She's well along in years now. This vid must be from the eighties. Anyone know when this took place?

  • He doesn't even want to bother teaching Paul the notes.

  • Can you blame him really? :D

  • With a little more manic inflection, the Amy in this rendition would be pretty perfect for the part. The tempo is just right. She hits almost all the words. I think that the soprano and Paul need to go, though.

  • I keep going back to this video every couple of months, and every time I keep thinking during the beginning "yeah, yeah who cares about you two? Get to the Amy part."

    Does anyone know if she ended up having a career?

  • Yeah, does anyone know who their names?

  • Jane Shaw, David Adair, and Elizabeth Rodger, apparently.

  • Oh I love Sondheim! So so much. So much that I keep coming back to this video despite the unbearable Paul.

  • great job!!

  • sondheim's so sweet looking at the actors

  • Most average non-singing male fans of Sondheim would have surely done better than this Paul, I mean, what is this voice?

  • this is terrific!

  • The girl playing Amy is excellent. No wonder Sondheim looks so pleased. Wonder if that girl ever became a professional?

  • Stephen Sondheim is on a whole different level of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and give me break Bacharach. "Company" is way more of a revolutionary musical than "Promises, Promises." And everybody who has ever worked with Steve said he is so in love with his craft and it shows in videos like this. Oh and saying Burt Bacharach is a better musical composer than Stephen Sondheim, you really need to learn your musicals.

  • wow. men. let's suck.

  • I love when Paul has a really classical voice..Didn't really like this lad!

  • its called a master class. great stuff .

  • Stephen looks very happy with the woman playing Amy.

  • why do all the guys in this thing suck???!!

  • do you have the dvd of this?

  • this is brilliant!!!

  • very good amy, good enough soprano, awful paul

  • @musicalsandstuff ur kinda right about paul. at least he's on key and at least he's acting the part---decently...

  • @musicalsandstuff His Australian accent really doesn't fit.

  • @musicalsandstuff Well in fairness they were students at the time and about ten years younger than the roles they were doing should be called for. The actors who did these roles in the OBC were probably old enough to be their grandparents. 

  • I want to see this girl on broadway.

  • yuck he sux

  • SOOO BAD

  • Amy is AMAZING, too bad she couldn't have had more one-on-one time with Sondheim because he had to focus on the horrible Paul and the run-of-the-mill soprano.

  • Sondheim gives her everything she needs just by the delight he shows listening to her. She knows he's delighted.

  • Yuck! The Soprano is awful and the bloke doesn't know the notes!

  • yes i agree... he doesnt have a strong voice....

  • Ouch Paul! 'To honour you for everrrr'

    Great Amy! The soprano has really annoying Rs

  • I Like this Amy a lot

  • i really love this amy too! i'm not the biggest fan of the soprano, her "r's" roll too much

  • I hate the soprano. She is trying too hard and she does NOT take direction well at all.

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  • The soprano just doesn't have much technique yet. The Amy is amazing though. One of the most difficult songs in the repertoire. Hat's off to her, whomever she may be...

  • And Sondheim looked so pleased while she was singing ^_^

  • I think he was more staring at paul... lol

  • what's everyone's favorite version of this song? I'm rater fond of Madeline Kahn's.

  • does anyone have this song as an mp3 or something? is so please message me!!!

  • The girl who's singing Amy's part would be a really great Amy if she got a new haircut. Very talented.

  • I LOVE the voice of the soprano (I've never listened to Company, so i don't know...)

    SONDHEIM IS a cutie...you just want to give him a big hug, it's funny. :]

  • Company is great! Listen! (But I like A Little Night Music better)

  • Haha, I'm such a Sondheim dork. I love Night Music...it's silly. :] My friend actually pretty much forced me to listen to Company, so now i've listened, and it's not so bad anymore....lol

  • well, secretly i'm not a huge Company fan... but I'm working on that. But I LOVE A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd (and I loved Sweeney BEFORE the movie. lol.)

  • I LOVED SWEENEY A MILLION YEARS BEFORE THE MOVIE...which technically isn't possible, but you get the idea...

    Whenever i mention Sweeney and people say they've seen the movie, i go "NOOO, NOT THE MOVIE. THE STAGE GEORGE HEARN/LEN CARIOU VERSION" and then i glare at them for thinking the movie was good. :[

  • AHHHH I KNOW! People tend to think I like Sweeney just because I've seen the movie! It's so irritating! (But, I liked the movie a lot, obviously it can never compare to OBC, but I thought it was an interesting take on it.)

  • Haha, people don't think i love Sweeney for the movie i think, but they always go "OH, YEAH, I LOVE THE MOVIE!" And then i must lecture them on watching the stage version...

    ^_^ There's a variety show at my high school, and i want to sing A Little Priest, only i don't have a Sweeney. I'm trying to get my friend Tyler to do it...hehehe.

  • I thought the movie was good, but as a movie, not a musical. I LOVE the stage version. p.s. I might have only liked the movie because of Johnny depp and Alan Rickman : )

  • i LOVE Alan Rickman, i thought he looked amazing though he was, you know, spooky rapist man. hehe. Stage versions never really beat out movie versions except on rare occasions, none of which i can think right now. (Maybe Phantom of the Opera, Gerard Butler was quite amazing)

  • God, Sondheim is such a cutie, he makes me melt! and God, I'm such a faghag! Speaking of which, wow! Justin Kirk is not gay. Now all I need is a divorce and a plane ticket and I'm all set!

  • At 6:45 Steve has this look on his face like, "Oh, GOD."

  • wow that woman's a beast :}

  • The soprano looks like Paris Hilton to me. That's not a complement...

  • wow. why are people so spiteful?

  • Spiteful of..?

  • the way they are so strongly critiquing the blonde girl who has a beautiful voice

  • I personally think she has a lovely voice. Sure, she kind of comes off as a bitch but still she has deff. talent. I still say she looks a lot like Paris Hilton though.

  • I'm on a search to actually get the song. I can't download it anywhere... if anyone has this song can someone send it to me? Go to my channel and send me a message abt it..

  • the blond her is more than fantastic..... she has a beautiful voice, i hope she is a recognized singer nowadays

  • stage language isn't the same as speaking language,,....... mostly with R's....... you never sing the R's as speaking in english or french or german or portuguese, it's just a matter of aesthetic diction..... maybe it's too much for you to undrestand.... welllllllll singing is an art

  • The blonde does irritate me quite a bit... Why does she roll her R's? I did not enjoy that.

    But the bride is fantastic, very funny.

  • i thought the same thing. i know the pronunciation is different in romance languages so opera singers use the rolly r, but jeez this is in english. and its so hard to understand her with that misplaced pronunciation.

  • Plus the fact that rolling her R's makes it more melodramatic, which makes it funnier. Rolling her R's the way she does is like Nelson from the Simpsons pointing and laughing 'HA-ha!'

  • Not to defend her, because I find her singing to be grating, but I think in the OCR and in other major performances of Not Getting Married the actresses would roll their Rs.

    arrrrrrr.

  • the r's isn't annoying, it's that she slides some of the notes when she goes higher or she puts so much extra emphasis, dynamics wise, that it's distracting, the note is much higher and when you do need to change dynamics to build, the emphasis in the changing of melodic direction is enough to emphasis the word that you don't need to change the dynamics so much to the point of almost being a sfz.

  • i'm pretty sure that sondheim prolly told her to do that. i saw a video of the actual production in the 70s and the woman they had for that part was rolling her r's like that too. so i think sondheim wants it. prolly for the reasons gunman610 stated

  • Amy is fantastic, and seems to be way better than the blonde girl at accepting critique.

  • And on account of almost everybody criticizing the soprano on her Rs: If I understood Sondheim right she's in the head of Amy, emphasizing her insanity. Fits perfectly, if you ask me.

  • "God save us from"? Every actor has to "learn their trade" at some point, don't they?

  • Yes indeed, and may they enjoy themselves in the process of gaining experience. But after years of sitting through theater productions that mostly disappoint, I choose no longer to watch the making of sausage.  Give me Filet Mignon, I can no longer pay the high price of Cheap Theater Hash.

    I do admire your defense of aspiring theater actors, a few have real talent and with perseverance may get the chance to perform for an audience that includes me.

  • It's hard to sing this song, as fast as it is, without putting yourself into it. I'd like to see someone sing it not looking into it.

  • "TRRRRRAGERDY" anyone see that? lol

  • i dont really like paul.....

  • The Amy girl was definatly the best at acting, she looked really into it.

  • Any of these kids got jobs in theater today?

    How about the hundreds that graduate every year from Universities and Drama "Schools" around the country?

    Anybody care?

  • good song.

    I Love when the blond sings "Bless this bride, totally insane..."

  • It's like she is making fun of Amy.

  • ...glad you caught on to that

  • I just love how she almost pronunces every sillebel. "to-ta-ly in-sane slip-ping down the drane" I think she does a better job than the other ones I've seen.

  • The blondie/choir girl is disappointing. Here is Stephen Sondheim, absolute genius, and every time he makes an important correction, she acts all irritated. I mean, I think STEPHEN SONDHEIM would know how he wants this to be. And Paul has kind of an ugly voice.

  • well, i see what you mean. still, she probably had it in her head that he would just LOVE her voice and it would be great. Have you ever built your expectations too high like that? i know i have.

    paul... sounds young. sort of immature. not ready for this song yet.

    amy is amazing!

  • Hmm. I don't think she looks irritated, I just think she is thinking about how to do it.

  • the blonde girl is really annoying.

    amy is amazinggg and i love Sondheim's face when shes singing haha

  • I know it's great! He's like cheering her on. =]

  • Aimee is great, but I'd like to know what year this was that might perhaps explain that horrible sweater she's wearing.

  • lol, the only explanation i can give is its the 80s