Thanks for the link to this article.  It is very interesting to me, as
I mostly agree with it.  As a matter of fact, some months ago I kicked
up a mini-duststorm by stating many of these same opinions as a member
of Standing Room, the Opera News chat room.  The many Sondheim fans there
got all in a tizzy and it got unpleasant.  One of the points I made that
was most controversial is covered in this article - how Sondheim builds
his songs out of rhythmic "cells" - to an extent that I often find
tediously repetitive.  "Send in the Clowns" is only the best-known of
many examples.

Of course, since I agree with the writer on most all points made, I
think the article is cogent and thorough.  I imagine Sondheim-lovers will
disagree, although there is very little that I read as outright critical
or negative.

But as I said during the Standing Room squabble, I'd rather see a Sondheim
musical such as "Sweeney Todd" in the opera house than a stale, over-
emphatic operetta production, such as that "Merry Widow" travesty visited
on the West Coast a year ago.  At least "Sweeney" would be a change of
pace.

C Mullins