Why the Sondheim disco album is perfect for right now
Kerry Breen
Depending on where you are in the world, you’ve been sitting in self-isolation for a week, maybe more. Personally, I’m on Day 8, but this morning, an iTunes release broke up the monotony of the moment: ‘Losing My Mind,’ subtitled ‘A Sondheim Disco Fever Dream,’ was finally released.
The album is 43 minutes of pure, musical-theatre bliss. Killer vocals, gorgeous arrangements, and fun beats that make you want to get up and dance all meld together across twelve songs. And with the world as weird as it is right now, why shouldn’t we have a Sondheim disco album?
There’s quite a lot of mashing-up going on in the album — the first song, ‘Opening (Doors)’ includes lines from just about every Sondheim show, including the iconic “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby” chorus from the Company opening and some lyrics from ‘Losing My Mind’ — and no Sondheim property makes it out unscathed.
And honestly, isn’t that fitting for everything going on right now? With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world and an increasing effort to ‘flatten the curve,’ I’ve found myself and most of the other people in my life falling into a rut of working from home and bouncing around the house with not much to do. This album and its unexpected twists and turns help break up the monotony of a self-isolation period, and isn’t that exactly what everyone is looking for lately? I know I’ve been listening to my favorite albums on loop, and this was a perfect way to jar myself out of that rut.
Some of the moments are downright dreamy — ‘There Are Giants in the Sky Somewhere’ mashes up ‘Giants in the Sky’ and ‘Somewhere,’ and the vocals on the West Side Story classic are absolutely gorgeous - while others are more bizarre, exactly as you’d expect from a Sondheim disco fever dream. Mixing up ‘Hello Little Girl’ from Into the Woods and ‘Johanna’ and ‘By the Sea’ from Sweeney Todd is absolutely insane, and it should not work nearly as well as it does, but it does, and I’ve been listening to that exact track for the past 30 minutes.
There’s also an entertaining yet reassuring version of ‘No One is Alone’ from Into the Woods, which really just feels like a message everyone could benefit from as we sequester ourselves inside.
For those looking for their ‘Sunday in the Park’ fix, there’s Joshua Hinck singing ‘Color and Light’ with some awesome echo effects making it feel like you’re hearing the whole thing in some sort of underground rave (or maybe I’m just desperate to get out of the house). The whole song builds, just like it does in ‘Sunday,’ but to completely different effect. Then it melds into a mash-up of ‘It’s Hot Up Here’ from ‘Sunday’ and ‘City on Fire’ from Sweeney Todd which should not work at all, but of course it does, because everything about this album is perfect.
Of course, the real jewel of the album is the megamix that caps off the experience. I lost track of all the lines, moments, and vocals. It’s insane. It’s brain-melding. It’s theatre-nerd-euphoria. It’s fun, it’s new, it’s a great twist on the songs we’re used to hearing on loop. I can’t stop listening to it – and I’m sure it’ll get several dozen more plays in the next few weeks.
And then there are the vocals! The vocals are gorgeous! Sondheim songs can be challenging even in the most classic rendition, but Broadway stars like Alison Luff (Waitress, Escape to Margaritaville), Blaine Krauss (Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812) and Charity Angel Dawson (Waitress) absolutely kill it, embracing the new arrangements expertly. Chip Zein even makes a brief cameo in the opening song, bringing some history to the project.
So, seriously, this is the perfect album for right now. It’s fun, it’s new, it’s dancey, it’s exciting, and it takes some of theater’s most classic songs and turns them inside out. Need something new to listen to? You’ve got it. Want to listen for references to your favorite shows? There’s plenty of that. Want something that feels as insane as the world around you? Here it is.