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Podcast: Gresham College Lectures
Episode: The Sondheim Showstopper: ‘Send in the Clowns - Dominic Broomfield McHugh
Description: Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/gtCsGQ14nU0This lecture examines ‘Send in the Clowns’, probably the most commercially successful song written by the revered Stephen Sondheim. Yet it confounds the expectations of a showstopper by being written for an actress of limited singing ability, the late Glynis Johns. This lecture reflects on how it works in the context the musical A Little Night Music and explores how it came to be covered by major singers including Frank Sinatra, Judy Collins and Sarah Vaughan. How has a song of limited vocal range and abstract lyri...